WTO / Trade & Environment
 

The relationship between WTO law and international law is one of the key challenge of trade law. This is particularly true in the interface between WTO law and the wide domain that the trade community often calls 'non-trade issues,' which include environmental and public health concerns, as well as other societal matters. This problematic is also addressed in some instances in the WTO case law. This interface in fact constitutes arguably the most important boundary between the respective mandates of the United Nations (outside the Security Council) and the WTO. The key to a satisfactory governance of this interface can be seen in the principle of mutual supportiveness (principe du soutien mutuel, voir article dans la Revue générale du droit inernational publique No. 2007-4, de Prof. Laurence Boisson de Chazournes et Makane Moïse Mbengue).

There is great concern in the trade & environment community that many of the environmental issues contained in the 2001 Doha Development Agenda will in reality not be taken seriously at Round. This is why the

2005 Geneva Declaration on Trade & Environment

postulates, on the occasion of the WTO's 10th anniversary on January 1, 2005, a 10-point action program with the aim of re-invigorating related discussions and negotiations. The WTO's 6th Ministerial Conference in December 2005 in Hong Kong (SEE FOUR ANALYSES) has been very disappointing with regards to trade & environment.

One of the key aspect of the relationship between Multilateral Environmental Agreements and the WTO concerns the so-called chilling effect, i.e. the negative impact of the trade regime on the negotiation and implementation of environmental agreements (Stilwell and Tuerk, 1999). Since 1999 a considerable literature has discussed various aspects and meanings of the chilling effect, also called regulatory chilling; in many cases this term is not used but the same idea is nevertheless explored. The Stilwell and Tuerk article must in fact be considered as a contribution to this debate which has turned out to be of historical importance.