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Under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, more or less any aspect of policy or practice in one country that may discriminate, whether deliberately or not, against goods coming from another country other than tariffs is potentially a ‘non-tariff measure’ (NTM), and can be treated as a non-tariff barrier. That does not mean that all restrictions on the free flow of trade in wood products are banned. WTO rules allow importing countries to set limited safeguards on grounds of health or environmental concern.

However, so far WTO dispute panel rulings have generally imposed the narrowest possible interpretation to the scope of permitted restrictions on trade. Environmentally supportive activities potentially subject to reduction or prohibition under WTO rules include eco-labelling and forest certification schemes, import and export quotas, log export bans, requirements for recycling, and subsidies.

FERN’s report Trade liberalisation and its impact on forests (November 2000, PDF, 426k) provides more detailed information.