Environmental Protection (Hansard, 1 November 1990)

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) whether he intends to have discussions with environmental and third-world groups about environmental aspects of the Uruguay round;
(2) if Her Majesty's Government will enter into discussions with environmental and third-world groups about the possibility of adopting environmental approaches to the negotiations in the Uruguay round.

§ Mr. Redwood
The Government have always welcomed the views of interested parties, including those with environmental concerns, on the issues involved in the Uruguay round; and have taken these into account in contributing to the formulation of Community policy positions. But the round is now entering the final weeks of a four-year negotiation, and it would not be practical to seek to introduce any major new initiatives at this stage.

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) if he will take steps to ensure that the Bergen objectives with regard to(a) ensuring trade does not harm the environment and (b) using trade to promote sustainable development are fulfilled;
(2) what action his Department has taken to carry out the commitment given by Her Majesty's Government at the Bergen conference in May, to accelerate within the general agreement on tariffs and trade the dialogue on linkage between environmental and trade policies; how his Department has pursued the Bergen objectives of ensuring that trade does not harm the environment and of using trade to promote sustainable development; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Redwood
The Government have, through the European Community, participated actively in negotiations aimed at clarifying GATT rules related to the export of goods banned and severely controlled domestically for reasons including environmental protection. We will continue to play an active part, in GATT and elsewhere, in the developing international dialogue on the links between trade and the environment.

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what action his Department has taken to ensure that the Bergen objectives are incorporated in all general agreement on tariffs and trade negotiations;
(2) if he will make it his policy to seek to ensure that the principles agreed at the Bergen conference are incorporated in all general agreement on tariffs and trade negotiations; and if he will make a statement.
769W

§ Mr. Redwood
The Government have taken steps to persuade the Commission that the Uruguay round negotiations, for example, those on agriculture and technical barriers to trade, take due account of environmental objectives. We will apply this principle where future GATT negotiations have significant environmental implications.

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what is the Government's policy on incorporating environmental conditionality into GATT;
(2) what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government towards the principle of environmental conditionality within the general agreement on tariffs and trade and towards the case for blanket exception to general agreement on tariffs and trade rules where the enforcement of those rules would prevent genuine trade-neutral environmental protection.

§ Mr. Redwood
The implementation of genuinely trade-neutral environmental protection is unlikely to involve breaches of GATT rules. However, in cases where such breaches occur, article XX(b) of the general agreement provides a general exemption to enable measuresnecessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health". This exemption would, in our view, cover measures taken with suitable environmental objectives in mind.