The WTO sea turtle decision

Ecology Law Quarterly

Volumn 26, Issue 4, 1999, Pages 815-837

  Pyatt, Suzanne ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0040289990     PISSN: 00461121     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
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References (145)

1. Appellate Body Report, United States - Import Prohibition of Certain Shrimp and Shrimp Products, Oct. 12, 1998, available in 1998 WL 720123 (WTO) [hereinafter Sea Turtle Appellate Report].
2. General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Oct. 30, 1947, 61 Stat. A-3, 55 U.N.T.S. 187 (annexed to the Final Act Adopted at the Conclusion of the Second Session of the Preparatory Committee of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment, as subsequently rectified, amended or modified) [hereinafter GATT 1947]. GATT was further modified and supplemented and was adopted as Annex 1A of the WTO Charter. 33 I.L.M. 1125, 1127 (1994) [hereinafter GATT 1994].
3. See JOHN H. JACKSON ET AL., LEGAL PROBLEMS OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS 293-94 (3d ed. 1995).
4. See id.
5. See id. at 293.
6. See id. at 296-98.
7. See GATT 1947, supra note 2, art. I.
8. See id. art. III.
9. Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, art. IX:3 (providing that a waiver to a GATT obligation may be granted by a three-fourths vote of the WTO membership), reprinted in General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade: Multilateral Trade Negotiations Final Act Embodying the Results of the Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations, Apr. 15, 1994, 33 I.L.M. 1125 (1994) [hereinafter WTO Charter].
10. Article XIX. An escape clause, or safeguard, was used in the past to protect against a flood of imports after a trade concession was made by the importing country. These days, safeguard measures are used to protect weak industries on a temporary basis. See JACKSON, supra note 3, at 596.
11. Article XII. Article XII allows GATT provisions to be overridden for the purposes of safeguarding a country's balance of payments. See JACKSON, supra note 3, at 561.
12. Article XX.
13. Article XX reads: Subject to the Requirement that such measures are not applied in a manner which would constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination between countries where the same conditions prevail, or a disguised restriction on international trade, nothing in this agreement shall be construed to prevent the adoption or enforcement by any contracting party of measures: . . . . b) necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health; . . . . g) relating to the conservation of exhaustible natural resources if such measures are made effective in conjunction with restrictions on domestic production or consumption. Id, art. XX (General Exceptions).
14. See generally WTO Charter, supra note 9, art. I, 33 I.L.M. at 1144; WTO Charter, supra Annex 2 (Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes), reprinted in 33 I.L.M. 1125, 1226-47 (1994) [hereinafter DSU].
15. In distinction to the WTO, GATT is legally only a treaty.
16. WTO Charter, supra note 9, art. XVI:4.
17. See JACKSON, supra note 3, at 342.
18. See id. at 343.
19. See generally Kenneth W. Abbott & Duncan Snidal, Why States Act Through Formal Intemational Organizations, 42 J. CONFLICT RESOL. 3 (1998).
20. See generally Lacksham D. Guruswamy, Should UNCLOS or GATT Decide Trade and Environmental Disputes?, 7 MINN. J. GLOBAL TRADE 287 (1998).
21. See GATT 1947, supra note 2, art. XXIII (Nullification or Impairment).
22. See JACKSON, supra note 3, at 349 (citing to Uruguayan Recourse to Article XXIII, GATT B.I.S.D. (11th Supp.) at 95, 100 (Panel Report adopted Nov. 16, 1962)).
23. See United States Taxes on Petroleum and Certain Imported Substances, June 17, 1987, GATT B.I.S.D. (34th Supp.) at 136 (1988).
24. See EEC Payments and Subsidies Paid to Processors and Producers of Oilseeds and Related Animal-Feed Proteins, Jan. 25, 1990, GATT B.I.S.D. (37th Supp.) at 86 (1991).
25. For a concise summary of the dispute resolution process, see JACKSON, supra note 3, at 338-48.
26. The membership made the negative consensus rule to appease United States concerns about the dispute process weaknesses. The general membership of GATT hoped that this change would persuade the United States to stop acting unilaterally in trade matters.
27. A major change from the old system is the creation of an appellate body. See JACKSON, supra note 3, at 343.
28. See id. at 338-50.
29. The DSU is a separate written part of the treaty detailing the procedures of dispute resolution. See id. at 340.
30. DSU, supra note 14, at 1226-27.
31. See id. There are specific procedures for determining the level of a suspension of previously granted trade concessions. See JACKSON, supra note 3, at 344.
32. See WTO Charter, supra note 9, Preamble to WTO Agreement.
33. See GATT Dispute Settlement Panel Report, United States-Restrictions on Imports of Tuna, Sept. 3, 1991, GATT B.I.S.D. (39th Supp.) at 155 (1993) [hereinafter Tuna I]. Tuna, the intended catch, swim beneath schools of dolphins. Fishing boats using purse-seine nets spread the nets in a wide area around a school of dolphins and then pull the nets in like the drawstrings of a purse, catching tuna, dolphins, and whatever else may be in the way. See id.
34. See generally Marine Mammals Protection Act of 1972, Pub. L. No. 92-522, 16 U.S.C. §§ 1361-1421h (1994).
35. This embargo went into effect on February 22, 1991.
36. See supra note 8 and accompanying text.
37. See GATT 1947, supra note 2, arts. III, XI.
38. Id. arts. II-XV.
39. Id. arts. XVI-XVIII.
40. See supra note 13 and accompanying text.
41. Mark Edward Foster, Trade and Environment: Making Room for Environmental Trade Measures Within the GATT, 71 S. CAL. L. REV. 393, 428 (1998). The author concludes by saying that the Tuna I interpretation of Article XX(b) weakens the power of the international agreement by precluding any measures that "contain some teeth and that can be applied beyond a state's borders" and that such a restriction "is out of place as a limit on the pursuit of environmental concerns." Id.
42. Tuna I, supra note 33, at 127.
43. Howard F. Chang, An Economic Analysis of Trade Measures to Protect the Global Environment, 83 GEO. L.J. 2131, 2135 (1995).
44. For a brief synopsis of the events leading up to the Tuna dispute, see GATT Dispute Settlement Panel Report, United States - Restrictions on Imports of Tuna, June 16, 1994, 33 I.L.M. 842 (1994) [hereinafter Tuna II].
45. 16 U.S.C. § 1361 (1994).
46. Tuna II, supra note 44, ¶ 5.15.
47. Id. ¶ 5.18-5.20.
48. Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Mar. 3, 1973, 27 U.S.T. 1087, 993 U.N.T.S. 243 (reprinted in 12 I.L.M. 1085, 1088 (1973)) [hereinafter CITES].
49. Id.
50. Tuna II, supra note 44, ¶ 5.19.
51. See generally Endangered Species Act of 1973, 16 U.S.C. §§ 1531-1544 (1994).
52. See generally Dep't of Commerce, Justice, and State, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-162, § 609, 103 Stat. 988, 1037-38 (1989) (codified at 16 U.S.C. § 1537 (1994)).
53. Pub. L. No. 101-162, § 609(b)(1), 103 Stat. 988, 1038 (Nov. 21, 1989).
54. See Joshua R. Floum, Defending Dolphins and Sea Turtles: On the Front Lines of an "Us-Them" Dialectic, 10 GEO. INT'L ENVTL. L. REV. 943, 946 (1998).
55. See id.
56. See GATT Dispute Settlement Panel Report, United States - Import Prohibition of Certain Shrimp and Shrimp Products, May 15, 1998, available in 1998 WL 256632 (WTO) [hereinafter Sea Turtle Panel Report].
57. See Sea Turtle Conservation; Shrimp Trawling Requirements, 52 Fed. Reg. 24,244 (1987) (to be codified at 50 C.F.R. pts. 217, 222, 227).
58. See Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles Act, Nov. 21, 1989, Pub. L. No. 101-162, tit. IV, § 609, 103 Stat. 988, 1037 (1989).
59. See Sea Turtle Panel Report, supra note 56, at 5 (citing 56 Fed. Reg. 1051 (1991)).
60. Earth Island Inst. v. Christopher, 948 F. Supp. 1062, 1066-67 (Ct. Int'l Trade 1995).
61. Id.
62. See Sea Turtle Panel Report, supra note 56, at 65.
63. See id. at 7.
64. Floum, supra note 54, at 948.
65. See Sea Turtle Panel Report, supra note 56, at 7.
66. See id. at 6-7.
67. Id. at 65.
68. Id. at 65-66.
69. Office of the U.S.T.R., Agreement: Reports on Environmental Issues, Aug. 1994, available in 1994 WL 761804 (GATT).
70. See Sea Turtle Panel Report, supra note 56, at 3.
71. See id. at 4. Section 609 directs the Secretary of State to negotiate with other countries.
72. Id. at 18.
73. GATT 1947, supra note 2, art. XX.
74. Sea Turtle Panel Report, supra note 56, at 66.
75. See id. at 23-24.
76. Id. at 167.
77. Sea Turtle Panel Report, supra note 56, at 285.
78. See id.
79. See id. at 288.
80. See id.
81. See id.
82. See id. at 299. "We therefore find that the U.S. measure at issue is not within the scope of measures permitted under the chapeau of Article XX. . . . [W]e do not find it necessary to examine whether the U.S. measure is covered by the terms of Article XX (b) or (g)." id.
83. Id. at 288.
84. Id. at 429.
85. Tuna I, supra note 33, at 127.
86. See Appellate Body Report, United States - Standards for Reformulated and Conventional Gasoline, Apr. 29, 1996, available in 1996 WL 227476 (WTO).
87. Sea Turtle Panel Report, supra note 56, at 430.
88. Id. at 299.
89. See id. at 288.
90. Id. at 292 (quoting the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969), art. 31(1)).
91. See id.
92. See id.
93. Id.
94. Id. (quoting the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969), art. 18).
95. Id.
96. Id. at 293.
97. See id.
98. Id. at 294 (quoting Tuna II, which was not adopted, but which provides "useful guidance").
99. See id. at 290.
100. See id.
101. See id.
102. See Sea Turtle Appellate Report, supra note 1.
103. See id.
104. See id. at 32.
105. See id. at 36.
106. Id.
107. Id. at 38.
108. Id. at 46-48.
109. Id. at 46 (emphasis added).
110. See id. at 48-49.
111. See, e.g., Jeffrey L. Dunoff, Reconciling International Trade With Preservation of the Global Commons: Can We Prosper and Protect?, 99 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 1407 (1992); John H. Jackson, World Trade Rules and Environmental Policies: Congruence or Conflict?, 49 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 1227 (1992); Philip M. Nichols, Trade Without Values, 90 NW. U. L. REV. 658 (1996); Thomas J. Schoenbaum, Agora: Trade and the Environment, 86 AM. J. INT'L L. 700 (1992); G. Richard Shell, Trade Legalism and International Relations Theory: An Analysis of the World Trade Organization, 44 DUKE L.J. 829 (1995); William J. Snape, Searching For GATT's Environmental Miranda: Are "Process Standards" Getting "Due Process"?, 27 CORNELL INT'L L.J. 777 (1994); Christopher A. Cherry, Comment, Environmental Regulation within the GATT Regime: A New Definition of "Product", 40 UCLA L. REV. 1061 (1993).
112. See, e.g., Jeffrey L. Dunoff, Reconciling International Trade With Preservation of the Global Commons: Can We Prosper and Protect?, 99 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 1407 (1992); John H. Jackson, World Trade Rules and Environmental Policies: Congruence or Conflict?, 49 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 1227 (1992); Philip M. Nichols, Trade Without Values, 90 NW. U. L. REV. 658 (1996); Thomas J. Schoenbaum, Agora: Trade and the Environment, 86 AM. J. INT'L L. 700 (1992); G. Richard Shell, Trade Legalism and International Relations Theory: An Analysis of the World Trade Organization, 44 DUKE L.J. 829 (1995); William J. Snape, Searching For GATT's Environmental Miranda: Are "Process Standards" Getting "Due Process"?, 27 CORNELL INT'L L.J. 777 (1994); Christopher A. Cherry, Comment, Environmental Regulation within the GATT Regime: A New Definition of "Product", 40 UCLA L. REV. 1061 (1993).
113. See, e.g., Jeffrey L. Dunoff, Reconciling International Trade With Preservation of the Global Commons: Can We Prosper and Protect?, 99 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 1407 (1992); John H. Jackson, World Trade Rules and Environmental Policies: Congruence or Conflict?, 49 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 1227 (1992); Philip M. Nichols, Trade Without Values, 90 NW. U. L. REV. 658 (1996); Thomas J. Schoenbaum, Agora: Trade and the Environment, 86 AM. J. INT'L L. 700 (1992); G. Richard Shell, Trade Legalism and International Relations Theory: An Analysis of the World Trade Organization, 44 DUKE L.J. 829 (1995); William J. Snape, Searching For GATT's Environmental Miranda: Are "Process Standards" Getting "Due Process"?, 27 CORNELL INT'L L.J. 777 (1994); Christopher A. Cherry, Comment, Environmental Regulation within the GATT Regime: A New Definition of "Product", 40 UCLA L. REV. 1061 (1993).
114. See, e.g., Jeffrey L. Dunoff, Reconciling International Trade With Preservation of the Global Commons: Can We Prosper and Protect?, 99 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 1407 (1992); John H. Jackson, World Trade Rules and Environmental Policies: Congruence or Conflict?, 49 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 1227 (1992); Philip M. Nichols, Trade Without Values, 90 NW. U. L. REV. 658 (1996); Thomas J. Schoenbaum, Agora: Trade and the Environment, 86 AM. J. INT'L L. 700 (1992); G. Richard Shell, Trade Legalism and International Relations Theory: An Analysis of the World Trade Organization, 44 DUKE L.J. 829 (1995); William J. Snape, Searching For GATT's Environmental Miranda: Are "Process Standards" Getting "Due Process"?, 27 CORNELL INT'L L.J. 777 (1994); Christopher A. Cherry, Comment, Environmental Regulation within the GATT Regime: A New Definition of "Product", 40 UCLA L. REV. 1061 (1993).
115. See, e.g., Jeffrey L. Dunoff, Reconciling International Trade With Preservation of the Global Commons: Can We Prosper and Protect?, 99 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 1407 (1992); John H. Jackson, World Trade Rules and Environmental Policies: Congruence or Conflict?, 49 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 1227 (1992); Philip M. Nichols, Trade Without Values, 90 NW. U. L. REV. 658 (1996); Thomas J. Schoenbaum, Agora: Trade and the Environment, 86 AM. J. INT'L L. 700 (1992); G. Richard Shell, Trade Legalism and International Relations Theory: An Analysis of the World Trade Organization, 44 DUKE L.J. 829 (1995); William J. Snape, Searching For GATT's Environmental Miranda: Are "Process Standards" Getting "Due Process"?, 27 CORNELL INT'L L.J. 777 (1994); Christopher A. Cherry, Comment, Environmental Regulation within the GATT Regime: A New Definition of "Product", 40 UCLA L. REV. 1061 (1993).
116. See, e.g., Jeffrey L. Dunoff, Reconciling International Trade With Preservation of the Global Commons: Can We Prosper and Protect?, 99 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 1407 (1992); John H. Jackson, World Trade Rules and Environmental Policies: Congruence or Conflict?, 49 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 1227 (1992); Philip M. Nichols, Trade Without Values, 90 NW. U. L. REV. 658 (1996); Thomas J. Schoenbaum, Agora: Trade and the Environment, 86 AM. J. INT'L L. 700 (1992); G. Richard Shell, Trade Legalism and International Relations Theory: An Analysis of the World Trade Organization, 44 DUKE L.J. 829 (1995); William J. Snape, Searching For GATT's Environmental Miranda: Are "Process Standards" Getting "Due Process"?, 27 CORNELL INT'L L.J. 777 (1994); Christopher A. Cherry, Comment, Environmental Regulation within the GATT Regime: A New Definition of "Product", 40 UCLA L. REV. 1061 (1993).
117. See, e.g., Jeffrey L. Dunoff, Reconciling International Trade With Preservation of the Global Commons: Can We Prosper and Protect?, 99 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 1407 (1992); John H. Jackson, World Trade Rules and Environmental Policies: Congruence or Conflict?, 49 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 1227 (1992); Philip M. Nichols, Trade Without Values, 90 NW. U. L. REV. 658 (1996); Thomas J. Schoenbaum, Agora: Trade and the Environment, 86 AM. J. INT'L L. 700 (1992); G. Richard Shell, Trade Legalism and International Relations Theory: An Analysis of the World Trade Organization, 44 DUKE L.J. 829 (1995); William J. Snape, Searching For GATT's Environmental Miranda: Are "Process Standards" Getting "Due Process"?, 27 CORNELL INT'L L.J. 777 (1994); Christopher A. Cherry, Comment, Environmental Regulation within the GATT Regime: A New Definition of "Product", 40 UCLA L. REV. 1061 (1993).
118. Guruswamy, supra note 20, at 288.
119. GATT 1994, supra note 2, art. 3:4.
120. See id. at 287. See generally Richard J. McLaughlin, Settling Trade-Related Disputes Over the Protection of Marine Living Resources: UNCLOS or the WTO?, 10 GEO. INT'L ENVTL. L. REV. 29 (1997).
121. See id. at 287. See generally Richard J. McLaughlin, Settling Trade-Related Disputes Over the Protection of Marine Living Resources: UNCLOS or the WTO?, 10 GEO. INT'L ENVTL. L. REV. 29 (1997).
122. Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, U.N. Doc. A/Conf.62/122 (1982), S. TREATY DOC. NO. 103-39 (1994) [hereinafter UNCLOS].
123. See generally Guruswamy, supra note 20.
124. See id. at 312.
125. See id. at 296.
126. Foster, supra note 41, at 433 ("They argue that the GATT's role with respect to the environment should be limited to making an additional contribution to environmental goals, and point out that the 1947 GATT was 'crafted to accommodate only a limited range of trade-environment intersections. . . . [and] for the most part treated environmental issues as peripheral.'");
127. see also Benedict Kingsbury, Environment and Trade: The GATT/WTO Regime in the International Legal System, in ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH 189, 190 (A.E. Boyle ed., 1994);
128. Piritta Sorsa, GATT and the Environment: Basic Issues and Some Developing Country Concerns, in WORLD BANK DISCUSSION PAPERS: INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND THE ENVIRONMENT 325 (Patrick Low ed., 1992). Another perspective is that of Sanford E. Gaines: Environmentally grounded analysts propose to resolve the trade-environment conflict through new trade rules to unshackle the authority of governments to respond to the world's urgent environmental challenges without forcing them to sacrifice the competitive position of their producers in the global marketplace. Trade-orientated analysts, who emphasize the national and global benefits of liberalized trade, respond that governments can and must find ways to protect the environment without threatening the carefully crafted rules of the World Trade Organization agreements, which form the essential foundation for efficient operation of the global economy and help satisfy the aspirations of billions of people for a decent life.
129. Sanford E. Gaines, Rethinking Environmental Protection, Competitiveness, and International Trade, 1997 U. CHI. LEGAL F. 231 (1997).
130. See Sea Turtle Panel Report, supra note 56, at 51 ("The Inter-American Convention thus provides convincing demonstration that an alternative course of action was reasonably open to the United States for securing the legitimate policy goal of its measure, a course of action other than the unilateral and non-consensual procedures of the import prohibition under Section 609.").
131. Id. at 300.
132. See id. at 283.
133. DSU, supra note 14, at 1234.
134. Sea Turtle Panel Report, supra note 56, at 284.
135. See id.
136. See Sea Turtle Appellate Report, supra note 1, at 29.
137. Id. (emphasis added).
138. Id. (emphasis added).
139. See id. at 30.
140. Foster, supra note 41, at 435.
141. Id. at 435.
142. See id. at 435-37; see also Steve Charnovitz, Participation of Nongovernmental Organizations in the World Trade Organization, 17 U. PA. J. INT'L ECON. L. 331, 335-40 (1996).
143. See id. at 435-37; see also Steve Charnovitz, Participation of Nongovernmental Organizations in the World Trade Organization, 17 U. PA. J. INT'L ECON. L. 331, 335-40 (1996).
144. See Advertisement, N.Y. TIMES, Dec. 14, 1992, at A12 (noting that the WTO was a "sneak attack on democracy" that would increase "poisons and toxins" and was run by "faceless trade bureaucrats").
145. See GATT Dispute Settlement Panel Report, EEC - Payments and Subsidies Paid to Processors and Producers of Oilseeds and Related Animal-Feed Proteins, Dec. 14, 1989, GATT B.I.S.D. 378, at 86.