International trade rules have significant impacts on environmental law and policy, at the domestic, regional and global levels. At the World Trade Organization (WTO), dispute settlement tribunals are increasingly called to decide on environment- and health-related questions. Can governments treat products differently based on environmental considerations? Can they block the import of highly carcinogenic asbestos-containing products or genetically modified crops? Does the WTO allow governments to protect dolphins or endangered sea turtles through the use of import restrictions on certain products? How can civil society participate in WTO dispute settlement?

This Guide, authored by five world leaders on international environmental and trade law at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), is an accessible, comprehensive, one-of-a-kind compendium of environment and trade jurisprudence under the WTO. Providing an overview for both experts and non-experts of the major themes relevant to environment and trade, it also analyses how WTO tribunals have approached these themes in concrete disputes and provides selected excerpts of the most significant cases.

About the author(s)

Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder, Managing Attorney, CIEL Geneva (lead author); Daniel Magraw, President, CIEL; Maria Julia Oliva, Staff Attorney, CIEL; Marcos Orellana, Senior Attorney, CIEL; and Elisabeth Tuerk, UNCTAD, former staff attorney with CIEL.

Published with the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)

Contents

Introduction * Part I: Like Products * Background * Discussion of relevant WTO provisions * Selected literature * Selected jurisprudence relating to 'like products' under GATT Articles I and III * Part II: General Exceptions Clauses * Discussion of relevant WTO provisions * Selected literature * Part III: The Necessity Requirement * Discussion of Relevant WTO Provisions * Selected issues relating to the necessity requirement * Part IV: Processes and Production Methods * Eco-labelling * Discussion of relevant WTO provisions * Part V: Extraterritoriality * Discussion of relevant WTO provisions * Selected literature * Part VI: The Role of Science and the Precautionary Principle * Discussion of relevant WTO * Selected issues relating to the role of science and the Precautionary Principle * Part VII: The Relationship Between the TRIPS Agreement and the CBD * Discussion of relevant provisions * State of play at the WTO and CBD * Part VIII: Participation in WTO Dispute Settlement: The Case of Amicus Briefs * Discussion of relevant WTO provisions * Authority of panels and the Appellate Body to accept and consider legal and/or factual information * Application of discretionary power * Selected jurisprudence relating to amicus briefs *