Following the adoption of the UN “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” governments, international institutions, and stakeholders the world over are now turning their attention to implementation. Achieving the ambitious to-do list outlined in the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will require careful reflection on the right policies and investments, as well as a rigorous monitoring system, in order to benchmark progress. With “sustainability” firmly in vogue, consumers too will be looking to play their role. But purchasing goods today in a world of long and complex global – and regional – value chains (GVCs) can make it difficult to determine environmental or social credentials. A variety of existing regulatory and non-governmental initiatives are seeking to address this issue and many more are likely to come. These efforts raise a variety of “behind the border” questions relevant to the trade community through the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) that aims to ensure that domestic technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment procedures are non-discriminatory and do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade. A technical regulation might be an ecolabel required in order to gain market access, for example, a ban on certain products, or required standards to meet in...