The origin and development of green barriers

Introduction: green barrier, also known as environmental barrier In the field of international trade, some countries, by virtue of their scientific and technological advantages and for the purpose of protecting the environment and human health, adopt legislation or formulate strict mandatory technical regulations to restrict the access of foreign commodities The green barrier results from the increasingly serious ecological disaster in the world In the early stage, the formation of green barriers is mainly to protect the ecological environment and human security requirements; at the same time, the improvement of consumer environmental awareness and the rise of global green consumption movement also promote the development of green barriers Another important factor for the emergence and development of green barriers is the rise of trade protectionism After the Uruguay Round negotiations, tariffs, as the main form of trade barriers, have been gradually reduced, while traditional non-tariff barriers have been gradually removed As a result, there is little room for tariffs and traditional non-tariff barriers to restrict imports Therefore, trade and environment, which are not related in the history of world trade, are bound together by a green link, and green barriers appear In the last five years of the last century, marked by the establishment of the WTO Committee on Trade and environment in 1995, the green trade barrier no longer plays a young supporting role in the international trade arena, but ranks among the important roles On November 30, 1999, at the 3rd WTO Ministerial Conference held in Seattle, the United States of America, Member States had a wide discussion on the issues of environment and trade At this time, environmental protection, a green trade barrier, has become an unavoidable reality in world trade     The main forms of green barriers are green tariffs, green market access, "green countervailing", "green antidumping", environmental trade sanctions, the promotion of domestic ppm standards and other standards, consumer choice (green consumption), mandatory green signs, mandatory ISO14000 certification, cumbersome import inspection procedures and inspection systems, and requirements for recycling , government procurement, deposit system, etc Although the formation of green barriers is only a matter of nearly 10 years, it has become more and more globalized and has been accelerating its development Since the 1990s, developed countries have successively formulated a series of 'green standards' At present, the most stringent one is the European Union ecological textile standard formulated by the international environmental protection organization It needs every component (including buttons and zippers) of the clothing products to pass the relevant inspection and certification Up to now, the international community has formulated 1560 environmental and resource protection treaties, and more and more environmental protection laws and regulations have been formulated by various countries For example, Germany has formulated more than 1800 environmental protection laws, regulations and management rules Many countries pay more attention to food import In 1991, 427 pesticide residues in food were standardized in 32 countries and regions For those who do not comply with the regulations, developed countries have taken various restrictive and punitive measures such as banning and restricting imports In 1996 alone, EU countries banned imports of non green products worth 22 billion US dollars, of which 90% were provided by developing countries.