As underlined in OECD (2001a), a major obstacle to the implementation of environmentally related taxes in certain cases is the fear of reduced international competitiveness in the most affected economic sectors. This concern is not only for economic but also for environmental reasons. In general, from an economic point of view, when introducing of environmentally related taxes increases domestic production costs of internationally traded goods, domestic production generally would be expected to decline – exports become less attractive and imports more – at least in the short run, implying job losses and other adjustments in the national economy.