1 / 26

Environmental Goods: Lessons from GATT and WTO Sectoral Initiatives

Environmental Goods: Lessons from GATT and WTO Sectoral Initiatives. Ronald Steenblik OECD Secretariat (Trade Directorate). WTO Workshop on Environmental Goods Geneva, 11 October 2004. Prior GATT or WTO sectoral liberalisation agreements & initiatives.

edwinmartin
Download Presentation

Environmental Goods: Lessons from GATT and WTO Sectoral Initiatives

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Environmental Goods: Lessons from GATT and WTO Sectoral Initiatives Ronald SteenblikOECD Secretariat (Trade Directorate) WTO Workshop on Environmental GoodsGeneva, 11 October 2004

  2. Prior GATT or WTO sectoral liberalisation agreements & initiatives • 1979 (Tokyo Round) Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft (ATCA) • 1995 (Uruguay Round) Chemical Tariff Harmonization Agreement (CTHA) • 1995 Uruguay Round “zero-for-zero” initiative on Trade in Pharmaceutical Products • 1996 Information Technology Agreement (ITA)

  3. Decision variables (1) • Participation • Product coverage — by type or end use? • Procedures and criteria for selecting goods, especially when: • there is insufficient specificity at 6-digit HS level; • some goods have multiple end uses; • sector includes “sensitive” products.

  4. Decision variables (2) • Modalities for liberalisation: • end level(s) of tariffs; • timing and formula for tariff reductions; • non-tariff barriers (NTBs) • Post-agreement institutions and procedures: • to deal with unfinished business; • to deal with “mistakes”; • to expand product coverage; • to address problem of moving targets?

  5. A comparison of the different agreements and initiatives

  6. Participation

  7. Product Coverage (1)

  8. Product Coverage (2)

  9. Insufficient specificity at 6-digit HS (1)

  10. Insufficient specificity at 6-digit HS (2)

  11. Insufficient specificity at 6-digit HS (3)

  12. Decision tree: classification of non-specific goods Separate treatment of goods? Across Across - - the the - - board board no no liberalisation liberalisation yes yes of all industrial goods of all industrial goods Go beyond harmonised tariff lines? Go beyond harmonised tariff lines? no no yes yes Decisions on classification Decisions on classification Liberalisation at 6 Liberalisation at 6 - - digit digit handled by WTO alone? handled by WTO alone? HS level only HS level only no no yes yes Countries refer Countries refer Countries agree to Countries agree to classification issues to classification issues to implement implement “ “ ex ex - - outs outs ” ” at at World Customs World Customs national level national level Organisation (delayed Organisation (delayed implementation) implementation) Discussions take place to agree both descriptions and Discussions take place to agree both descriptions and classification classification

  13. Dealing with multiple end use

  14. Modalities for liberalisation (1)

  15. Modalities for liberalisation (2)

  16. Modalities for liberalisation (3)

  17. Institutional and procedural issues (1)

  18. Institutional and procedural issues (2)

  19. Institutional and procedural issues (3)

  20. Institutional and procedural issues (4)

  21. Lessons

  22. Many ways in which sectoral initiatives have been designed … • Participation: • plurilateral or multilateral • Product coverage: • by product characteristic, function, end use, or combination; wide or narrow • Procedures and criteria for selecting goods: • specificity expected to be reflected in amendments to HS, or agreed among participants with or without formal WTO involvement; • multiple use problem avoided ex ante or through “end-use” customs procedures (e.g., ATCA)

  23. … and implemented • Modalities for liberalisation: • Tariffs: to zero or to a small %; immediate or phased over several years • Non-tariff barriers: not addressed; addressed separately (ITA), or delegated to TBT Committee (ATCA) • Post-agreement institutions and procedures: • CTHA was simplest: no new institutions • Others anticipated they had to periodically review (with a view to expanding) product coverage • ITA and ATCA left unfinished business, which has proved to be considerable

  24. Where we are with EGs (1) • Participation: multilateral • Product coverage: • so far by product characteristic or function, across many HS chapters • Procedures and criteria for selecting goods: • Specificity to be agreed among participants with formal WTO involvement? • Multiple use problem to be avoided through ex ante decision criteria?

  25. Where we are with EGs (2) • Modalities for liberalisation: • Tariffs: to be decided • Non-tariff barriers: not yet addressed, but could be significant for some products • Post-agreement institutions and procedures: • Will depend on outcome of above, but some procedure or institution will be needed for keeping product list(s) up-to-date. • Deal with NTBs separately or in TBT? • How to maintain link with env. services?

  26. Thank you for your attention.Questions?

More Related