Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-11-17-Speech-3-064"
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"en.19991117.3.3-064"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, if the Millennium Round and its opening is to be a success, then we must immediately address and pin down some basic problems. These are of course areas – and I shall mention a few of them – determined by the Environment Committee where, in the past, we have found deficiencies, areas where there are loopholes, areas where we noticed snags and catches. I will now mention a few of the most important of these areas which the Environment Committee has determined and which it considers to be important.
For example, as regards the precautionary principle, this must be clearly defined and we must have a definition as adopted at the Conference on the Environment and Development in Rio. This precautionary principle must be anchored in the WTO rules and regulations in a legally binding manner.
Secondly, it must be possible to implement, for example, the Multilateral Environment Agreement without triggering conflicts with the WTO.
Thirdly, the issue of providing information to consumers on preparation and production methods, commonly referred to as PPMs, and the possibility for Member States to take non-discriminatory measures. These issues must be included in the WTO negotiations.
Allow me to say something on the dispute settlement procedure. The dispute settlement procedure, with which we have always had so many problems in the past, and many dispute procedures which we did have concerned the areas of environmental policy, consumer protection and animal protection, must become more transparent. It must ensure that scientific expertise is independent and unambiguous and then it must also be recognised. It must not be the case, as with hormones, that the European Union is able to provide scientific expertise on the danger of hormones whilst we are obliged to pay compensation. Such situations must not be repeated in the future.
I have only mentioned a few of the most important points which my colleagues designate time and again as being important, because everyone will keep saying that in the World Trade Organisation environmental issues and consumer protection issues must be cited as a central theme.
I would like to thank the rapporteurs and my colleagues in the Industry Committee, and this does not go without saying and is not always the case, for incorporating many of the points which were determined in the Environment Committee in the final report, for including them in the amendments of the rapporteur and in the compromise amendments so that much of what the Environment Committee considers important for Seattle has been taken up in the report of Mr Schwaiger.
Mr Lamy, I therefore now ask you and the Commission to take up these points which I have mentioned here, and also more comprehensive points, to cement these basic points in the opening round and to ensure that in the Millennium Round in the coming years we can further develop them so that the World Trade Organisation is what we would like it to be – a social, just, environmentally-friendly trade organisation which allows us to conduct trade whilst allowing our people and our environment to exist."@en1
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