Abstract
This chapter presents a case study of Canada’s Environmental Choice Program (ECP) and its impact on developing-country trade.1 Section I introduces the Canadian eco-labelling programme with a discussion of ECP’s objectives and features. Section II focuses on the nature and extent of the trade impact of the ECP on developing countries. The concerns of developing countries regarding the impact of eco-labelling programmes on market entry and competitiveness are assessed against eco-labelling and ECP. In addition, this section includes an evaluation of the programme’s impact on the behaviour of both consumers and producers, some of the key findings of the market analysis and programme evaluation undertaken by external consultants, and a summary of the new initiatives and priorities adopted by ECP following its own programme evaluation. Based on this information, an appraisal may be made of how developing-country trade is presently affected by the programme and how it may prospectively be affected by changes in ECP. Section III pinpoints how ECP and Canada can be of assistance to developing countries intending to apply for the EcoLogo and/or intending to establish a national labelling system of their own. Section IV summarizes the major findings of the study and presents a scenario of where eco-labelling is headed and how it may be transformed as an instrument of environmental policy.
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Notes
Extensive reference was made to deliberations of the GATT Working Group on Environmental Measures and International Trade (EMIT) and analysis of UNCTAD. GATT documents cover the period September and November 1992, March, May, June and July 1993 and February 1994. Also refer to UNCTAD reports TR/B/40(1)6 dated 6 August 1993 and TD/B/WG.4/6 dated 23 August 1993. The subject was the focus of various papers of UNCTAD’s Trade and Environment Section. See Veena Jha, René Vossenaar and Simonetta Zarrilli, “Ecolabelling and International Trade”, UNCTAD Discussion Paper, no. 70, October 1993, and Veena Jha and Simonetta Zarrilli, “Ecolabelling Initiatives as Potential Barriers to Trade — A Viewpoint from Developing Countries” in this volume.
Cited by US Environmental Protection Agency in Determinants of Effectiveness for Environmental Certification and Labelling Programmes (Washington, DC, Office of Pollution Prevention, US EPA, April 1994).
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© 1997 United Nations
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Guevara, M.I.P., Chaitoo, R., Smith, M.G. (1997). Canada’s Environmental Choice Program and its Impact on Developing-Country Trade. In: Zarrilli, S., Jha, V., Vossenaar, R. (eds) Eco-Labelling and International Trade. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25492-7_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25492-7_11
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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