The international community has recognized that the promotion of sustainable development must be the ultimate goal of all economic policy. Indeed, both the preamble to the 1994 Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the 2001 Doha Ministerial Declaration of the WTO include statements in support of this critical distinction between promoting economic development and promoting sustainable development.

But how can trade policy better promote sustainable development? And how can sustainable development policy better promote trade? In the Standards for Sustainable Trade project we have addressed these interconnected concerns by focusing on how countries can reduce the negative impact of sustainable development standards on market access and increase the positive impact of these standards on corporate behaviour.

In a growing number of sectors, concern for sustainable development is increasingly expressed through purchasing preferences. Access to certain markets—particularly in OECD countries—increasingly depends on demonstrating to government or corporate and individual consumers that products have been produced according to the principles of sustainable development. Compliance with relevant standards—be they on fisheries or forest management; energy efficiency; human health and safety; hazardous waste management; or labour standards—has become a symbol in the marketplace for compliance with the principles of sustainable development.

Environmental and social standards are intended to favour "sustainable" producers. Those who comply with the requirements gain access to certain markets; those who do not comply are left out. But what is becoming increasingly evident is that companies in developing countries are being left out of markets not because of an unwillingness to comply, but due to a fundamental lack of institutional and technical capacity. What is needed to correct this situation?

Countries need institutions that help them identify which standards are required for which markets; they need the scientific and technical capacity to assess foreign standards and to ensure that they are relevant to their domestic context; they need national standards bodies that are well-resourced and able to participate in setting international standards; and they need competitive certification service industries and competent accreditation bodies. In most cases, developing countries lack adequate capacity in several of these and other areas.

If standards are to be useful in promoting sustainable trade, then developing countries need the capacity to create and operate these institutions. This will require significant levels of technical assistance.

With the support of the European Commission DG Trade and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), the Standards for Sustainable Trade project is the first phase of what is intended to be a long-term initiative to help provide this technical assistance to developing countries. The first phase, now completed, consists of a needs assessment in three regions: South Asia; Southern and Eastern Africa; and South America. In particular, we looked to identify areas where Southern cooperation could help to build regional capacity. Phase 1 culminated in three regional workshops in Dhaka, Bangladesh; Nairobi, Kenya; and in Santiago, Chile.

The project final report, along with each of the regional summary reports, will be available on this Web site in the near future. The project partners are in the process of developing detailed follow-up proposals to implement selected recommendations. Updates will be posted to this Web site as they become available.

For a list of the other outputs of this project, please click here.

This project is being implemented under the aegis of the Regional and International Networking Group (the RING). It is managed by IISD and overseen by an Advisory Committee. The regional research is being undertaken by our regional partners the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies; the African Centre for Technology Studies (Kenya), and RIDES – Recursos e Investigación para el Desarrollo Sustentable (Chile).

For more information please contact Tom Rotherham or one of our project partners.

European Commission, DG Trade



Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs