Standards and safety
Article 20 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade (GATT) allows governments to act on trade in
order to protect human, animal or plant life or
health, provided they do not discriminate or use this as disguised protectionism. In
addition, there are two specific WTO agreements dealing with food safety and animal
and plant health and safety, and with product standards in general. Both try to
identify how to meet the need to apply standards and at the same time avoid protectionism
in disguise. These issues are becoming more important as tariff barriers
fall — some compare this to seabed rocks appearing when the tide goes down. In
both cases, if a country applies international standards, it is less likely to be challenged
legally in the WTO than if it sets its own standards.
Food, animal and plant products: how safe is safe?
Problem: How do you ensure that your country’s consumers are being supplied
with food that is safe to eat — “safe” by the standards you consider appropriate? And
at the same time, how can you ensure that strict health and safety regulations are
not being used as an excuse for protecting domestic producers?
A separate agreement on food safety and animal and plant health standards (the
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Agreement or SPS) sets out the basic rules.
It allows countries to set their own standards. But it also says regulations must be
based on science. They should be applied only to the extent necessary to protect
human, animal or plant life or health. And they should not arbitrarily or unjustifiably
discriminate between countries where identical or similar conditions prevail.
Member countries are encouraged to use international standards, guidelines and
recommendations where they exist. When they do, they are unlikely to be challenged
legally in a WTO dispute. However, members may use measures which
result in higher standards if there is scientific justification. They can also set higher
standards based on appropriate assessment of risks so long as the approach is
consistent, not arbitrary. And they can to some extent apply the “precautionary principle”,
a kind of “safety first” approach to deal with scientific uncertainty. Article 5.7
of the SPS Agreement allows temporary “precautionary” measures.
The agreement still allows countries to use different standards and different methods
of inspecting products. So how can an exporting country be sure the practices
it applies to its products are acceptable in an importing country? If an exporting
country can demonstrate that the measures it applies to its exports achieve the same
level of health protection as in the importing country, then the importing country is
expected to accept the exporting country’s standards and methods.
The agreement includes provisions on control, inspection and approval procedures.
Governments must provide advance notice of new or changed sanitary and phytosanitary
regulations, and establish a national enquiry point to provide information.
The agreement complements that on technical barriers to trade.
Technical regulations and standards
Technical regulations and standards are important, but they vary from country to country.
Having too many different standards makes life difficult for producers and
exporters. Standards can become obstacles to trade. But they are also necessary for a
range of reasons, from environmental protection, safety, national security to consumer
Whose international standards?
An annex to the Sanitary and
Phytosanitary Measures Agreement names:
• the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius
Commission: for food
• the International Animal Health
Organization (Office International des
Epizooties): for animal health
• the FAO’s Secretariat of the International
Plant Protection Convention:
for plant health.
Governments can add any other international
organizations or agreements whose
membership is open to all WTO members.
When members apply these standards,
they are likely to be safe from legal
challenge through a WTO dispute.
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information. And they can help trade. Therefore the same basic question arises again:
how to ensure that standards are genuinely useful, and not arbitrary or an excuse for
protectionism.
The Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement (TBT) tries to ensure that regulations,
standards, testing and certification procedures do not create unnecessary obstacles.
However, the agreement also recognizes countries’rights to adopt the standards they
consider appropriate — for example, for human, animal or plant life or health, for
the protection of the environment or to meet other consumer interests. Moreover,
members are not prevented from taking measures necessary to ensure their standards
are met. But that is counterbalanced with disciplines. A myriad of regulations
can be a nightmare for manufacturers and exporters. Life can be simpler if governments
apply international standards, and the agreement encourages them to do so.
In any case, whatever regulations they use should not discriminate.
The agreement also sets out a code of good practice for both governments and nongovernmental
or industry bodies to prepare, adopt and apply voluntary standards.
Over 200 standards-setting bodies apply the code.
The agreement says the procedures used to decide whether a product conforms with
relevant standards have to be fair and equitable. It discourages any methods that
would give domestically produced goods an unfair advantage. The agreement also
encourages countries to recognize each other’s procedures for assessing whether a
product conforms. Without recognition, products might have to be tested twice, first
by the exporting country and then by the importing country.
Manufacturers and exporters need to know what the standards are in their prospective
markets. To help ensure that this information is made available conveniently, all
WTO member governments are required to establish national enquiry points and to
keep each other informed through the WTO — around 900 new or changed regulations
are notified each year. The Technical Barriers to Trade Committee is the major
clearing house for members to share the information and the major forum to discuss
concerns about the regulations and their implementation.
5. Textiles: back in the mainstream
Textiles, like agriculture, was one of the hardest-fought issues in the WTO, a