WTO Dispute Settlement Body—Article XX environmental exceptions to GATT—national treatment—consistency urith GATT of U.S. rules regarding imports of reformulated gasoline

Abstract

United States—Standards for Reformulated and Conventional Gasoline. 35ILM 603 (1996).World Trade Organization Appellate Body, April 29, 1996.In United States—Standards for Reformulated and Conventional Gasoline (Gasoline), the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body in its first decision addressed one of the most difficult contemporary issues in international trade— the tension between the growth of international trade and the protection of the global environment. The Appellate Body decided that rules regarding standards for cleanliness of gasoline (Gasoline Rule) adopted under the Clean Air Act by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which required importers of gasoline to meet different standards from those required of domestic refiners, were not justifiable restrictions on trade under the environmental exceptions of Article XX of GATT 1994 (GATT).