Sanitary Measures

Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures in Global Commerce Policy

In this regard, a definition of this issue is as follows: the SPS Agreement. The entries on trade policy are here. A WTO agreement aiming to ensure that food safety and animal and plant health regulations are not used as disguised barriers to international trade. The Agreement preserves the right of governments to take sanitary and phytosanitary measures, but they must not be used to discriminate arbitrarily or unjustifiably between WTO members that apply identical or similar measures. The entries on trade policy are here. It encourages members to base their domestic measures on international standards, guidelines and recommendations where these exist. Members may introduce or maintain higher standards if there is scientific justification, or if a risk assessment has shown that this is appropriate. The entries on trade policy are here. An importing country must consider the standards applied by an exporting country as equivalent to its own standards if the exporting country can demonstrate that this is the case. The Agreement sets out detailed procedures governing the transparency of regulations, notifications and the establishment of national enquiry points. See also acceptable level of risk, equivalence, International Office of Epizootics and International Plant Protection Convention.[1]

Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measuresin the wold Encyclopedia

For an introductory overview on international trade policy, see this entry.

Resources

Notes and References

1. Dictionary of Trade Policy, “Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures” entry (OAS)

See Also