The World Trade Organization is responsible for administering the rules of the international trade system and for resolving trade disputes that may arise between its member countries. In 1997, a dispute arose at the WTO over a US law designed to protect endangered sea turtles.
The aim of this amicus brief is to help clarify the factual record and help clarify and apply the principles of internationallaw and WTO jurisprudence to the dispute, striking an appropriate balance between trade liberalization and species protection. In so doing, the brief refers both to the legal principles of sustainable development and their relevance to an appropriate interpretation of Article XX. Because Article XX forms a key nexus between trade and environmental policy, it is essential that it be given a broad interpretation, to provide clear guidance to the future development of policy inaccordance with the objective of sustainable development. This is necessary both for environmental protection and for the development of coherent WTO jurisprudence.