Overview of the WTO and SPS Agreements

1. Overview of the WTO and SPS Agreements Gretchen H. Stanton Senior Counsellor Agriculture and Commodities Division

2. Location: Geneva, Switzerland Established: 1 January 1995 Membership: 153 countries (July 2008) Budget: 182m Swiss francs, 2007 Secretariat staff: ~650 Head: Pascal Lamy (director-general)

3. WTO Members 2008(153)

4. What is the WTO? • Negotiate trade rules • Implement trade agreements • Resolve trade disputes • Review national trade policies

5. The basic principles • No discrimination • Most favoured nation principle (MFN) • National treatment principle • Predictability • Respect of tariff “bindings” (goods and services) • Transparency (notification, TPR) • Freer trade (suppression of barriers through negotiations) • Tariff reductions • Prohibition of using quantitative restrictions (quotas)

6. The structure

7. ≈ 40% > 4% Overall, import weighted tariff on industrial products

8. NTBs % tariffs ? 1947 2007

9. Non-tariff measures Trade-related intellectual Property rights Technical barriers to trade Subsidies Quantitative restrictions Sanitary and phytosanitary measures Government purchase Trade in services

10. Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade It applies to all goods .... • technical regulations (mandatory) • standards (voluntary) • conformity assessment procedures TBT SPS But: its provisions do not apply to sanitary or phytosanitary (SPS) measures

11. Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures The right to protect human, animal or plant life or health Avoiding unnecessary barriers to trade

12. SPS Agreement - Basic RightArticle 2.1 “Members have the right to take sanitary and phytosanitary measures necessary for the protection of human, animal or plant life or health, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Agreement”

13. from from from from SPS MeasuresDefinition - Annex A A measure taken to protect: Human or risks arising from additives, animal health contaminants, toxins or disease organisms in food, drink, feedstuff Human life plant- or animal-carried diseases Animal or pests, diseases, disease-causing plant life organisms A country other damage caused by entry, establishment or spread of pests

14. SPS measures: laws, decrees, regulations… including: • end product criteria • processes and production methods • testing, inspection, certification approval procedures, etc. • quarantine treatments • animal transport • packaging and labelling requirements directly related to food safety

15. Key Provisions of the SPS Agreement • Non-discrimination • Scientific justification • harmonization • risk assessment • consistency • least trade-restrictiveness • Equivalence • Regionalization • Transparency • Technical assistance/special treatment • Control, inspection and approval procedures

16. Non-discriminationArticle 2.3 No unjustifiable discrimination • between Members with similar conditions • between own territory and other Members

17. Scientific justificationArticle 2.2 based on scientific principles Members shall ensure that any SPS measure is: applied only to the extent necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health (least trade restrictive) not maintained without sufficient scientific evidence except as provided for in Article 5.7

18. Scientific Justification Articles 3 & 5 Measures must be based on Risk assessment OR International standards

19. Standard-setting organizations food safety plant health animal health OIE CODEX IPPC Scientific justificationHarmonizationArticle 3 Codex = Joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission OIE = World Organization for Animal Health IPPC = International Plant Protection Convention (FAO)

20. Scientific justificationRisk AssessmentArticle 5.1 Members shall ensure that their SPS measures are based on • an assessment, as appropriate, of the risks to human, animal or plant life or health, • taking into account risk assessment techniques developed by the relevant international organizations.

21. Scientific justificationConsistencyArticle 5.5 Members shall avoid arbitrary distinctions in appropriate level of SPS protection (ALOP) considered in different situations if distinctions result in discrimination or disguised restrictions on trade

22. Scientific justificationLeast trade restrictiveArticle 5.6 Once have determined the NEED for an SPS measure AND Have determined the LEVEL of protection needed must select Least-trade restrictive measure (technically and economically feasible) to achieve level of health protection

23. Scientific justificationException: Provisional measuresArticle 5.7 Members may provisionally adopt SPS measures • when relevant scientific information is insufficient • on the basis of available information In such circumstances, Members shall • seeks to obtain additional information to assess risk • review the measure within a reasonable period of time

24. EquivalenceArticle 4 Members shall If the exporting country objectively demonstrates that its measures achieve the ALOP of the importing country accept SPS measures of other Members as equivalent

25. Pest- or disease-free areasArticle 6 (Regionalization) Members shall ensure that their SPS measures are adapted o the SPS characteristics of an “area” all or parts of several countries all of a country part of a country

26. TransparencyArticle 7 & Annex B establish an Enquiry Point AND designate a Notification Authority Members shall notify other Members of new or changed SPS regulations when • no international standard exists • OR • the new regulation is different than the international standard • regulation may have significant effect on trade AND

27. Special & Differential Treatment and Technical AssistanceArticles 9 & 10 Members... • ...shall take account of the special needs of developing countries • ...should accord longer time frames for compliance • ...agree to facilitate provision of Technical Assistance