[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 46 (Monday, November 22, 1999)]
[Pages 2393-2394]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Executive Order 13141--Environmental Review of 
Trade Agreements

November 16, 1999

    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and 
the laws of the United States of America, and in order to further the 
environmental and trade policy goals of the United States, it is hereby 
ordered as follows:
    Section 1. Policy. The United States is committed to a policy of 
careful assessment and consideration of the environmental impacts of 
trade agreements. The United States will factor environmental 
considerations into the development of its trade negotiating objectives. 
Responsible agencies will accomplish these goals through a process of 
ongoing assessment and evaluation, and, in certain instances, written 
environmental reviews.
    Sec. 2. Purpose and Need. Trade agreements should contribute to the 
broader goal of sustainable development. Environmental reviews are an 
important tool to help identify potential environmental effects of trade 
agreements, both positive and negative, and to help facilitate 
consideration of appropriate responses to those effects whether in the 
course of negotiations, through other means, or both.
    Sec. 3. (a) Implementation. The United States Trade Representative 
(Trade Representative) and the Chair of the Council on Environmental 
Quality shall oversee the implementation of this order, including the 
development of procedures pursuant to this order, In consultation with 
appropriate foreign policy, environmental, and economic agencies.
    (b) Conduct of Environmental Reviews. The Trade Representative, 
through the interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC), shall 
conduct the environmental reviews of the agreements under section 4 of 
this order.
    Sec. 4. Trade Agreements.
    (a) Certain agreements that the United States may negotiate shall 
require an environmental review. These include:
    (i) comprehensive multilateral trade rounds;
    (ii) bilateral or plurilateral free trade agreements; and
    (iii) major new trade liberalization agreements in natural resource 
      sectors.
    (b) Agreements reached in connection with enforcement and dispute 
resolution actions are not covered by this order.
    (c) For trade agreements not covered under subsections 4(a) and (b), 
environmental reviews will generally not be required. Most sectoral 
liberalization agreements will not require an environmental review. The 
Trade Representative, through the TPSC, shall determine whether an 
environmental review of an agreement or category of agreements is 
warranted based on such factors as the significance of reasonably 
foreseeable environmental impacts.
    Sec. 5. Environmental Reviews.
    (a) Environmental reviews shall be:
    (i)  written;
    (ii) initiated through a Federal Register notice, outlining the 
      proposed agreement and soliciting public comment and information 
      on the scope of the environmental review of the agreement;
    (iii) undertaken sufficiently early in the process to inform the 
      development of negotiating positions, but shall not be a condition 
      for the timely tabling of particular negotiating proposals;
    (iv) made available in draft form for public comment, where 
      practicable; and
    (v) made available to the public in final form.
    (b) As a general matter, the focus of environmental reviews, will be 
impacts in the United States. As appropriate and prudent, reviews may 
also examine global and transboundary impacts.
    Sec. 6. Resources. Upon request by the Trade Representative, with 
the concurrence of the Deputy Director for Management of

[[Page 2394]]

the Office of Management and Budget, Federal agencies shall, to the 
extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of 
appropriations, provide analytical and financial resources and support, 
including the detail of appropriate personnel, to the Office of the 
United States Trade Representative to carry our the provisions of this 
order.
    Sec. 7. General Provisions. This order is intended only to improve 
the internal management of the executive branch and does not create any 
right, benefit, trust, or responsibility, substantive or procedural, 
enforceable at law or equity by a party against the United States, its 
agencies, its officers, or any person.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
November 16, 1999.

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:43 a.m., November 17, 
1999]

Note: This Executive order was published in the Federal Register on 
November 18.