FAO Guidelines for Ecolabelling in Wild-Capture Fisheries - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 62

undertake further work on labelling requirements for environmental purposes and
in particular to:
look at the impact of ecolabelling on trade;
examine whether existing WTO rules stood in the way of ecolabelling policies;
and
identify any WTO rule that would need to be clarified.

In its final report (July 2003), most CTE members agreed that voluntary, par-
ticipatory, market-based and transparent environmental labelling schemes were
potentially efficient economic instruments that informed consumers about environ-
mentally friendly products. Importantly, the report noted that ecolabelling tended,
generally, to be less trade restrictive than other instruments. However, it also noted
that environmental labelling schemes could be misused for the protection of do-
mestic markets. Hence, these schemes needed to be non-discriminatory and not
result in unnecessary barriers or disguised restrictions on international trade.
Another important factor that might have tipped the balance in favour of the
development of FAO ecolabelling guidelines was the fact that the MSC programme
was moving successfully ahead and encompassing an increasing number of fish-
eries and certified product lines. There was also an increasing number of large
wholesale and retail chains which announced green procurement guidelines for
their fishery products and commitments in the medium term to only procure fish
from sustainable sources, including MSC certified fisheries. Thus, it became clear
that important segments of market demand in the large fish-importing countries
were moving towards certified products. A 'green image' became an important
strategy to maintain and expand market shares in the food products industry.
Thus a consensus emerged among FAO members on the need for international
harmonisation of criteria and procedures and related issues such as equivalence
and mutual recognition. This would avoid ecolabelling programmes in fisheries
discriminating against certain producers, kinds of fisheries or countries. It would
also help to avert a situation that may arise where a series of competing ecolabelling
schemes were to apply different standards and criteria causing confusion rather
than providing for more informed purchasing behaviour by consumers (Cochrane
& Willmann 2000).

3.3 The development of the FAO ecolabelling guidelines

With the blessing of its members, FAO initiated the process of developing inter-
national ecolabelling guidelines for fish and fishery products from marine capture
fisheries. Following its usual practice FAO first convened a consultation of experts
in their individual capacities in October 2003. The consultation brought together
experts from different disciplines, regions and institutional backgrounds (govern-
ment, industry, conservation organisations, small-scale fishers) of whom several