The EU’s recent drive to cut red tape could inadvertently scupper efforts in the developing world to improve their environmental standards, UN officials have warned.
Rolph Payet, a senior UN official on hazardous chemicals and waste, said that weaker EU rules could ripple down to developing countries that look to it as a torchbearer for legislation.
‘‘Non-industrialised countries depend upon what happens in Europe for them to strengthen their national legislation and their national structures,” Payet told the Financial Times, adding that “when Europe is weakened” it also weakened African countries’ ability to deal with issues such as chemical waste.