Suchergebnisse

The subject of this article is the technical barriers to trade (TBT) provisions in preferential trade agreements (PTAs). More precisely, it inquires into TBT provisions in PTAs that go beyond the scope of the rules enshrined in the World Trade Organization's (WTO) TBT Agreement. To this end, it aims to answer three questions. First, what kind of new TBT rules do modern PTAs contain? Second, what explains their existence, given that PTAs usually already incorporate or resemble WTO rules on domestic regulatory measures, such as Article III of the GATT 1994 or the TBT Agreement, which address technical barriers to a certain extent? And, finally, are such rules consistent with the requirements set forth by WTO law? For purposes of illustration, the recently concluded free trade agreement (FTA) between the European Union (EU) and Korea is used as a case study.

Mestrado em Toxicologia e Ecotoxicologia ; Organotins (OTs) are organometallic compounds. Despite of the multiple applications of the OTs, the notoriety of these compounds is due to tributyltin (TBT), a potent biocide used in antifouling paints since the 60s to prevent biofouling on submerged surfaces, including the hulls of ships. Despite of the extreme effectiveness of these paints in combating biofouling, they are also extremely toxic to non-target organisms, therefore several legislative measures restricting their use were implemented in several countries worldwide. TBT causes a huge variety of adverse effects on non-target species (sublethal / lethal) of different taxonomic groups (from bacteria to mammals). The first evidence of adverse effects induced by TBT on non-target species emerged in the 70s in oysters of the species Crassostrea gigas in the Bay of Arcachon, France. Their shells have suffered thickening with consequent decrease in the volume of edible portion, reducing its commercial value. In the same decade was verified the occurrence of male sexual characteristics in female prosobranch gastropods (formation of a penis and / or development of a vas deferens), by exposure to TBT. This phenomenon was coined as "imposex" by Smith in 1971. The imposex is the best known example of endocrine disruption caused by a pollutant being used as a biomarker to monitoring the environmental pollution by TBT. The gastropods are used globally for monitoring environmental pollution by TBT. In the present work we studied how gastropods have been used to track the course of TBT pollution worldwide during the last decade (2003-2013), and the main results obtained. We searched for the number of published articles by year / continent and country regarding the bioindicator species most used in biomonitoring TBT pollution in function of their geographical location; we evaluated the efficacy of the AFS Convention in reducing TBT pollution worldwide; we evaluated the temporal evolution (2003-2013) of the levels of imposex ...