What are the trade issues associated with the ISO 14000 standards?

The intent of environmental management standards has been to develop a common language for environmental issues, so that customers, manufacturers, governments and other organizations can be assured that environmental issues have been taken into account in the activities and products of their trading partners.

However, TC 207 is also aware that standards can be used to limit trade - a fact recognized by the World Trade Organization when it set limits on the use of "non-tariff barriers" to trade. Environmental issues are highly regulated in many countries, and there are pressures in some areas to use regulations, as well as national and regional standards, to exclude goods and services on environmental grounds. On the commercial level, environmentally-related expectations and requirements of purchasers can have a significant effect on purchasing decisions, and can also affect trade.

By concentrating on management standards, and by emphasizing guidance over strict specifications in its documents, TC 207 has tried to create a positive mechanism for improving trade, while encouraging improvements in environmental performance. Its challenge now is to help ensure that the standards are used as intended, and not as a barrier to trade.

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