Decision on Trade and Environment  
 Ministers ,  
 Meeting on the occasion of signing the Final Act Embodying the Results of the Uruguay  Round of Multilateral 
Trade Negotiations at Marrakesh on 15 April 1994,  
 Recalling  the preamble of the Agreement establish ing the World Trade Organiz ation (WTO), which states that 
members' "relations in the field of trade and economic endeavour should be conducted with a view to raising standards of 
living, ensuring full employment and a large and steadily growing volume of real income and effective demand, and 
expanding the production of and trade in goods and services, while allowing for the optimal use of the world's resources in 
accordance with the objective of sustainable development, seeking both to protect and preserve  the environment and to 
enhance the means for doing so in a manner consistent with their respective needs and concerns at different levels of 
economic development,"  
 Noting:  
 -  the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Agenda  21, and its follow -up in GATT, as 
reflected in the state ment of the Chairman of the Council of Representatives to the CONTRACT -
ING PARTIES at their 48th Session in December  1992, as well as the work of the Group on Envi -
ronmental Measures and International Trade, the Committee on Trade and Development, and the 
Council of Representatives;  
 -  the work programme envisaged in the Decision on Trade in Ser vices and the Environment; and  
 -  the relevant provisions of the Agreement on Trade -Related Aspects of Intellectual Proper ty Rights,  
 Considering that there should not be, nor need be, any policy contra diction between upholding and safeguarding an 
open, non-discriminatory and equi table multilateral trading system on the one hand, and acting for the protection of the 
envir onment, and the promotion of sustainable development on the other,  
 Desiring  to coordinate the policies in the field of trade and environment, and this without exceeding the 
competence of the multilateral trading system, which is limited to trade policies  and those trade -related aspects of environ -
mental policies which may result in significant trade effects for its members,  
 Decide:  
 -  to direct the first meeting of the General Council of the WTO to estab lish a Committee on Trade 
and Environment open to all members of the WTO to report to the first biennial meeting of the 
Ministerial Confer ence after the entry into force of the WTO when the work and terms of reference 
of the Committee will be reviewed, in the light of recommenda tions of the Committee,  
 -  that the TNC Decision of 15  December  1993 which reads, in part, as follows:  
  "(a) to identify the relationship between trade measures and environ mental measures, in order to 
promote sustainable development;  
  (b) to make appropriate recommendations o n whether any modi fications of the provisions of 
the multilateral trading system are required, compatible with the open, equitable and non -
discrimi natory nature of the system, as regards, in particular:  
   -  the need for rules to enhance positive inte raction between trade and environmental 
measures, for the promotion of sustainable development, with special consideration 
to the needs of developing countries, in particular those of the least developed 
among them; and  
   -  the avoidance of protectionist  trade measures, and the adher ence 
to effective multilateral disciplines to ensure respon siveness of the multilateral trading sys tem 
to envi ronmental objectives set forth in Agenda  21 and the Rio Declaration, in particular 
Principle  12; and 
   -  surve illance of trade measures used for environmental pur poses, 
of trade -related aspects of environmental measures which have significant trade affects, and of 
effective imple mentation of the multilateral disciplines governing those measures;"  
constitutes, a long with the preambular language above, the terms of refer ence of the Committee on Trade 
and Environment,  
 -  that, within these terms of reference, and with the aim of making interna tional trade and 
environmental policies mutually supportive, the Commi ttee will initially address the following 
matters, in relation to which any relevant issue may be raised: 
  -  the relationship between the provisions of the multilateral trading system and trade 
measures for environmental pur poses, including those pursua nt to multilateral 
environmental agreements;  
  -  the relationship between environmental policies relevant to trade and environmental 
measures with significant trade effects and the provisions of the multilateral trading sys tem;   -  the relationship betw een the provisions of the multilateral trading system and:  
   (a) charges and taxes for environmental purposes;  
   (b) requirements for environmental purposes relating to products, 
including standards and technical regulations, packaging, labelling and re cycling;  
  -  the provisions of the multilateral trading system with respect to the transparency of trade 
measures used for environmental purposes and environmental measures and requirements 
which have significant trade effects;  
  -  the relationship betwe en the dispute settlement mechanisms in the multilateral trading 
system and those found in multi lateral environmental agreements;  
  -  the effect of environmental measures on market access, especially in relation to developing 
countries, in particular to  the least developed among them, and environmental benefits of 
removing trade restrictions and distortions;  
  -  the issue of exports of domestically prohibited goods,  
 -  that the Committee on Trade and Environment will consider the work programme envisa ged in the 
Decision on Trade in Services and the Environ ment and the relevant provisions of the Agreement 
on Trade -Related Aspects of Intel lectual Property Rights as an integral part of its work, within the 
above terms of reference,  
 -  that, pending the  first meeting of the General Council of the WTO, the work of the Committee on 
Trade and Environment should be carried out by a Sub -Committee of the Preparatory Committee 
of the World Trade Organization (PCWTO), open to all members of the PCWTO,  
 -  to in vite the Sub -Committee of the Preparatory Committee, and the Com mittee on Trade and 
Environment when it is established, to provide input to the relevant bodies in respect of 
appropriate arrangements for relations with inter -governmental and non- government al 
organizations referred to in Article V of the WTO.  
 