TBT

Introducción: Una estructura, como la de un barco ofrece un amplio rango de superficies de exposición que da lugar a una gran complejidad y diversidad de situaciones para la protección anticorrosiva que deben de resolverse. Esto incluye áreas como casco, cubierta, tanques de fuel, superestructuras, tanques de lastre y otros. A su vez el casco presenta diferentes partes con condiciones muy específicas de operación y que van desde el fondo del barco (que está permanentemente bajo el agua de mar) a la parte superior (sujeta a alternancia de inmersión), área de chapoteo (bajo la línea del agua con el barco completamente cargado) y finalmente la parte más superior (prácticamente siempre emergida y expuesta a la atmósfera). Además de ser necesario dar una adecuada protección anticorrosiva, esta ha de ser compatible con la protección catódica así como mantener la superficie lo más suave posible, para no retardar la velocidad del barco, lo que significa evitar la incrustación de una amplia variedad de organismos marinos tanto plantas, como animales. Aunque hay una larga experiencia de pintado de barcos con pinturas antiincrustantes (antifouling), la legislación reciente requiere que no se liberen biocidas en el agua. Revisión de pinturas marinas: Actualmente las superficies metálicas que va a ser utilizadas en el barco son granalladas y pintadas en el taller con un shopprimer. Después de un periodo de secado pueden sufrir varias operaciones como, marcado, formateado, cortado y soldado se transporta a los astilleros donde se construye el barco. Finalmente se aplican diferentes tratamientos de superficie y procedimientos de pintura específicos para cada área de exposición/operación del barco. Últimamente se han producido grandes desarrollos en los sistemas de pintado de barcos para adaptar los mismos a la legislación y regulación pertinente, especialmente, lo relacionado con la protección del medio ambiente y la salud humana. Estos desarrollos se han concentrado en la reducción de los disolventes (VOC) y eliminación de componentes tóxicos y carcinogénicos a partir de las pinturas utilizadas corrientemente en las diferentes áreas críticas de pintado del barco.

This contribution analyses the comprehensive chemicals legislation implemented by the European Union (EU) since 1st June 2007, known as REACH Regulation, from the perspective of WTO Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement. The focus of this study is to investigate certain aspects of REACH, which are likely to be subject to WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB). Thus, first of all, the thesis lays down the objectives and main procedures of the REACH with respect to registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction. Second, it examines the ongoing discussions and main concerns of WTO member states regarding REACH under TBT Committee Meetings. Lastly, it asks which of these concerns might be brought to WTO DSB in the future and to what extent they might be defended under TBT Agreement. This preliminary analysis concludes that even though EU seems to be in a strong position due to its high level of aim known as human health and environment protection, the compatibility of some requirements of REACH with TBT Agreement might still be questioned seriously.

The export of agricultural, fisheries, and food products acts as an engine of growth for developing countries in particular. However, exporting these items is easier said than done since issues of certification and inspection, so-called technical barriers to trade (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), in developed markets have worked as major obstacles for exports. This paper examines the institutional aspects and recent trends of South Korea's TBT/SPS-related cases against exporting firms of the developing countries. We suggest a win-win partnership model that can promote cooperative synergies between Korea and developing employing trade-related technical cooperation or ODA (Official Development Aid). Technical cooperation such as the provision of on-spot field consulting services on TBT/SPS-related issues for exporting firms and Korean OEM firms of developing countries can lead to mutual gains. This cooperative partnership can create gains from "the trade-development nexus" for both sides while promoting sustainable trade and investment relationships between Korea and developing countries.

This article aims to explore the constituent grammars of the margin of appreciation as a concept, and the way it is used by world trade judges, as well as the reasons for, and the immediate and potential outcomes directly and indirectly arising from, the plea to the concept when deciding WTO disputes relating to domestic societal regulation. In doing so, it is particularly important to demonstrate through a detailed analysis of GATT and WTO jurisprudence that GATT/WTO judges have applied the necessity test in order to follow different political agendas at different times. They equally used the necessity narrative in various ways, including the hypothetical aim to ‘discipline’ members to regulate in the least trade-restrictive way possible.

Until the US-COOL Article 21.5 decision, the world trade adjudicators, and especially the Appellate Body added nuances to the necessity test under the TBT with considerations related to the right of WTO members to regulate in order to set their own level of protection. The latest relevant interpretative development in US-COOL Article 21.5, namely the WTO Appellate Body’s plea for the margin of appreciation concept, may have questioning implications for future WTO jurisprudence. At least two scenarios are possible. Either the Appellate Body has tacitly suggested in this ruling that members have certain discretion in considering what could constitute a legitimate objective of a particular regulation. Or the Appellate Body’s interpretation implies that the permissible degree of discretion of members actually rather depends on the importance of the regulatory objective to a member, and not – or to a lesser extent – on the legitimacy of the objective, so the latter should not be placed under strict scrutiny.

Tributyltin (TBT) is an organotin compound used since the early 1960s as a biocide in boat antifouling paints. Its use has been linked to a host of negative effects in marine ecosystems including malformations and imposex in Mollusca and acute toxicity in many other aquatic animals. Yet, the consequences of TBT use in freshwaters are largely unknown. Here, for the first time we reveal that TBT may have caused hitherto unsuspected damage to freshwater ecosystems. Through an analysis of dated sediment cores collected from a system of recreationally boated, shallow lakes,weshow that first evidence of TBT is associated with a dramatic loss of submerged vegetation and
associated diverse animal communities. Cause and effect are difficult to unravel in our study. However, we hypothesize that TBT, through reducing populations of grazing organisms in lakes already affected by eutrophication, promoted the replacement of macrophytes by phytoplankton, ultimately leading to a regime shift in the ecosystem. Our findings may have parallels in freshwater ecosystems all over the world.

Recent findings indicate that different Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) interfere
with lipid metabolic pathways in mammals and promote fat accumulation, a previously
unknown site of action for these compounds. The antifoulant and environmental pollutant tributyltin
(TBT), which causes imposex in gastropod snails, induces an “obesogenic” phenotype
in mammals, through the activation of the nuclear receptors retinoid X receptor (RXR)
and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ). In teleosts, the effects of
TBT on the lipid metabolism are poorly understood, particularly following exposure to low,
environmental concentrations. In this context, the present work shows that exposure of zebrafish
to 10 and 50 ng/L of TBT (as Sn) from pre-hatch to 9 months of age alters the body
weight, condition factor, hepatosomatic index and hepatic triglycerides in a gender and
dose related manner. Furthermore, TBT modulated the transcription of key lipid regulating
factors and enzymes involved in adipogenesis, lipogenesis, glucocorticoid metabolism,
growth and development in the brain and liver of exposed fish, revealing sexual dimorphic
effects in the latter. Overall, the present study shows that the model mammalian obesogen
TBT interferes with triglyceride accumulation and the transcriptional regulation of lipid
metabolism in zebrafish and indentifies the brain lipogenic transcription profile of fish as a
new target of this compound.

The export of agricultural, fisheries, and food products acts as an engine of growth for developing countries in particular. However, exporting these items is easier said than done since issues of certification and inspection, so-called technical barriers to trade (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), in developed markets have worked as major obstacles for exports. This paper examines the institutional aspects and recent trends of South Korea's TBT/SPS-related cases against exporting firms of the developing countries. We suggest a win-win partnership model that can promote cooperative synergies between Korea and developing employing trade-related technical cooperation or ODA (Official Development Aid). Technical cooperation such as the provision of on-spot field consulting services on TBT/SPS-related issues for exporting firms and Korean OEM firms of developing countries can lead to mutual gains. This cooperative partnership can create gains from "the trade-development nexus" for both sides while promoting sustainable trade and investment relationships between Korea and developing countries.

Organotin compounds, such as tributyltin (TBT), were used as
antifouling biocidal agents in ship maintenance throughout the world
prior to 2000. As a consequence, TBT has accumulated in marine
sediments of some harbours, rivers and ports, and in and around
shipyards, dry-docks and marinas. Organotin-contaminated marine
sediments, when left undisturbed, pose little risk to the local environment
or society, however, due to its toxic nature, TBT can pose a significant
risk to the marine environment, groundwater, and potentially
human health if contaminated marine sediments are dredged and left
untreated on land or disposed to landfill, and disturbance through
dredging can liberate TBT into the water column. Both scenarios can
provide pathways for dissemination and contamination. Given the low
allowable concentrations of TBT in marine sediments, the need for
sustainable management and treatment of TBT is imperative. However,
despite a worldwide effort to find effective treatment strategies
for TBT in marine sediments, few examples exist which actually destroy
the TBT molecule. For this reason, TBT is considered one of the
world’s most persistent organic pollutants and is stable when in-situ
sediments are left at the bottom of ports and harbours. Two samples
of contaminated marine sediment were excavated from a slipway in
far North Queensland and analysed for TBT and other contaminants.
Each sample was then subjected to one of three bench-scale tests: Test
1 a treatment of six oxidising and/or immobilizing chemical agents;
Test 2 thermo-chemical treatment; and Test 3 thermal treatment only.
The six agents in Test 1 had little or no impact on total TBT, leachable
TBT, water soluble TBT, or total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH),
however, the combined thermal and chemical treatment used in Test
2 and the thermal treatment used in Test 3 reduced total TBT, leachable
TBT, water soluble TBT, and TPH by >99%.

Following the ground-breaking research in the early 2000s by the late Dr David McConchie, at Southern Cross University, and Virotec, technical methods were developed for transforming this hazardous waste into a remarkable material for remediating other waste. In particular, as is explained in detail by Dr Fergusson in the Introduction to this book, the new technology chemically altered the composition of ARR to lock up its potentially hazardous elements, including the sequestering of heavy metals—far more than the simple
‘neutralising’ outcomes that previous treatments had sought. New capabilities became available: acid neutralising; arsenic, radium and other metals sequestration; phosphorous and phosphate binding; odour abatement; soil amendment; fats, oil and grease coagulation; total petroleum hydrocarbon destruction; and sludge consolidation and dewatering. This stable and persistent elimination of hazardous properties of ARR and unlocking of a range of new remediation properties provided the technical foundation of Virotec’s
unique and, as is apparent in hindsight, unprecedented development. Simply to address effectively and permanently the world-wide dangers of ARR would have been a celebrated achievement in itself. Beyond that, however, Virotec was able to take the same technology
that had achieved this widely-sought outcome and apply the product arising from it to an impressive range of waste-related environmental problems. These have included treatments for contaminated soils and sites, industrial wastewater and sludges, and contaminated
drinking water; municipal effluent and biosolids; and gaseous, liquid and solid waste from mining.
So extensive are these claimed benefits that a sceptical response is not unreasonable. Fortunately a systematic, professional and scientifically well-founded research program has accompanied Virotec’s development of its products and their applications. The results of this
research, documented in the papers by Dr Fergusson which comprise this book, have been published in peer-reviewed papers in technical journals across world. This moves Virotec’s achievement beyond a commercial case-study into the base of crucial scientific knowledge
with which the world community is confronting the environmental challenges of this age. I wanted to place Virotec’s work, documented meticulously here by Dr Fergusson, in the historical context of sustainable business because I believe it is only in this light that the
real achievement emerges. Far more is involved here than a technical breakthrough—although one which in hindsight has an air of genius about it. It was in the capturing of these technical benefits and systematically applying them to a striking range of waste environmental problems that the real significance of the work emerged. Applications of basic science are
themselves scientific achievements of a high order. In these papers Dr Fergusson lays out clearly and systematically how this exceptional applied research program has been undertaken. Through them it is possible now to see that Virotec has been, has been, and remains, one of the true international pioneers of sustainable business, pursuing its own path alongside
such notable companies as Interface, and helping to create the technical ground for meeting the challenge which defines our time: the demand for a sustainable world.

― Dr Geoffrey Wells

Director, Rural Communities Australia;
former Dean, University of South Australia Business School and School of Natural and Built Environments