Notes for first essay

Moore, M (2003) "A world without walls"

• The global landscape has dramatically chanaged however institutions serving the world have not. - based on Westphalian ocncept of nation state

International Trade and Env protection

• Committee on trade and the environment (CTE) one of its tasks is to look at the "effect of market access, especially with respect to developing countries, particular the least developed amoungst them, and environmental benefits of removing trade restrictions and distortions"
• Packaging ordinance whereby manufactures must collect waste back from recyling services who process for a small fee. EU adpoted a regime in 94'. This sets min targets for recovery and recyling, standard methods for analysis of lifecycles, and measuring toxicity of content. The spread of these types of lifecycle or producer responsibility lawas  alarm manufacters as they will have protectionist effect - particularly with developing nations.
•  Waste - Basel convention on control of transboundary movements of waste - Prior consent required from recieving country. Parties must also avoid all shipments of waste if it will not be managed in an environmentally sound manner. Raises problems with WTO in two ways - Conference of the Parties accepted an ammendment to ban export of hazardous waste from industrialised countries to developing.
• The WTO Agreement on Trade related impacts of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) guarantees recogition and enforcement of IP backed by dispute settlement mechanism. Two features subsequently focused on (i) Transfer of environmentally friendly technology (ii) general relationship between TRIPS and Convention on Biological diversity. The biodiversity convention provides genetic resources of plants and animals are under the soverignty of the state - developing nations have the right to benefit from the developmet of these genetic resources as well as technology transfer.
• The Convention on Biodiversity and the TRIPS Agreement may come into conflict
  depending on how Article 16 of the Convention is interpreted concerning access to
  and transfer of technology. TRIPS  mandates a private, free-market  system  for the
  acquisition and transfer of rights to intellectual property. Article 28 confers on the
  patent owner the right to prevent the selling or importing of patented products; patent
  owners also have the exclusive right to assign, transfer or license their patents. The
  Biodiversity Convention, in contrast,  requires that the contracting parties provide
  for (i) priority or concessional access for developing countries; (ii) preferential terms
  for such countries; and (iii) joint research and development efforts by the firms that
  develop the IPRs and the country supplying the genetic resources.
  272. Clinton Administration repudiated these measures.
• An important question  that  may arise  under the  Biodiversity Convention and  the
  TRIPS Agreement is whether a developing country that believes its rights under the
  Convention are being denied can  resort  to compulsory licensing.  The  Biodiversity
  Convention contains no specific authorization of compulsory licensing, but it does
  authorize 'legislative, administrative or policy measures, as appropriate' to gain the
  rights granted  by  the access  to and transfer of technology and  biotechnology pro-
  visions.

Corrosive Corruption - Economist Article -