국제통상체제 하 환경규범 발전과 對한국 시사점

Abstract

Free trade and environmental protection have hardly maintained a symmetric balance for more than half a century in spite of the necessity and importance of the matter. The multilateral trade system, represented by the GATT and the WTO, was in the end unsuccessful in dealing with the field, leaning towards the economic objectives as found in multiple trade dispute cases. With the drift of the multilateral system, better known as the DDA, FTAs have overthrown the role and significantly contributed to the legal development of trade-related environmental provisions, mainly led by the United States and the European Union. They not only provided a model text for the environmental provisions in FTAs, yet also transplanted such DNAs in their FTA partners. Korea is one of the pertinent examples and has experienced a quantum-leaf-like evolution in such provisions by negotiating the agreements with the two nations simultaneously. The lessons Korea learned from the United States and the European Union are expected to assign a more meaningful role to the nation in its future FTA negotiations, especially when Korea encounters with the trade partners that are yet to perceive the significance of mutual prosperities of trade and environment.