기후변화 대응을 위한 탄소라벨링과 WTO규범에 의한 규율가능성

With the growing concern over climate change, knowledge about the environmental attributes of products has become increasingly significant. Carbon labelling schemes have been introduced in many countries, including South Korea, to address climate change. By analysing the product's life-cycle, carbon labelling tries to ensure that the products are environment friendly and harmless for the consumers. Carbon labelling, which provides information about a product’s carbon footprint and has the potential to facilitate consumer participation in climate change mitigation, can have a significant effect on consumer preferences. And the change in consumer preferences will eventually affect the trade flows among trading partners. Currently there are no WTO rules specific to climate change. However, the WTO is relevant because carbon labelling schemes are likely to present some concerns by hampering international trade flows from an international trade perspective. As carbon labelling schemes relate to trade, these measures may be subject to WTO rules and procedures. Carbon labelling schemes are likely to come under the TBT Agreement which covers technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures. The main question is whether technical regulations or standards on NPR PPMs falls within the purview of the agreement. Despite the lack of consensus, only the product-related PPMs are considered to be covered by the TBT Agreement. The question of whether or not the application of carbon labels to products provides them with any commercial advantage or disadvantage in the marketplace, and whether the discrimination of products on the basis of embodied carbon is permissible in the WTO jurisprudence are also raised in the context of carbon labelling in the WTO. Recent proliferation of private carbon labelling schemes also raises the question of whether the TBT Agreement is applicable to private carbon labelling. It is generally understood that most private carbon labelling schemes fall outside the purview of the TBT Agreement. These private standards are likely to defeat the very purpose of the TBT Agreement as they are not guided by any regulations and can be trade-restrictive. It is expected that carbon labelling will continue to gain in significance, especially from the WTO perspective. Lack of international standardization and the multiplicity of carbon labelling standards not only cause confusion but also diminishes their effectiveness in influencing consumers' behaviors. Consequently, efforts are being made to standardize carbon labelling schemes at international level.