Green barrier is the abbreviation of green trade barrier, also known as environmental barrier. It means that in international trade, some countries take a series of harsh environmental protection laws and standards that are higher than internationally recognized or unacceptable to most countries to restrict or prohibit the import of foreign goods on the pretext of protecting ecological resources, environment and human health. For example, the United States refused to import gasoline from Venezuela because the lead (Pb) content exceeded its own regulations; The European Union banned the import of Canadian leather products because Canadian hunters used traps to catch a large number of wild animals. In 1990s, European countries banned the import of refrigerators containing freon, which led to a 59% decrease in the export volume of refrigerators in China. These are a series of events triggered by green barriers.
(2) the characteristics of green barriers
(1) rationality. The emergence of green barriers is the result of the continuous development of environmental protection movement. Its purpose is to protect the country's natural resources, ecological environment and people's health, and it is a measure to protect the national environment and achieve sustainable development. With the concept of sustainable development deeply rooted in people's hearts, people's requirements for environmental protection are getting higher and higher, and they are more and more sensitive to environmental problems, which makes people's consumption concept gradually change from simple consumption to green consumption. Green barrier is to grasp people's psychology of caring about the ecological environment and put on a reasonable coat for themselves.
(2) false. Generally speaking, green barrier is a new type of trade protectionism under the guise of protecting the ecological environment of the earth and human health, which seems reasonable, but actually creates trade barriers. On the surface, the standards of green barriers formulated by developed countries are the same, but in fact, their standards are flexible and changeable, and it is even more unreasonable that the standards are right or wrong. Moreover, most of the barriers are set for developing countries, so they are very deceptive.
(3) imbalance. Green barriers are usually set by developed countries for developing countries, so they are extremely unbalanced. It is very unfair to demand developing countries by the technical standards of developed countries, which is a kind of discrimination against developing countries with relatively backward technology, and its purpose is to limit the exports of developing countries.
4 concealment. Green barriers are often hidden in various trade laws and international conventions and become the best excuse for importing countries to reject foreign products. Compared with other trade restrictions, it has more bright spots: on the one hand, it has formulated complex and diverse standards, which are difficult for exporting countries to deal with; On the other hand, it is very hidden, avoiding discrimination, friction, disputes and other issues, which makes exporters feel irrefutable.
(5) timeliness. Green barriers can only be effective for a certain period of time, and it is impossible for the implementers to permanently keep the products of specific exporters out of the country. If the exporter's products can't meet the requirements of the importing country for environmental protection measures, and their products are rejected, after a period of technological transformation and a series of green measures, the environmental standards and other technologies of their products will inevitably gradually meet the requirements of the importing country for environmental protection, then the original green barriers of the importing country to products will no longer exist. Therefore, the implementation of green barriers for a certain product has certain timeliness.
2. The background and reasons of green barriers.
(1) deterioration of the world ecological environment
Ecological environment is the foundation of human survival and development. All human activities are inseparable from the natural environment, but human society has destroyed the ecological environment intentionally or unintentionally while developing. At present, ecological environment problems not only affect the quality of human life, but also affect the foundation of human survival, and even develop to the point of destroying some human civilizations and threatening human survival.
When the ecological environment reaches its limit, it will take terrible revenge on mankind. Every minute, 28 people in the world die from environmental pollution, and150,000 people die every year. 800 million people get sick from drinking polluted water, and 25,000 people die every day. Due to environmental deterioration, by the end of this century, 14 countries will be unable to feed themselves, and 28,000 people will become environmental refugees. In the face of increasing retaliation from the natural environment, the international community has set off a powerful wave of environmental protection. People gradually realize that protecting the environment is the common responsibility of human beings and begin to take common actions.
(2) Promotion of environmental protection movement
It took a long time from the appearance of environmental problems to people's awareness of environmental protection and taking measures to strengthen environmental protection. Now all countries in the world have carried out environmental protection work to varying degrees, and people generally realize that in order to survive, human beings must change the traditional production mode that consumes a lot of natural resources and destroys the environment at the same time. Many countries have begun to publicize and educate the public, and taken measures to formulate a series of environmental trade systems such as environmental protection laws, standards and environmental labels related to international trade. However, the contents of the environmental trade system formulated by some countries, especially developed countries, are too strict and harsh, which restricts the development of international trade. Importing countries often use environmental protection as an excuse to prevent foreign goods from entering and constantly create green barriers.
(3) the change of trade protection form
Since the 1990s, developed countries have stepped up their efforts to find and apply more flexible and hidden non-tariff barriers while condemning each other for pursuing protectionist policies. In countries that have joined the WTO, tariff barriers and traditional non-tariff barriers have hardly become effective means to protect their own markets. Faced with the dual pressures of environmental protection and market opening, developed countries began to restrict the entry of foreign goods by setting up green trade barriers, and gradually developed into an effective means of trade protection.
3, the manifestations of green barriers
(1) environmental tariff system
This is the original form of green barrier, that is, importing countries impose additional import tariffs on some products that affect ecology and pollute the environment on the grounds of environmental protection. This is actually an environmental import surcharge, the direct result of which is to increase the import price and reduce the market competitiveness of imported goods, thus achieving the purpose of restricting imports.
(2) Environmental quota system
This system determines the sales quota of the domestic market according to the environmental protection reality of the products of exporting countries, which directly violates the principle of canceling the quantitative restrictions of WTO.
(3) environmental permit system
The environmental permit system requires that import and export can only be allowed on the basis of obtaining permission, that is, the exporting country must obtain the "prior notice and consent" of the importing country before exporting a certain commodity.
(4) Environmental subsidy system
When enterprises are unable to invest in expensive new environmental protection technologies and equipment or develop clean technology products, the government needs to take environmental subsidies to help raise funds to control pollution.
(5) Environmental trade sanctions
Environmental trade sanctions are extremely severe measures in green barriers. Those who are light prohibit imports and those who are heavy retaliate. For example, in 1994, the United States postponed the Perry Amendment to impose sanctions on Taiwan Province Province on the grounds of poor environmental protection in Taiwan Province Province, which caused economic losses to Taiwan Province Province100000.
(6) Environmental cost internalization system.
It refers to the internalization system of environmental costs formulated by some developed countries, and the protectionist measures implemented in the name of "ecological dumping" for products from countries with loose environmental standards.
(7) Technical standards for environmental protection and green standards for products
Some developed countries rely on the advantages of science and technology to formulate more and more strict and detailed mandatory environmental protection technical standards and green technical standards for products through legislative means to restrict the import of foreign goods. These standards are difficult for developing countries to meet, so it will inevitably exclude the products of developing countries from the international market.
(8) Environmental inspection and quarantine system
Developed countries are very sensitive to food safety and hygiene indicators, especially to pesticide residues, radioactive residues, heavy metal content and container quarantine requirements. This system has become an important tool for developed countries to control the import of goods from developing countries.
(9) Environmental packaging and labeling system
In order to prevent the negative impact of packaging materials on the environment and the harm of labels to society, some countries have made strict regulations on product packaging and labeling. This is a common environmental technical barrier, which can effectively prevent the products of exporting countries from entering.
(10) environmental labeling and certification system
Environmental labeling system, also known as green labeling system or ecological labeling system, refers to the specific marks issued by government departments or public or private organizations to relevant manufacturers according to certain environmental standards to prove that their products meet environmental standards. The winner of the logo can print or paste the logo on the product or its packaging to show consumers that the product meets the requirements of environmental protection in the whole process of production, use, consumption and recycling, and has less harm to the environment than other similar products, or has no adverse impact on the environment. It is different from the general commodity logo and represents a comprehensive evaluation of the environmental quality of products.
4, the status quo of green barriers
(1) Green barriers are used more and more frequently.
In recent ten years, green barriers have been used more and more frequently and have become another important trade measure after anti-dumping measures. Among the 49 17 products in the world, the trade volume of 3,746 products affected by green barriers reached $4.732 billion, accounting for 88% of the world's imports from 199 products, of which $679 billion was directly affected, accounting for 13%. Global * * * 137 importing countries have adopted green barrier measures. According to a survey conducted by the EU Environmental Protection Agency, the value of "non-green products" banned by EU countries in198 reached 30 billion US dollars, 90% of which came from developing countries, involving thousands of commodities such as textiles, clothing, cosmetics, daily necessities, toys, furniture and household appliances.
(2) The application of green barrier measures is more and more extensive.
Green barrier measures involve more and more fields. On the one hand, green barriers themselves are constantly adjusted and supplemented with the needs of social and economic development, and endless and varied green trade measures emerge as the times require, involving environmental protection, human health, biodiversity, animal and plant safety and other fields; On the other hand, the scope of the jurisdiction of green barriers is getting wider and wider. In recent years, green environmental protection requirements have been put forward not only for the product itself, but also for all aspects of the whole cycle, such as product design and development, raw material input, production mode, packaging materials, transportation, sales and after-sales service, and even the medical and health conditions of factory buildings, logistics facilities and operators. These green protection measures have brought great challenges to the foreign trade and economic development of developing countries.
(3) The target countries that set up green barriers have certain pertinence.
Green barriers are often aimed at emerging developing countries, because they have a certain economic foundation, and can make use of the advantages of domestic resources and labor to produce and export a large number of resources or labor-intensive products. The exported products have certain competitive advantages and are easy to pose a threat to similar industries in importing countries. Therefore, the exports of these developing countries are most vulnerable to the green barriers of developed countries. For example, mechanical and electrical products in China will be discussed later in the specific article.
(4) Green barrier measures are dynamic.
Green barriers are not static, but constantly changing. With the technological progress of importing countries and the continuous improvement of residents' environmental requirements, environmental standards are constantly developing in a higher and higher direction, which requires exporting countries to continuously carry out technological reforms to meet the environmental standards of importing countries. In addition, the dynamic nature of green barriers also shows that the implementation of green barriers often produces a linkage reaction, and the implementation of one country will immediately cause other countries to follow suit and spread rapidly from one country to many countries, thus causing a major blow to exporting countries.