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23 Geo. Int'l Envtl. L. Rev. 71 (2010-2011)
Environmental Standards under the Peru FTA: A Template for the WTO

handle is hein.journals/gintenlr23 and id is 73 raw text is: Environmental Standards under the Peru FTA: A
Template for the WTO?*
THoMAS WERGE**
ABSTRACT
The World Trade Organization has been criticized for promoting free trade at
the cost of environmental protection. Only the exceptions of Article XX of the
GATT stand as defenses to the prima facie violation found for most environmen-
tal measures under the WTO. The U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, which
took effect at the beginning of 2009, contains a novel set of substantive and
procedural provisions aimed at environmental protection. The PTPA incorporates
a series of multilateral environmental agreements directly into the trade context
and enforces environmental laws through a series of mechanisms, including
dispute settlement. However, the rocky implementation of the environmental
provisions of PTPA, and the violence that occurred in Bagua between the
indigenous communities of Peru and government officials, highlight the problem
with rushed adoption of strong environmental rules. Despite this challenge, and
in light of the WTO Appellate Body's environmental rulings in the Shrimp-
Turtle, Reformulated Gasoline, and Brazil Tires cases, the PTPA can stand to
provide solutions to combat ongoing environmental criticism of the WTO. This
can be accomplished through incorporation of PTPA-styled provisions directly
into the text of the WTO agreements. However, with little environmental change
likely to occur at Doha, bilateral and regional trade agreements styled after the
PTPA, but implemented more effectively, may be the key to the increasing
environmental protections in the multilateral trading system.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Introduction.........................................            72
H. The U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement....................       73
A. Negotiating and Adoption History.......................       73
B. PTPA Overview .................................. .            75
* This paper was developed as part of the Law and Policy of International Economic Relations Seminar and
the Institute of International Economic Law at Georgetown Law.
** Thomas Werge, J.D. 2010 Georgetown Law, cum laude; Certificate in WTO Studies 2010, Institute of
International Economic Law, Georgetown Law; dual citizen of the United States of America and the Republic of
Peru. I am very grateful to Professors John H. Jackson, R. Michael Gadbaw, Barry E. Carter, and especially C.
Christopher Parlin for their guidance in the creation of this article. I am also thankful for the help of Cathy
Malina, Sarah Stewart, Mara M. Burr, and my wife Halie Crocker Werge. @ 2011, Thomas Werge.

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