Date: February 23, 2012

Topic: Climate Change Policy of European Union – from a WTO Law Retrospect and Perspective.

The 7th Climate Change Law and Policy Forum was hosted by PLES with Professor Yao-Ming Hsu from NCCU College of Law invited as the chief speaker, touched on the issues regarding European Union Climate Change policies from a retrospective point of view of WTO Law. PLES also invited guest speakers Yi-Yuan Su, Assistant Professor of NCHU and Assistant Professor Anton Ming-Zhi Gao from Institute of Law for Science and Technology, NTHU to participate in the forum.

Associate Professor Yao-Ming Hsu first addressed that currently, the European Union has mostly adopted unofficial sources of law as the regulations in climate change field, including programme, communication, and open method of coordination. Associate Professor Hsu further discussed the main materials of European Union’s climate change regulations. That being said, Associate Professor Hsu pointed out the relevant issues of WTO’s legal system and climate change. Issues such as establishing the categories of like products, whether or not the energy standard or emission standard conforms to GATT’s general exception clauses, definition of dumping, and climate change related border tax were brought on the table. Associate Professor Hsu pointed out that in order to resolve the conflict between climate change and WTO’s legal systems; we might have to start with the interpretation of DSB treaties, the strengthening according to legislation and CTE’s function, and the specific references of revision in between treaties.

Assistant Professor Yi-Yuan Su, on the other hand, has discussed about carbon right from the perspective of Taiwanese legal system. Assistant Professor Su deemed that the issues of carbon right were established on its nature and character of the property. How we define the character of carbon right is vital for Taiwan to promote carbon emission trade in the future. Secondly, the intense sovereignty as the nature of carbon right is also a hot topic for our coming future. Finally, Assistant Professor Anton Ming-Zhi Gao cut into the point from the development of Taiwanese climate change technology industries, presuming two issues as follows: 1) How Taiwanese technology industry ought not to confront with WTO’s free trade regulations; and 2) how the policy could achieve the purpose of subsidizing and helping the domestic industry to grow indeed.

Slides on Associate Professor Yao-Ming Hsu’s Keynote Speech
 

Slides on Assistant Professor Ming-Zhi Gao’s Paneling speech