The precautionary principle, the environment and international trade: Sovereignty and collective preferences in question

The topic of this paper is to consider the possible impacts of the precautionary principle on international trade rules. In connection with questions pertaining to the legitimate place to give to collective preferences in trade agreements, it will begin by underlining the ambiguity of usages of the precautionary principle regarding the implementation of international coordination and the emergence of a global order. There is first an internal tension between the required sovereignty and legitimacy of institutions in charge of the prevention of collective risks and the need of international cooperation and coordination for supranational risks such as climate change and biodiversity loss. Beyond it can be expected that the coupling of environmental and trade issues under the precautionary principle will provoke a differentiation of rules of trades according to the reliance of information and guarantees on the environmental and social conditions of production all along the production chain. This process depends, as a cornerstone, of an extension of the concept of quality of goods relevant for public authorities and consumers. What is at stake is the whole set of technical guarantees and information that producers should bring to generate confidence and sustain trade relations.