§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she is taking to ensure the WTO regime allows countries to limit imports where there are genuine and demonstrable ethical objections to a product or its method of production on(a) environmental and (b) animal welfare grounds. [80850]
§ Ms Hewitt[holding answer 20 November 2002]: The UK has been working with our EU colleagues on these issues for a number of years, as trade is a matter of community competence. Environmental and animal welfare issues have long been included among the EU's WTO negotiating priorities. At Doha, the EU successfully secured negotiations in the current WTO round to clarify the relationship between the trade clauses in Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and WTO law. In the negotiations we are pushing for a presumption of conformity between WTO rules and specific trade obligations in specific MEAs. This would cover trade measures in existing international MEAs on trade in endangered species, ozone-depleting substances, hazardous waste and chemicals. The Doha mandate also ensures that the issue of farm animal welfare will be taken into account as part of the current agreement on agriculture negotiations.