Brussels, 08/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 8 May, European trade ministers approved the directives given to the European Commission to negotiate on the green goods initiative at the WTO - an initiative which aims to liberalise trade in environmental goods, as part of the Doha round.
In its conclusions, the Council hails the green goods initiative, to which around 15 WTO member countries - including the EU - committed on 24 January with a view to liberalising trade in environmental products. Building on the success of the WTO ministerial conference in Bali in December 2013 - which finished with a partial agreement on the Doha round (the Bali package - see EUROPE 10980), Australia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Switzerland, Singapore, Taiwan, the USA and the EU will try to remove customs duties on a wide range of green goods. The Doha negotiations, which were launched in 2001, aim to liberalise trade in agricultural and industrial goods, as well as in services and environmental goods.
The green goods initiative is based, initially, on a list of 54 environmental goods identified by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in September 2012. The talks will first focus on goods, but the objective of these plurilateral discussions is to create a “living agreement”, which should evolve according to future needs, and which, in the long term, should address other obstacles to trade in environmental services and goods. An essential component of sustainable development, green goods cover the fight against air pollution, waste management and the production of renewable energy.
Building on the list of 54 products identified by the APEC, the Council “supports the objective of eliminating tariffs on a broad range of additional products that directly and positively contribute to green growth, environmental protection, and sustainable development.” In addition, the Council underlines the need “to explore the ground” for liberalisation of environmental services, and to remove the non-tariff barriers to environmental services and goods - as the Doha ministerial statement stipulates. (EH)