Multilateral Environmental Agreements and the WTO

This paper demonstrates that almost 30 Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) incorporate trade measures, regulating or restraining the trade in particular substances or products, either between parties to the treaty and/or between parties and non-parties. It asks why these trade measures have been incorporated into MEAs, whether they have been effective in achieving their objectives, whether there are any realistic alternatives to them, and what impact they have had. Furthermore, it deals with the inter-relationships between MEA trade measures and WTO rules.The paper concludes that trade measures in MEAs have become more common, and seem likely to continue to be so, as a logical reaction to the transboundary nature of environmental issues and patterns of economic activity. The increasing attention being paid to the problem of illegal trade provides another reason for employing trade measures.It further argues that, in many instances, trade measures are the only realistic enforcement measure available to MEAs. They can bear a real cost (particularly where trade bans are used against non-parties or non-complying parties), and should not in general be adopted in isolation from other compliance instruments, such as financial and capacity-building assistance. Nevertheless, trade measures in MEAs can be an effective tool and should always be considered when the MEA is designed.Overall there needs to be greater clarity over the purpose and impacts of MEAs, in order to assist WTO members who may be wary of the legal and political consequences of adopting trade measures pursuant to MEAs, or ones that are even permissibly stricter. Better understanding can undermine the chilling effect seen in some MEA negotiations, where some parties have been unwilling to embrace any language that might conflict with WTO requirements.