PPMs and Climate Change

International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council

IPCSpecial Events

Climate Change and Trade: WTO Rules and Jurisprudence on Process and Production Methods

April 9, 2008, 1:30-3:00 pm

The Cosmos Club

2121 Massachusetts Ave NW

Washington, DC

Hosted by The World Food Law Institute, the International Food & Agricultural Trade Policy Council (IPC) and the American Society of International Law.

Panelists:

John Jackson
Georgetown University Law Center

Gabrielle Marceau
World Trade Organization; University of Geneva

Warren Maruyama
Office of the United States Trade Representative

Lorenz Franken
German Ministry of Agriculture

Jane Earley
Earley & White Consulting Group (former adviser to the World Wildlife Fund)

Some countries, companies and consumers have a preference to regulate international trade in various products based on their process and production methods (PPMs). Often this preference stems from a desire to address environmental issues associated with a particular mode of production. With mounting concerns about climate change and the International Panel on Climate Change signaling a consensus on the need for international action to mitigate global warming, WTO members may increasingly resort to regulating trade based upon products’ PPMs.

Under the SPS and TBT Agreements, standards regulating PPM’s have been perceived as more controversial than standards that describe product characteristics, in part because compliance with PPMs often poses complex implementation and traceability challenges.

IPC, the World Food Law Institute and the American Society of International Law hosted an expert discussion of WTO rules and jurisprudence on PPMs and how the debate may unfold in the context of future climate change regulation.

Event Summary