14. Sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures: purpose, examples. Wto agreement on Sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures: main features.

Sanitary and phytosanitary measures deal with measures taken to protect human, animal, or plant health and have the greatest relevance to the agriculture sector.

Sanitary measures are those having to do with animal products while phytosanitary measures have to do with plant products.

Sanitary and phytosanitary measures usually deal with:

• Additives in food or drink

• Contaminants in food

• Poisonous substances in food or drink

• Residues of veterinary drugs or pesticides in food or drink

• Certification: food safety, animal or plant health

• Processing methods with implications for food safety

• Labeling requirements directly related to food safety

• Plant/animal quarantine

• Declaring areas free from pests or disease

• Preventing disease or pests from spreading to a country

• Other sanitary requirements for imports (e.g. imported pallets used to transport animals)

The Uruguay Round ushered in the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (along with technical standards). The intention of the agreement is to reduce the impact of standards as a trade barrier.

Problem: How to ensure that your country’s consumers are being supplied with food that is safe to eat — “safe” by the standards you consider appropriate? And at the same time, how can you ensure that strict health and safety regulations are not being used as an excuse for protecting domestic producers?

An agreement on how governments can apply food safety and animal and plant health measures (sanitary and phytosanitary or SPS measures) sets out the basic rules in the WTO.

It allows countries to set their own standards. But it also says regulations must be based on science. They should be applied only to the extent necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health. And they should not arbitrarily or unjustifiably discriminate between countries where identical or similar conditions prevail.

The agreement still allows countries to use different standards and different methods of inspecting products. If an exporting country can demonstrate that the measures it applies to its exports achieve the same level of health protection as in the importing country, then the importing country is expected to accept the exporting country’s standards and methods.

The agreement includes provisions on control, inspection and approval procedures. Governments must provide advance notice of new or changed sanitary and phytosanitary regulations, and establish a national enquiry point to provide information. The agreement complements that on technical barriers to trade.

The major elements of the SPS Agreement are:

• Members’ Sovereignty Over Domestic Standards

• A Balance Between Environmental Protection and Trade Liberalization

• Mutual Recognition Versus Harmonization

• Transparency and SPS Measures

• Respect for Subnational Measures

• Dispute Settlement

• FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission

• World Health Organization

• Office International des Epizooties (OIE)

• FAO International Plant Protection Convention IPPC