Trade Law and Environmental Issues in Central and East European Countries

Michael Rauscher ()

No 1045, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: International trade and environmental regulation are interdependent. Central and East European Countries (CEECs) are now being integrated in international markets, and the question arises how environmental issues should be taken account of during this process and which institutional framework is appropriate. The first part of the paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on trade and the environment and shows that the empirical evidence of a close link between international trade and environmental issues is not particularly strong. Another section of the paper looks at the environmental policies of the CEECs and at their comparative advantages. The main part of the paper deals with trade law and institutions that are of major importance in the context of environmental disruptions and with environmental policy instruments and institutions that affect the patterns of trade and can be used for protectionist purposes. They are discussed in the context of the experience with existing international agreements. The major questions are: (i) how the capture of environmental regulation by protectionist interest groups can be avoided; (ii) under which circumstances the CEECs should adjust their environmental standards to West European levels; (iii) whether and when green barriers to trade should be used; (iv) what can be done to avoid harmful tax competition in the field of environmental regulation; and (v) how international disputes can be resolved.

Keywords: Environmental Policy; International Agreements; Trade Policy; Transition of Centrally Planned Economies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F02 Q20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1994-10
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=1045 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:1045

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.cepr.org/ ... ers/dp.php?dpno=1045

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().