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E. Trade and Environment in TRIPs and GATS
The TRIPs agreement provides common rules to protect and enforce environmental-related IP rights. In Article 27.2 of the TRIPs, it provides that “Members may exclude from patentability inventions, the prevention within their territory of the commercial exploitation of which is necessary to protect ordre public or morality, including to protect human, animal or plant life or health or to avoid serious prejudice to the environment, provided that such exclusion is not made merely because the exploitation is prohibited by their law.” In the Article 27.3 of the TRIPs, it provides “Members may also exclude from patentability: (a) diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods for the treatment of humans or animals; (b) plants and animals other than micro-organisms, and essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals other than non-biological and microbiological processes. However, Members shall provide for the protection of plant varieties either by patents or by an effective sui generic system or by any combination thereof…”
In technological aspect, the developing countries encounter more difficulties, such as obtaining environmentally-sound technology and products.
In the Article XIV of the GATS agreement (more details in the following part), it provides “a general exceptions clause which is modeled on Article XX of the GATT” . In the provisions of the GATS, it also lists four categories of environmental services, which are sewage services, refuse disposal services, sanitation and similar services and other .
F. Summary
The WTO system just deals with trade mainly. In other words, even there are some environmental issues in it, which have to refer to trade or have a significant impact on trade. The objective of environmental policies in WTO system is protection and conservation environmental resources and promotion sustainable development with equitability and non-discrimination to every Member country.
Due to the characters of WTO system, other specific environmental agreements are better qualified to undertake the task of environmental protection.
III. WTO UNDERMINES MEAS OR NOT
As above mentioned, WTO system is not a specific environmental agreement, nonetheless, it support others, specially, the MEAs.
A. International Cooperation
Environmental problems are global issues, as people know, thereof to solve these problems international cooperation is essential, specially, when these problems cross national boundaries or involve areas beyond more than one country.
International cooperation can be divided three categories: “the global commons, regional matters, and non-physical issues with moral or competitiveness implications.”
The global commons took into account for a long time. A League of Nations committee attached importance to the international cooperation on the exploitation of products of the seas in 1972, specially, the issue of wealth of the Antarctic region which belongs to the whole human beings and the whale hunting problem. Although the committee accessed optimistically the situation and ability to achieve an agreement to protect the whale in whale hunting countries based on scientific and economic considerations, they had not come to an agreement. However, their jurisprudence is noteworthy and can be proved correctly.
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