Medidas ambientais unilaterais e restrição ao livre comércio uma análise sobre a compatibilidade do EUDR com o GATT

Abstract

This paper has the objective to examine the compatibility between the European Union Regulation on Deforestation (EUDR) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade of 1994 (GATT). EUDR prohibits import and trade of seven commodities and its derived products in the European Union market when associated with forest conversion for agricultural use since 2021. For this purpose, EUDR lays down due diligence obligations on European importers and confer to the European Commission the prerogative of attributing deforestation risks to different countries and regions. EUDR triggered significant reactions, especially from developing countries in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Amidst these critics, there was a specific emphasis on the unilateral attribution of risk to each country and the application of uniform criteria for deforestation to countries with different levels of territorial occupation. This paper seeks to evaluate the compatibility between EUDR and GATT, in particular, the possibility that its trade restrictions are admitted as exceptions to general GATT obligations based on Article XX(g), which deals with measures related to the conservation of exhaustible natural resources.