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Morrison, Peter; Nielsen, Laura --- "Trade, environment and animal welfare: conditioning trade in goods and services on conduct in another country?" [2013] ELECD 635; in Van Calster, Geert; Prévost, Denise (eds), "Research Handbook on Environment, Health and the WTO" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013) 207

Book Title: Research Handbook on Environment, Health and the WTO

Editor(s): Van Calster, Geert; Prévost, Denise

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847208972

Section: Chapter 7

Section Title: Trade, environment and animal welfare: conditioning trade in goods and services on conduct in another country?

Author(s): Morrison, Peter; Nielsen, Laura

Number of pages: 24

Abstract/Description:

When States deem international protection of the environment or animal welfare insufficient, they may unilaterally seek to promote those interests through trade measures. States may, for example, prohibit the import of fur and skins derived from animals that are skinned alive, even though no fully global international or multilateral treaty outlaws these practices. Such trade measures must be in conformity with WTO2 law, which consists largely of negative obligations on how not to restrict trade, rather than positive rules that directly regulate the environment or animal welfare. Measures to protect the environment or animal welfare that impose trade restrictions may therefore violate a substantive obligation under WTO law and hence need to be justified in order to be WTO consistent.