The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary
Measures (SPS Agreement) took effect with establishment of the
World Trade Organization on January 1, 1995. The SPS Agreement
concerns the application of food safety and animal and plant health
regulations of member countries.
SPS measures include all relevant laws, decrees, regulations,
requirements, and production methods that are designed to:
- protect animal and plant life or health from risk arising from
entry, establishment, or spread of pests or disease-causing
organisms;
- protect human and animal life or health from risks arising from
additives, contaminants, toxins, or disease-causing organisms in
food, beverage, or feed;
- protect human life and health from risks arising from diseases
carried by animals, plants, or products; or
- prevent or limit damage from the entry, establishment, or
spread of pests.
The SPS Agreement allows countries to set their own standards,
as long as they are based on sound science and applied only to the
extent necessary to protect human, animal, or plant life or health.
Member countries are encouraged to use international standards,
guidelines, and recommendations where they exist, but members may
apply higher standards if there is scientific justification. They
can also set higher standards based on appropriate assessment of
risks so long as these standards are not applied arbitrarily or do
not unjustifiably discriminate among countries where identical or
similar conditions exist.
The SPS Agreement includes provisions on control, inspection,
and approval procedures. Governments must provide advance notice to
the WTO of new or altered SPS regulations, and establish a national
enquiry point to provide information.
The additional market access provided by the tariff-cutting
provisions in the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture and by the
creation of tariff-rate quotas has shone a spotlight on other trade
barriers, including SPS measures. In an effort to distinguish
legitimate measures designed to protect human, animal, and plant
life or health from measures that are unnecessarily
trade-restrictive, the WTO periodically provides information on
specific trade concerns raised in the Committee on SPS Measures. Many of these
involve complaints of measures being more stringent than
international recommendations. Some complaints involve imports
being restricted based on health concerns, even though
international organizations such as the Organization of
International Epizootics and the World Health Organization have
concluded that these imports posed no health risk. Other concerns
include the absence of suitable risk assessment studies, lack of
transparency about protective measures, and claims of higher
standards for imports than for the domestic product.
While the SPS Agreement is not subject to negotiation in the
Doha Development Agenda, implementation issues are being
discussed. In particular, members have agreed to take concrete
action to address issues and concerns raised by many
developing-country members regarding the implementation of the SPS
Agreement. This includes allowing developing countries a longer
time-frame to comply with other countries' new SPS measures. The
SPS Committee was instructed to expedite a program to implement
equivalence, whereby members agree to accept the SPS measures of
other countries when they deliver equivalent protection even if the
measures differ from the member's own. The Doha Ministerial Declaration also instructs
the SPS Committee to review the operation of the SPS Agreement at
least once every 4 years.
Other Relevant Multilateral Agreements: