Potter, Pitman B. --- "Coordinating human rights and trade policy in China: the case of environmental protection" [2017] ELECD 698; in Biukovic, Ljiljana; Potter, B. Pitman (eds), "Local Engagement with International Economic Law and Human Rights" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 215

Book Title: Local Engagement with International Economic Law and Human Rights

Editor(s): Biukovic, Ljiljana; Potter, B. Pitman

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781785367182

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: Coordinating human rights and trade policy in China: the case of environmental protection

Author(s): Potter, Pitman B.

Number of pages: 21

Abstract/Description:

This chapter examines China’s responses to its environmental challenges and the implications for performance of international trade standards associated with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). As the chapters in this volume suggest, coordinating international trade and human rights performance remains difficult. The relationship between trade policy and the human right to a clean environment is an important illustration of the challenges and possibilities of achieving coordinated performance. This chapter finds that despite hopeful recent developments, China’s performance on environmental protection remains conflicted due to inconsistent policy direction and institutional oversight. Its environmental challenges and the regulatory system developed to manage them have also affected its trade policy performance, which faces continued challenges under GATT/WTO dispute-settlement processes. The importance of strengthening China’s environmental protection efforts and coordinating these with trade policy performance invites consideration of alternative approaches to confronting China’s environmental challenges. The potential for corporate social responsibility measures to improve the effectiveness of its environmental protection regime suggests hopeful possibilities for strengthening performance of international trade standards.