Environment and Regional Trade Agreements

Environment and Regional Trade Agreements
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2007-06-12
Genre:
ISBN: 926400680X

This study provides an overview of approaches to environmental issues in RTAs and summarises country experiences in their negotiation and practical application.

Environment and Regional Trade Agreements

Environment and Regional Trade Agreements
Author: Clive George
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre:
ISBN:

This report examines trends in the use of environmental provisions in Regional Trade Agreements and identifies factors which may explain the presence or absence of these provisions. The report builds on work of the OECD Joint Working Party on Trade and Environment (JWPTE) and includes results of an informal survey of delegates. Analysis of the environmental provisions in RTAs reveals an encouraging upward trend. While basic provisions remain the most common types found in RTAs, the incidence of more substantive provisions has increased significantly in recent years. Among these, environmental co-operation has been the most common type. Several factors may have contributed to this evolution. These include countries extending their political mandates for RTAs, for example to include provisions for compliance with multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), as well as a general accumulation of experience with the use of environmental provisions.

Environment and Trade

Environment and Trade
Author: Sören Noack
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Total Pages: 25
Release: 2010
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 3640512308

Essay from the year 2004 in the subject Environmental Sciences, grade: 1,3, Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus (Lehrstuhl für VWL, inbesondere Umweltökonomie), course: Environmental Economics, language: English, abstract: Trade and environment form a complex relationship. Current trade regulations, though addressing environmental issues, do not lead automatically to effective environmental protection. This paper examines the role of environmental aspects in global and regional trade agreements like WTO, EU, NAFTA and Mercosur. The complex patterns of global trade and its influence on our environment are presented in detail by a case study on banana production in Costa Rica and the "Banana War" between the European Union and USA.

Regional Trade Agreements and the Multilateral Trading System

Regional Trade Agreements and the Multilateral Trading System
Author: Rohini Acharya
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 753
Release: 2016-09-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107161649

This volume contains a collection of studies examining trade-related issues negotiated in regional trade agreements (RTAs) and how RTAs are related to the WTO's rules. While previous work has focused on subsets of RTAs, these studies are based on what is probably the largest dataset used to date, and highlight key issues that have been negotiated in all RTAs notified to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). New rules within RTAs are compared to rules agreed upon by WTO members. The extent of their divergences and the potential implications for parties to RTAs, as well as for WTO members that are not parties to RTAs, are examined. This volume makes an important contribution to the current debate on the role of the WTO in regulating international trade and how WTO rules relate to new rules being developed by RTAs.

Assessing Implementation of Environmental Provisions in Regional Trade Agreements

Assessing Implementation of Environmental Provisions in Regional Trade Agreements
Author: Clive George
Publisher:
Total Pages: 41
Release: 2018
Genre:
ISBN:

Countries increasingly use trade agreements to co-operate on environmental matters by including environmental provisions or entire environment chapters in regional trade agreements (RTAs). Some countries also adopt environmental side agreements in addition to their trade pacts. While adopting environmental provisions in RTAs is an important step towards promoting environmental protection on an international scale, the success of such measures depends on how governments implement the environmental provisions contained within their trade agreements. This report assesses the progress of the implementation of environmental provisions in RTAs. It focuses on the extent to which governments have complied with the environmental commitments made in the trade agreements to which they are a Party. The report takes a two track approach. First, a review of implementation and evaluation reports associated with environmental provisions in such agreements is performed. Second, a survey of government officials, trade negotiators and other experts is carried out. The exercise reveals a considerable lack of knowledge on the implementation of environmental provisions in RTAs. Nevertheless, the results highlight that good progress has been made in implementing environmental provisions in some RTAs. In particular, the United States and the European Union have made significant steps towards setting what may be regarded as a benchmark for monitoring and reporting on the implementation of environmental provisions in RTAs. While countries with a less stringent political mandate may find it harder to obtain the necessary resources to follow these examples, all countries that promote the inclusion of environmental provisions in RTAs could benefit from strengthening their processes of monitoring, reporting and review as far as they reasonably can. In this regard, further analysis and discussion is necessary on how the process of monitoring, reporting and review can be developed.