Voluntary Ecolabels in International Trade Law: A Case Study of the EU Ecolabel

作     者：Du, Ming 

作者机构：China Univ Polit Sci & Law Sch Int Law Beijing Peoples R China Univ Durham Ctr Chinese Law & Policy Durham Law Sch Durham England 

出 版 物：《JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW》 (环境法杂志)

年 卷 期：2021年第33卷第1期

页      面：167-193页

核心收录：

学科分类：0301[法学-法学] 0830[工学-环境科学与工程（可授工学、理学、农学学位）] 03[法学] 

主　　题：EU Ecolabel voluntary standard WTO the TBT Agreement 

摘      要：One category of voluntary approaches to environmental governance is ecolabels used to nudge consumers towards purchasing environmentally friendly products. The purpose of this article is to critically review the trade law implications of voluntary ecolabels, with special reference to the EU Ecolabel. For a long time, the lack of trade disputes related to the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement) before the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body rendered research on the legality of voluntary ecolabels in trade law unavoidably speculative. Consequently, the existing scholarship has failed to inform the environment law community clearly how trade law views voluntary ecolabels. This article aims to fill the gap in the literature by evaluating the consistency of the EU Ecolabel with the TBT rules. The article concludes that it is highly unlikely that the EU Ecolabel may be found inconsistent with the TBT Agreement. Nevertheless, there remains some legal risks.