International environmental agreements and the free movement of goods in the EC: the case of the Montreal Protocol

Recently there has been considerable discussion of the possible conflict between international environmental agreements and trade agreements such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The aim of this paper is to look at a possible conflict between international environmental agreements and the provisions of the EC Treaty on the free movement of goods, focusing on and using as an example the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone layer. This paper begins with a brief account of the production and consumption of, and trade in, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by EC member states. Such production, consumption and trade is governed by the Vienna convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer 1985 and the Montreal Protocol of 1987. The paper will go on to outline the main provisions of the Convention and Protocol, focusing on the provisions concerning trade in FCs. The next sections of the paper examine participation by the EC and its member states in the Convention and Protocol, together with their implementation, and the implications for trade in CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances by EC member states. The paper ends with some brief conclusions. -from Authors