EnvironmentChapter-UnitedStatesTradeRepresentative.PDFVIP

Chapter Eighteen Environment Objectives Recognizing that each Party has sovereign rights and responsibilities with respect to its natural resources, the objectives of this Chapter are to contribute to the Parties’ efforts to ensure that trade and environmental policies are mutually supportive, to promote the optimal use of resources in accordance with the objective of sustainable development, and to strive to strengthen the links between the Parties’ trade and environmental policies and practices, which may take place through environmental cooperation and collaboration. Article 18.1: Levels of Protection Recognizing the sovereign right of each Party to establish its own levels of domestic environmental protection and environmental development priorities, and to adopt or modify accordingly its environmental laws and policies, each Party shall strive to ensure that those laws and policies provide for and encourage high levels of environmental protection and shall strive to continue to improve its respective levels of environmental protection. Article 18.2: Environmental Agreements1 A Party shall adopt, maintain, and implement laws, regulations, and all other measures to fulfill its obligations under the multilateral environmental agreements listed in Annex 18.2 (“covered agreements”). 2 Article 18.3: Enforcement of Environmental Laws 1. (a) A Party shall not fail to effectively enforce its environmental laws, and its laws, regulations, and other measures to fulfill its obligations under the covered agreements, through a sustained or recurring course of action or inaction, in a manner affecting trade or investment between the Parties, after the date of entry into force of this Agreement. (b) (i) The Partie