Archived press release

Eu trade ministers told say no to new world trade round

10 May 1999

The European Union should drop plans for a new “Millennium Round” of negotiations in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Friends of the Earth have warned. European trade ministers meet today in Berlin to discuss the Millennium Round proposal, first floated by EU Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan.

The WTO rules already make it difficult for Britain and other countries to place environmental restrictions for example on GM foods. FOE believes that the Millennium Round could further restrict the right of individual states to protect their environment from the effects of unregulated free trade. It could also strengthen the economic power of the United States at the expense of smaller, less developed countries. 500 non-governmental organisations from more than 60 countries have joined forces to oppose the new talks [1].The Millennium Round is also opposed by developing countries including Egypt, India,Malaysia and 21 countries in Southern and Eastern Africa.

Recent problems connected with WTO rules include:
- the failure of world governments to agree a Biosafety Protocol to control international trade in genetically-modified products (under the Convention on Biodiversity) [2];
- the UK Government blaming international trade law for its inability to impose a moratorium on growing genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) in the UK, and threats from the USA that it will begin a trade dispute if European countries obstruct trade in GMOs;
- the imposition of US sanctions on selected European industries because of support for Caribbean banana growers; and
- a continuing row over the European ban on imports of American hormone-treated beef.

A new Millennium Round will discuss removing industrial tariffs. The United States also wants to open up international trade in timber and forest products, threatening sustainable forest policies across the world. The EU also wants talks on trade facilitation and Government procurement [2]. FOE warns that the effect of the Millennium Round could be to make environmental and social standards subordinate to global rules of 'free trade'. This

would not solve the problems of the existing WTO; it could actually make them worse.

The WTO is in theory a 'one-member one-vote' organisation. But the practice is very different. Closed 'clubs' of powerful governments such as the Group of Seven Economic Summit reach agreement on common concerns. Extreme pressure is then exerted on countries with weaker economies to agree to decisions already taken.

Last year saw the collapse of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI). The MAI was intended to open up national economies to foreign investment, and would have reduced governmental control over inward investment while increasing the rights and legal status of transnational corporations. Governments that were promoting the MAI, including the UK,have transferred their attention to the WTO and hope to introduce investment as a 'new issue' in the proposed Millennium Round. Pledges to include environment and labour as'new issues' in the discussion are insufficient and are expected to be dropped at an early stage in the negotiations.

Commenting, FOE Campaigns Director Tony Juniper, said:

"The WTO is moving in the wrong direction and at the wrong speed. If the trading system is to meet the world's needs in the twenty-first century, it needs a complete turnaround. People need an economic system that puts fairness and quality of life before profit. The EU trade ministers should knock the Millennium Round plan on the head without delay.”

[1] A "Statement from Members of International Civil Society opposing a Millennium Round or a New Round of Comprehensive Trade Negotiations" has. been signed by 544 organisations from over 63 countries. Copies of the statement are available from FOE Press Office.

[2] Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity met in Colombia from 14-24 February 1999, to discuss a Biosafety Protocol to regulate trade in genetically-modified (GM) products The negotiations collapsed after opposition from a countries in the 'Miami Group' (Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Uruguay and the United States). The Group wanted to exclude all food crops (90% of world GM trade); and to ensure that WTO rules explicitly took precedence over the rules of the Biosafety Protocol. Notably, the United States is not a Party to the Biosafety Protocol, but attended as an observer.

[3] 'Trade facilitation' means efforts to remove bureaucratic obstacles to international trade. Trade facilitation negotiations could be used to attack high environmental, health and safety, or labour standards. 'Government procurement' refers to negotiations to open up government procurement contracts to foreign tenders. This could be highly significant for developing countries, some of whom have government procurement contracts worth up to 70% of their GDP, which they may well need to control in order to direct the sustainable development of their economies.

The EU wants talks on the legal relationship between multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs)and the WTO; discrimination between imports on the basis of their processing and production methods(PPMs); ecolabelling; and the precautionary principle. However, many of the Commission's plans could make it more difficult for countries to use trade measures to protect the environment.

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