Market access and environmental requirements

This item is particularly important to the work of the CTE in that it holds the key to the complementarities that exist between sound trade and environmental policy-making. Improved market access for developing countries' products is key to the goal of achieving sustainable development. According to Principle 11 of the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, environmental standards, objectives and priorities need to reflect the particular environmental and developmental context to which they apply. This means that environmental standards applied by some countries could be inappropriate and of unwarranted economic and social cost to others, particularly developing countries. Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are especially vulnerable in this regard.