The proliferation of voluntary environmental standards, created and administered by non-governmental organizations - completely independent or with varying degrees of government participation - became a matter of concern for many less developed countries. These non-traditional sources of global regulation can constitute unjustifiable trade barriers that may be beyond the jurisdiction of the WTO. The emergence of non-state actors as a source of governance may be a way to circumvent WTO rules and impose restrictions on trade that otherwise would be WTO inconsistent. Against this background, the purpose of this paper is to analyze to what extent WTO law can rule trade restrictions imposed by non-state actors. Since WTO Agreements are binding only upon WTO Member-States, it is important to understand to what extent these private voluntary measures involve governmental participation so that it might be possible to attribute responsibility to the State for the matters of WTO rules.
International Trade; Protectionism; Non-tariff Barriers; Private Standards; World Trade Organization
