Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
and related aspects are also contained in Articles 11.1.12, 11.2.3, 11.2.4, 11.2.13
and 11.3.2.
In addition, the 1998 Technical Consultation considered that any agreement on
guidelines for ecolabelling should also consider the following principles:
be of a voluntary nature and market driven;
be transparent;
be non-discriminatory, do not create obstacles to trade and allow for fair com-
petition;
establish clear accountability for the promoters of schemes and for the certifying
bodies in conformity with international standards;
there should be a reliable auditing and verification process;
recognise the sovereign rights of States and comply with all relevant laws and
regulations;
ensure equivalence of standards between countries;
be based on the best scientific evidence;
be practical, viable and verifiable;
ensure that labels communicate truthful information; and
must provide for clarity.
At the origin of several of these principles are provisions of several international in-
struments including the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), the
Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and the 1982 United Nations Convention
on the Law of the Sea.
The 1998 Technical Consultation also noted that any guidelines that might be de-
veloped 'should aim to provide globally applicable minimum criteria to be included
in any eco-labelling scheme' (paragraph 22), as well as expressing unanimity that
FAO would have no role to play in the implementation of any scheme.
COFI discussed the outcome of the technical consultation at its 23rd Session
in February 1999. While most delegations recommended that FAO should initiate
further work on elaborating technical aspects of ecolabelling, other delegations
felt that FAO should not get involved in the issue and should leave it to the other
specialist bodies. This position was maintained by the 24th Session of COFI in 2001.
The matter was again considered at the 8th Session of the COFI Sub-Committee
on Fish Trade (February 2002), which laid the basis for a change in the position
by the 25th Session of COFI (February 2003). The Committee 'underlined that on
the basis of scientific information and with the coordination of governments, FAO
should develop guidelines on ecolabelling . . . '. (paragraph 39).
Several factors are likely to have influenced this change in position by a relatively
small number of countries which had earlier opposed the development of interna-
tional ecolabelling guidelines. One is that the issue of labelling requirements for
environmental purposes had become, since the 4th WTO Ministerial Conference in
Doha, November 2001, an issue of special focus in the work of the WTO Committee
on Trade and Environment (CTE). At Doha, WTO members instructed the CTE to
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