Trade and environment issue in Doha Development Agenda and its policy implication

도하개발아젠다 전경협상과 환경통상정책 과제

The Ministerial Declaration of the 4th WTO Ministerial Meeting at Doha in November 2001 announced the launch of the New Round and a completion date of January 1st, 2005. It agreed to eventually negotiate trade and environment linkage issues, such as the relationship between the WTO rules and Multilateral Environment Agreements and the reduction or elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services. The Committee on Trade and Environment was instructed to pursue work on all items on its agenda within the current terms of reference and to give particular attention to the effects of environmental measures on market access, relevant provisions of the TRTPS Agreement, and labelling requirements for environmental purposes. This means that far the first time, the members of the WTO will discuss and negotiate trade and environment linkage in the framework of multilateral trade negotiation. Korea, from the standpoint of a smaller open economy heavily dependent on international trade, is obliged to overcome the challenges imposed by the environment agenda in the Doha declaration. This study examined the linkage among environment, economic growth and international trade in order to review the possible trade and environment policy implications in Korea. Mutual supportiveness of trade and environment depends much on the effectiveness of trade and environment policy coordination. In this regard, we conclude that the Korean government should provide an appropriate institutional framework to promote closer cooperation among policy makers engaged in negotiations. Trade and environment policy review and environmental impact assessment of trade negotiation should be considered as a work programme of this institutional policy coordination framework.