Sanitary and phytosanitary barriers to agricultural trade: progress, prospects, and implications for developing countries

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511550676.016

15 - Sanitary and phytosanitary barriers to agricultural trade: progress, prospects, and implications for developing countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 February 2010

Donna Roberts ,

David Orden and

Tim Josling

Edited by

Merlinda D. Ingco and

L. Alan Winters

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Donna Roberts: Affiliation:
Permanent US Mission to the WTO
David Orden: Affiliation:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Tim Josling: Affiliation:
Stanford University
Merlinda D. Ingco: Affiliation:
The World Bank
L. Alan Winters: Affiliation:
University of Sussex

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Summary

Introduction

Access for agricultural products into protected domestic markets remains one of the vexing problems of global economic integration. With the conclusion of the 1986–94 Uruguay Round negotiations, a cohesive multilateral framework emerged to discipline the policies that World Trade Organization (WTO) Member Countries use to protect and support their agricultural sectors. The new multilateral framework includes an Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the SPS Agreement), which provides an international policy regime for trade when there potentially are risks to human, animal, and plant health or life. The hope is that this Agreement will bring SPS regulation affecting international agricultural market access under the governance of multilateral trade rules, with a consequent expansion of trade opportunities.

All nations maintain complex regulatory regimes governing the production, processing, and sales of agricultural commodities and foodstuffs. The SPS Agreement was intended as a bulwark against the widely perceived failure of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) to prevent the misuse of such measures for protectionist purposes. While reaffirming the right of every nation to protect health and life, the SPS Agreement sought to impose commitments that would minimize adverse trade effects. WTO members agreed to maintain transparent procedures regarding the adoption and application of SPS regulations, and to base their policies on assessment of the associated risks.

Type: Chapter
Information: Agriculture and the New Trade Agenda
Creating a Global Trading Environment for Development
, pp. 329 - 358

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511550676.016 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2004

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