RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/TBT/W/9
5July1995
ORGANIZATION(95-1862)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade Original: English
COMMUNICATION FROM CANADA
Thefollowing Communication, dated 30June1995, hasbeenreceived from thedelegation
ofCanada withtherequest thatitbecirculated toMembers oftheCommittee.
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Ecolabelling
Further totheCanadian Delegation 'sinterventions intheCommittee onTrade and
Environment on6April and21JuneaswellasintheTBTCommittee on21April, Canada
proposes thattheTBTCommittee address arange ofissues relating totheuseofecolabelling with
aviewtoclarifying theapplication oftheTBTAgreement tothistypeofprogramme.
Theobjective ofadiscussion onecolabelling would notbetoexamine themerits or
legitimacy ofecolabelling perseortoquestion thevalidity orappropriateness ofdomestic
standards setbynational authorities forthepurpose ofenvironmental protection within theirown
jurisdiction. Ecolabelling isincreasingly seenasanimportant toolforencouraging resource and
manufacturing industries toadopt higher standards ofenvironmental protection byinfluencing
consumer andpossibly public purchasing patterns.
Asecolabelling gains inimportance interms ofthenumber ofcountries thatuseit,the
range ofproducts covered anditsinfluence onpurchasing decisions, however, itsimpact ontrade
willalsoincrease. Thisisbecause suchprogrammes areintended toconfer acompetitive
advantage onproducts thatsuccessfully obtain thelabel. Thebasis upon which programmes are
applied toimported asopposed todomestic goods istherefore critical from atrade perspective, as
areappropriate disciplines tominimize trade disruption. Itisimportant andtimely toconsider
those disciplines, beginning withaclarification oftheapplication oftheTBTAgreement.
Atthe21Junemeeting oftheCommittee onTrade andEnvironment, theSecretariat was
asked toprepare abackground paper providing information about theTBTAgreement and
relevant aspects ofitsnegotiating history. Asafirststep,theTBTCommittee could endorse the
request forthisdocument andschedule consideration ofitattheCommittee 'snextmeeting.
Against thisbackground, theCanadian Delegation anticipates thatanumber ofkeyissues
willthenwarrant analysis anddiscussion. Thefollowing items aresuggested asapreliminary and
bynotmeans exhaustive identification ofsuchkeyissues.
./.G/TBT/W/9
Page2
Transparency
Theissue oftransparency iscentral andhasalready beendiscussed ingeneral terms inthe
Committee onTrade andEnvironment. Itwould nowbeuseful fortheTBTCommittee topursue
amore focused anddetailed consideration ofthetransparency provisions oftheTBTAgreement
andtheirapplication toecolabelling programmes.
Government participation
Thefocus intheexisting trade rules andinthediscussions todateonecolabelling has
beenbased onthedistinction between mandatory andvoluntary programmes. Yetmost
ecolabelling programmes include significant government involvement and,thus, mayhave
potentially greater impact inthemarketplace. Forthisandanumber ofother reasons,
programmes likeecolabelling differ from thetypes ofvoluntary standards (i.e., product standards)
thatwere perviously thefocus ofattention intheGATT. TheTBTCommittee needs toconsider
theimplications ofandchallenges posed bythisnewgeneration ofmeasures.
Lifecycle analysis
Most ecolabelling programmes areorwillbebased ontheuseoflifecycle analysis,
i.e.,assessing theenvironmental impact ofaproduct from extraction/production through
consumption andfinaldisposal. With respect tothestandards orcriteria thatcould beincluded
foreachofthestages oflifecycle analysis, andinthecontext oftheTBTAgreement, the
Committee should address thetreatment ofbothdomestic andimported goods inthese
programmes.
Relevant work inother fora
TheTBTAgreement encourages Members toparticipate inandadhere tointernational
standards. Inanumber ofother fora, including theISO,UNEP andUNCTAD, work is
underway toadvance international cooperation inthedevelopment andimplementation of
environmental programmes likeecolabelling. TheTBTCommittee should consider thiswork and
itsrelevance toappropriate trade disciplines.