NAFTA and THE ENVIRONMENT

This paper will address how NAFTA's Side Agreement on the Environment was created. The discussion will explain how the environmental programs help to improve the infrastructure of NAFTA. Also, this paper will analyze three aspects of the Side Agreement: (1) the general principles, objectives and commitments, (2) the general structure and operation of the new Commission for Environmental Cooperation, and (3) the function and scope of the dispute settlement system. Moreover, the paper will examine some of the problems that the Side Agreement is intended to address, including the issues raised by the Tuna/Dolphin cases.

The Conflict Between International Trade Regulation and Environmental Protection

Environmentalists are increasingly concerned about the need to establish an environmental protection framework to address environmental issues on a global scale. Currently, no such international agency or regime exists. For the most part, international environmental concerns are addressed domestically by individual nations. Also, unilateral measures taken by the contracting parties to the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GATT) to protect the environment either inside or outside of their territories often lead to a direct conflict with GATT obligations. For instance, several cases including two recent decisions by GATT dispute resolution panels hearing complaints over the United States restrictions on impor

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-page document which addresses subjects ranging from tariff reductions relating to trade in goods to intellectual property, cross-boundary dispute settlement procedures, and rules of origin for goods (Schwenker, 1993, p. 1360). And, while NAFTA does not create total free trade between the three large countries, it does substantially reduce trade barriers by either immediately eliminating or eventually phasing out customs duties. However, NAFTA's measures for environmental protection generally do little more than merely recognizing that existing international environmental agreements have precedence over NAFTA. In the area of environmental protection, NAFTA merely maintains the status quo by incorporating by reference the authority granted to countries under GATT, Article XX, which generally allows for the imposition of barriers which relate to the protection of health and welfare of both humans and animals, as well as other exhaustible natural resources (Schwenker, 1993, p. 1361). The Environmental Problem NAFTA has the potential for causing harmful repercussions to the environment of both Mexico and the United States. Unfortunately, the absence of specific environmental protection regulations in NAFTA permits Mexico's weak
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 5400
Approximate Pages = 22 (250 words per page)

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