At an event of the World Customs Organization (WCO), the Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Jean-Marie Paugam, made a strong call today (28.05.2022) for closer cooperation between the WCO and the WTO to support the transition to a green economy.
“There are more and more trade measures related to the environment,” Paugam said at the “Green Customs” conference held at the WCO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. He explained that since 2009, WTO members have notified around XNUMX trade measures. 14.600 trade-related environmental measures. "Today, one in six measures is related to the environment, compared to one in 12 measures in 1997."He said.
The official said that “most of these measures are the type of policies that will require direct or indirect action by customs officials.” In this regard, he referred to environmental requirements, compliance, risk assessment procedures, import and export licenses, prohibitions, quotas, etc.
“This means additional challenge and work for customs officials,” Paugam said. He added: “Trade negotiators must be aware of these challenges if they want their measures to be efficient in practice and have a concrete impact on the environment.” While customs officials must be involved from the beginning of the process to ensure that these policies are coherent, fit for purpose and enforceable.
“Their views are vital to ensure effective implementation – we need to hear their voices on what approaches and type of support will be required to adopt new green technologies and enabling measures,” Paugam said.
The Deputy Director General cited several concrete initiatives to enhance cooperation between trade and customs officials. These include sharing data on environment-related trade measures to help detect future trends in customs practices, using the environmental initiatives launched by a large number of WTO members on trade and environmental sustainability and plastic pollution as a “laboratory” of ideas to forecast what customs officials will need to know and comply with, and increasing cooperation on technical assistance and capacity building.
Paugam also said that the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12), held from 12 to 17 June, produced important results for the WTO's work on trade and environment.
Ministers affirmed that climate change is a global environmental challenge and mentioned the importance of the multilateral trading system in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). MC12 also produced the first multilateral agreement to curb harmful fisheries subsidies, in line with the mandate set out in SDG 14.6.
“This is the first time in almost 80 years of the multilateral trading system that WTO members have agreed to adopt trade obligations with the central aim of contributing to environmental sustainability,” concluded Deputy Director-General Paugam.
The Global Green Customs Conference was held from June 27 to 28, 2022, with the aim of strengthening the role of Customs in implementing trade policies for environmental protection. (WTO Press Release) (OMA Event)
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