Brussels, 06/02/2004 (Agence Europe) - Recommendations to modify world trade rules to allow governments to ban imports from countries which do not share their "national values" are being looked into by Pascal Lamy's services. The Financial Times, which carried this information in its 6 February edition, specifies that the European Commissioner for Trade has still not taken position on this, but that a discussion documents has been drawn up by his team and outside consultants; Mr Lamy hopes in any case to launch a debate on the subject at a conference this summer.
According to the British financial daily, the discussion document states that legalisation of a ban on imports which do not respect the "collective preferences" of the States or groups of States would help to further world economic integration by reducing international tension. Existing WTO rules do not allow such or such imports to be banned, unless the products concerned present any danger. This gives to much weight to scientific arguments and too little to local political and social sensibilities, says the document. However, it does not say what types of import the EU could restrict, but stresses that national rules and differing cultures in the world could creation trade friction in terms of the environment, and in sectors such as agricultural, services, software and pharmaceutical products. Stressing that this is not an attempt at neo-protectionism, the authors of this document justify the recommended approach by stating that globalisation is entering a phase which directly threatens social models and the regulatory systems of the States, increasing the risk of "ideological" trade conflicts, which would be hard to resolve under the existing mechanisms. The issue would thus call for WTO rules to be changed. The document suggests that governments imposing trade restrictions would have to prove that these were founded on a request by their citizens and on social priorities, but never on protectionism. They could also be called upon to compensate exporters for losses incurred, and bans on imports would be re-examined periodically.