The recent Joint Communication to the European Council and Parliament on Trade and the Environment makes it appropriate to consider how the European Union deals with these two important but at times apparently irreconcilable issues. This article will briefly examine the different approaches adopted by the GA TT9 the WTO and the EU, consider the extent to which the European Court of Justice has developed an acceptable compromise and postulate how, in the light of the Communication, EU policy on trade and the environment might well merit study on the part of the international community.
European Energy and Environmental Law Review