When International Trade Meets Environment, between Soft Law and a Ban on Trade Barriers

The contemporary experience of Colombia and Latin America, shows a trend towards liberalization of international trade, which has materialized through free trade agreements. This paper argues that the expansion of international instruments has collided with other agreements on environmental protection and has seen internal rules on this matter as barriers to free trade in goods and services, which has led to balance free trade on environmental protection through two channels: soft law and absence of international tribunals and penalties environment.