The defining principles of
the SPS agreement (Article 2)
Adequacy – measures should only be applied to the
extent required to protect the health of humans, animals or
plants;
Justification –
measures should be introduced on scientific evidence or if
emergency measures should be subsequently justified on a scientific
basis;
Non discrimination
– measures should not arbitrarily or unjustifiably discriminate
where identical or similar conditions prevail.
In summary -
measures not to be used as a disguised restriction of international
trade
How universal application of the defining principles is
achieved (Article 3)
i)
Harmonisation
The acceptable standards are not set by the WTO. The agreement
allows each state to set its own standards. It does however
stipulate that any standards introduced by a member state will be
measured against the standards considered adequate by the relevant
international organisation. (in particular the Codex Alimentarius,
Commission, The International Office of Epizootics (OIE) and the
International Plant Protection Convention IPPC). If it is the same
(i.e.conforms), then there will be a presumption that it is
consistent with the agreement and therefore acceptable – i.e. the
scientific justification is agreed. If the standard is set higher
than the international standard, then this should be
justified.
If a Member state chooses to maintain a higher standard, then it
may be required by other Members States to justify this standard
i.e. to explain, using the appropriate scientific evidence and
analysis or approved risk assessment methodology and criteria, why
this higher standard and not the internationally agreed standard is
needed to provide the appropriate level of protection. (Further
discussion of the meaning of these two phases later)
ii) Equivalence
(article 4)
Objective demonstration of
equivalence - for various reasons, a member may choose to use
different measures to those used by other members to achieve the
desired level of protection. If a member can objectively
demonstrate (i.e. scientifically) that its own measure achieves the
appropriate level of protection required by another member then it
may be considered equivalent.
Agreement on equivalence bilateral
of multilateral – the agreement encourages members to make such
agreements on bilateral and multilateral bases.
iii) Risk
assessment (Article 5) – SPS measures should be based on
an assessment of the risks to human, plant and animal health. This
risk assessment should be undertaken using techniques developed by
the international organisations:
Factors to be taken into
consideration in the risk assessment include:
i) Technical issues
- scientific evidence, processes and methodologies, prevalence of
diseases or pests, ecological and environmental conditions
etc
ii) Geographical climatic and trade volume issues
- risk of entry establishment or spread etc
iii) Health issues - potential biological
consequences or potential for adverse effects on human or animal
life etc
v) Economic factors - the potential losses, costs
of control and cost effectiveness of alternatives.
All of the above should of course be based on objective
technical/scientific analysis.
iv) Regional
differentiation (Article 6) – Members should differentiate
SPS measures on a regional basis recognising concepts such as pest
or disease free areas where they are objectively demonstrated.
v) Transparency
(Article 7) - A key principle governing the regulation in this
sphere is the need for transparency. In this context, transparency
means the provision of information to the SPS Committee and other
member states about the current and planned national SPS
regulation. This means in practice that member states need to be
able to i) respond directly to requests for information (Enquiries)
on the current state of regulation in the sphere and ii)
proactively inform the other member states (Notification) – through
the WTO SPS Committee – of any proposed changes to that regulation.
In this way, both the WTO SPS Committee and the other member states
are better able to ensure that the all trade between the member
states is being conducted on a fair basis.
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