Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
SUMMARY
The answers to four questions are crucial to
both ensuring successful negotiations and pursuing sustainable
development through trade policy:
— Will the negotiations be informed
by an understanding of how trade policy impacts on people and
the environment?
— Will the public and Parliamentarians
have a say in trade policy?
— How far will the UK and EU be prepared
to go in addressing the concerns and needs of developing country
WTO members?
— Will the WTO members be able to participate
effectively in the coming negotiations?
INFORMED NEGOTIATIONS
Although the EU's Sustainability Impact Assessement
and the UK Cabinet Office performance and Innovation Unit's research
into trade issues are both steps in the right direction, they
are too narrow in their scope and too late in their implementation
to inform the breadth and content of the proposed negotiations.
Will the UK Government be prepared to lobby for a process that
reviews the social and environmental impacts of the current trade
system?
The RSPB believes that multilateral negotiations
on trade policy are much needed. However, these must be informed
negotiations based on an assessment of the social and environmental
impacts of the current trade system. The RSPB thinks that conducting
such an assessment should form an active part of the multilateral
process and should be used to drive forward the development of
trade policies that make operational the commitment to sustainable
development that is expressed in the preamble to the WTO Agreement.
HAVING A
SAY OVER
TRADE POLICY
The UK Government currently has no official,
timetabled procedures for the UK Parliament to scrutinise, debate
and vote on the UK's trade policy and negotiating mandate. In
response to the increasing public and Parliamentary interest in
trade policy, will the UK Government be implementing such procedures
during the current term of office or in any future terms of office?
The RSPB believes that increased Parliamentary
and public scrutiny of the UK Government's trade policy and its
negotiating mandate is essential to improve transparency in the
decision-making process and public understanding and acceptance
of international trade rules.
ADDRESSING THE
NEEDS OF
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
The RSPB believes that addressing the needs
of developing countries is crucial not only in pursuing sustainble
development but also in building more trust between developing
country and industrialised country WTO members. This trust is
central to the success of any attempt to deal with some of the
key environmental issues such as the relationship between WTO
rules and MEAs, PPMs and the Precautionary Principle.
The EU has taken a positive step in this regard
with its proposal to grant tariff-free access to essentially all
products from the least developed countries (LDCs). However, the
RSPB has learnt from EC officials that "essentially all"
means that some products will be left out, and that this includes
some of the more sensitive sectors such as beef, rice and sugar.
These sectors are very important for some LDCs. The question arising
from this is whether the government is working towards expanding
this tariff free access to all products? Also important is what
other measures the Government is taking to improve trading conditions
for other developing countrises not categorised as LDCs?
The RSPB believes that the Government should
lobby for tariff free access for all products from LDCs. As mentioned
in our original evidence, the impacts of such a measure on LDCs
already receiving tariff preferences must be monitored and ameliorated
if necessary. It must also be borne in mind that this measure
may also affect the current Generalised System of Preferences
(GSP) scheme that links lower tariffs with environmental and social
performance. The Government and/or EU could explore ways to replace
the GSP with an alternative funding mechanism for environmental
and social improvements.
Further, we think that the Government should
take steps to help other developing countries through, for example,
a more even implementation of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing.
Also useful would be allowing developing countries greater latitude
in using trade policy for developmental and environmental purposes
through clearer and more robust special and differential treatment
provisions in WTO rules.
Developed country WTO members also need to seriously
address the negotiating agenda of developing countries. An important
question is whether the government is prepared to negotiate on
issues that are of great importance both for developing countries
and for sustainable development? Such issues include the life-form
patenting provisions of the TRIPs Agreement and the implementation
deadlines for a number of the Uruguay Round Agreements. Making
concessions in these areas will be crucial to the success of the
negotiations in sustainable development terms.
EFFECTIVE PARTCIPATION
IN NEGOTIATIONS
The EU's agenda is too broad to allow many developing
country WTO members the opportunity to particpate fully. Is the
Government prepared to narrow the negotiating agenda to ensure
the participation of those currently least able?
The RSPB believes that more effective developing
country participation in the process of negotiating and then implementing
trade rules is essential. However, because financial and technical
resources to enable capacity-building for these purposes may be
limited, especially in the short-term, and because capacity-building
will, in any case, take time, it is important that the scope and
format of any new negotiations be limted and designed to secure
the greatest possible invovlement of all WTO members with existing
resources.
November 1999
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