ABSTRACT
Since the 1970s and the rise of environmental consciousness, especially after China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), China has become part of the international environmental community. The development of international environmental law greatly promoted the process of domestic environmental policy-and lawmaking. Much of international environmental law is concerned with regulating environmental problems, providing common standards and practices for prevention or control of pollution, and promoting conservation and the sustainable use of environmental resources and energy. 1 However, national environmental legislation primarily depends on each country’s level of economic development, legal culture, and national interests. 2
* This chapter is part of the results of the Research Project on “ Current Trends of Chinese Law towards NonTrade Concerns such as Sustainable Development and the Protection of Environment, Public Health, Food Safety, Cultural, Social and Economic Rights, Labor Rights and the Reduction of Poverty from the Perspective of International Law and WTO Law ” coordinated by Professor Paolo Davide Farah at gLAWcal – Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development (United Kingdom) and at West Virginia University John D. Rockefeller IV School of Policy and Politics, Department of Public Administration, in partnership with the Center of Advanced Studies on Contemporary China (CASCC) in Turin (Italy), Maastricht University Faculty of Law, Department of International and European Law and IGIR – Institute for Globalisation and International Regulation (Netherlands), and Tsinghua University, School of Law, Institute of Public International Law and the Center for Research on Intellectual Property Law in Beijing (China). An early draft of this chapter was presented at the Conferences Series on “ China’s Infl uence on Non-Trade Concerns in International Economic Law ”, First Conference held at the Center of Advanced Studies on Contemporary China (CASCC) in Turin on November 23-24, 2011. This publication and the Conference Series were sponsored by China-EU School of Law (CESL) at the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL). The activities of CESL at CUPL are supported by the European Union and the People’s Republic of China.
