International Business Law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

International Business Law - Assignment Example The overall importance of WTO is critical regarding establishing a link between trade and environment because it is the single most important document which governs the international trade. The growing debate therefore is focused upon the potential role of WTO in clearly establishing a link between global trade and environment. Prescription of different standards as well as the framework therefore is one of the key tasks which WTO has to perform in order to comprehensively establish the link between the two. This paper will discuss the linkages between trade and environment and how it has remained on of the important challenges for international business law. This paper will also discuss as to what steps by WTO during last decade to properly address this issue within the perspective of international trade. Environment and international trade Trade is considered as beneficial for the society and the economy and its liberalization can actually help any society to achieve greater econom ic resources. It is critical to understand however that with increased trade and production processes, the overall pace of economic degeneration can expedite and the results can be both negative as well as positive. Environment can be protected if cleaner technologies are implemented which involve less energy consumption besides relying more on labor intensive techniques. The environment can also be damaged because growth in production process requires more energy and raw materials and hence more environmental de-gradation can take place. There is therefore a nexus between environment and international trade and how expansion of international trade can actually result into both the protection as well as degradation of environment. (Charnovitz, 2007.) Serious efforts to actually integrate concerns for environment and international trade started during 1970s and as a result of this growing debate, an international conference in Stockholm took place to debate on the future course of de fining how international trade agreements can actually affect the businesses with significant potential to damage environment. Prior to this conference, GATT undertook a study on its own behalf to determine and explore the impact of environmental protection policies on international trade. In same year, Environmental Measures and International Trade Group was established however, it remained inactive for more than two decades and it was only in during 1992 that this group was convened by members. (Charnovitz, 2007.) Subsequent legislative efforts include Tokyo round and Uruguay round went on to establish different standards and kick started the process of integrating international trade with that of the environment protection. There was also growing concerns among developing countries regarding the export of those products which were considered as environmentally damaging with serious safety and health related issues. The overall debate was therefore based upon the argument that fre e trade has an impact on the environment and that higher levels of free trade can further result into damage to the environment. (Charnovitz, 2007.) The recent efforts however by WTO clearly outline the way the nexus between free trade and environment. Though WTO