AMSTERDAM, LONDON, BRUSSELS, MONTEVIDEO, WASHINGTON DC -- May 24 -- Friends of the Earth International today publishes a revised analysis of the World Trade Organization's newest threat to national laws protecting the environment, social well-being and health [1]. An increased number of governments [2] are now understood to be using the the WTO's non-agricultural market access (NAMA) negotiations [3], to make a breath-taking total of 212 challenges to the laws of other countries. This sweeping attack on government policy-making is now known to also include challenges to the following measures [4]:

• Policies that promote energy efficiency in household appliances, air conditioning units and heating (China, which lists a range of EU directives);
  
• the European Union's CE Marking scheme (which ensures imports comply with the essential requirements of EU health, safety and environmental protection laws) (China);
  
• the Australia Heart Foundation's 'Tick' Scheme which approves healthy food products (Malaysia);
  
• requirements to label canned and processed seafood products if they have more than 1% genetically-modified ingredients (Thailand);
  
• restrictions on trade in wild animals and products made from them (China, but India also says /"These [animal rights] campaigns could have various motivations not necessarily based on truth"/);
  
• measures used to implement International Organization for Standardization's ISO 14000 and ISO 8000 standards - on environmental management systems and working conditions respectively (India);
  
• in relation to forestry, building codes and safety standards, measures designed to assist small farmers, government subsidies for education, training and forest research (New Zealand);
  
• restrictions on the use of heavy metals, such as cadmium, lead and chromium in the production of electronic appliances (Thailand); and
  
• certain trade measures used to implement the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) (the Philippines) and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (Malaysia).
  

"It's quite incredible that WTO members could have spent three years quietly developing this wish-list of national laws that businesses would like to see swept aside, seemingly oblivious to the public outrage that will inevitably result. The NAMA negotiations finally expose the WTO for what it is - an institution set up specifically to promote a corporate development agenda."/ said Ronnie Hall of Friends of the Earth International.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
In the UK, Ronnie Hall, Friends of the Earth International +44 1243
602756 or email ronnieh@foe.co.uk
In Brussels, Alexandra Wandel, Friends of the Earth Europe +49 172 748
3953 or email alexandra.wandel@foeeurope.org
In Washington DC, David Waskow, Friends of the Earth US +1 202 222 0716
or email dwaskow@foe.org
In Montevideo, Alberto Villarreal Friends of the Earth Uruguay
+598-5228481 or email comerc@redes.org.uy

[1] The original FOEI analysis focused on government notifications made in 2004 and 2005. The updated analysis includes government notifications from 2003. Full details can be found in FOEI's /Analysis of Notifications of Non-tariff Barriers in Non-agricultural Market Access (NAMA) negotiations of the WTO/ can be viewed at: www.foe.co.uk/resource/media_briefing/ntbsanalysis.pdf
http://www.foei.org/trade/NTBsanalysis.doc
and the /Database of Selected Notifications/ which can be viewed at: http://www.foei.org/trade/NTBs.xls (search the database)
www.foe.co.uk/resource/evidence/non_tariff_barriers.pdf (print the database)

Please note that this analysis is not exhaustive. Furthermore, it does not indicate FOEI endorsement of all specific listed non-tariff measures. Rather, it is intended to illustrate the scale of the current corporate challenge to health and environmental legislation and local economic development in a wide range of sectors under the NAMA negotiations

[2] Governments formally challenging environmental and health standards so far include Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, China, Cuba, European Communities, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Senegal, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United States, Uruguay, Venezuela and the ACP countries.

[3] The WTO's Negotiating Group on Market Access is scheduled to meet in Geneva on June 6.

[4] Note that the WTO's public documentation excludes information about which member states' legislation is being challenged. However, this can in some case be inferred from the language used by the challenging country.

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