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Trade and the environment: the future of extraterritorial unilateral measures after the Shrimp Appellate Body

Lookup NU author(s): Ilona Cheyne

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Abstract

It is nearly ten years since the first Tuna-Dolphin report found that unilateral trade measures for the protection of dolphins were in violation of GATT rules, thereby signalling the beginning of the modern trade-environment debate. Since that time the debate has developed and become more complex and subtle. The WTO Appellate Body has recently been called upon to decide a dispute which raises very similar issues to the Tuna-Dolphin case. The Appellate Body used language that was more open to the concerns of contemporary environmental problems than the Tuna-Dolphin reports. However, an analysis of its reasoning suggests that the acceptability of unilateral, and even multilateral, measures to protect the environment under the GATT rules may not be any greater than before. In addition, the Appellate Body’s reliance on multilateral environmental agreements and the principle of sustainable development, although broadly welcomed by environmentalists, poses significant problems as an interpretative technique.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Cheyne IC

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Web Journal of Current Legal Issues

Year: 2000

Volume: 5

Date deposited: 10/12/2007

ISSN (print): 1360-1326

Publisher: Newcastle University

URL: http://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/2000/issue5/cheyne5.html


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