European Environmental Regulations and International Competitiveness

Environmental policy is a prominent source of regulation in the European Union. Of major concern in public debate is the presumably negative effect of stringent environmental rules on international competitiveness. Much less attention is devoted to the role of environmental regulations impinging on foreign trade in the form of discriminatory non-tariff barriers. The author first provides as thorough analysis of the impact of rising pollution abatement costs on the foreign trade performance of German industries. He goes on to analyse and assess the discriminatory potential of environmental instruments. The analysis follows a political economy of trade approach that explicitly takes account of both industrial and environmental interests and builds on a comprehensive review of European environmental legislation. The dissertation provides a valuable contribution for all those who take an interest in a better integration of trade and environmental policies. The author works in the German Federal Ministry of Economics. In 1996–97 he was employed as an expert for environment and development at the OECD.