By: KATE MILLAR | Agence France Presse
DOHA, Nov 10--WTO ministers could have a bruising battle on their hands here as they grapple with demands that environmental protection be given a higher priority in World Trade Organization deliberations.
The European Union, backed by Norway and Switzerland, is at the forefront of a campaign to see the WTO commit itself to full-blown negotiations on how trade impacts the environment.
But they face tough opposition. "The environment is a global issue not an EU hobbyhorse," EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy told a news briefing here on Friday ahead of the formal opening of a key WTO conference.
Ministers from the 142-member body have gathered in the Qatari capital in a bid to agree an agenda for a new series of negotiations to bring down barriers to trade.
The United States, Australia and some developing countries argue that fresh negotiations are unnecessary because WTO agreements already contain sufficient provisions on the environment.
Developing countries in particular fear the issue could be used as backdoor protectionism and become yet another obstacle blocking free access to the markets of rich nations.
Draft documents drawn up in Geneva as a basis for the Doha conference do not fully satisfy either the 15-nation EU or environmental activists who complain they do not go far enough.
"The concerns voiced by civil society over recent years are simply ignored," grumbled the environmental organisation Friends of the Earth International in a written statement.
Despite telling reporters here the EU had shifted its position, Lamy has continued to insist that WTO rules on the relationship between environment and trade clarified.
The EU is also seeking a firm commitment from the WTO that there will be negotiations on the inclusion of environmental safeguards in trade pacts.
"My mandate is to refuse the launch of a round which would not include a clarification of rules governing the links between protection of the environment and the liberalization of trade," Lamy recently told the French newspaper Les Echos.
The EU objective, according to officials, is to ensure that governments neither abuse the environment to gain market advantage nor use environmental protection as an excuse to block the flow of imports.
The draft wording drawn up in Geneva by WTO chief Mike Moore and the chairman of the WTO's ruling general council, Hong Kong Ambassador Stuart Harbinson, stops short of calling for new negotiations right away.
It urges an existing WTO committee to continue its work, including identifying any need to clarify WTO rules.
But the committee's powers are limited to making recommendations on changes.
The labelling of products is another subject to which the committee should pay special attention, according to the draft text, and is likewise an issue close to the hearts of European authorities.
Under current rules, countries are allowed to put labels on environmentally-friendly products as long as they are not discriminatory in any way.
What is unclear however is whether it also allows them to place labels on products indicating whether the process by which the product was made was environmentally-friendly.
The EU wants the agreement to cover labelling on production methods, a position not universally shared in the WTO.By: KATE MILLAR:
