2. The Committee shall encourage and facilitate ad hoc consultations or negotiations among Members on specific sanitary or phytosanitary matters. The Committee encourages the application of international standards, guidelines or recommendations by all Members and, in this context, encourages consultations and technical studies with a view to strengthening coordination and integration between international and national systems and approaches for authorising the use of food additives or setting tolerances for contaminants in foodstuffs, beverages or animal feed. Reaffirming that no Member should be prevented from taking or applying such measures as are necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health, provided that such measures are not applied in a manner that would constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustified discrimination between Members where the same conditions apply, or constitute a disguised restriction on international trade; The SPS agreement provides for three different types of precautions. First, the process of assessing risk and determining acceptable levels of risk involves the systematic use of safety margins to ensure that appropriate precautions are taken to protect health. Second, since each country determines its own acceptable level of risk, it can address national concerns about necessary health precautions. Third, the SPS Convention clearly allows for precautionary measures to be taken when a government believes that there is insufficient scientific evidence to allow a final decision on the safety of a product or process. This means that immediate action can also be taken in emergency situations. Under the SPS Agreement, the WTO imposes restrictions on Member States` food safety policies (bacterial contaminants, pesticides, inspection and labelling) and animal and plant health policies (phytosanitation) with respect to imported pests and diseases. There are 3 standards organizations that set standards on which WTO members should base their SPS methods. According to Article 3, these are the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC). The decision to open the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations was taken after years of public debate, including debates in national governments.

The decision to negotiate an agreement on the application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures was taken in 1986 at the launch of the Round. The SPS negotiations were open to the 124 governments that had participated in the Uruguay Round. Many governments were represented by their food safety or animal and plant protection officials. Negotiators also drew on the expertise of international technical organisations such as FAO, Codex and OIE. 1. Members shall ensure that their sanitary or phytosanitary measures are based on a risk assessment of human, animal or plant life or health appropriate to the circumstances, taking into account risk assessment techniques developed by competent international organisations. Both agreements contain some common elements, including basic non-discrimination obligations and similar requirements for the notification of proposed measures and the establishment of information offices (“enquiry points”). However, many of the substantive rules differ. For example, both agreements promote the application of international standards. However, under the SPS Agreement, the only justification for the absence of such food safety and animal/plant health standards is scientific arguments arising from an assessment of potential health risks. On the other hand, under the TBT Convention, governments may decide that international standards are not appropriate for other reasons, including fundamental technological problems or geographical factors.

4. The Committee shall draw up a procedure for monitoring the process of international harmonisation and the application of international standards, guidelines or recommendations. To that end, the Committee, in cooperation with the relevant international organisations, should establish a list of international standards, guidelines or recommendations for sanitary or phytosanitary measures which it considers to have a significant impact on trade. The list should contain information provided by Members on the international standards, guidelines or recommendations that they apply as import conditions or on the basis of which imported products complying with those standards may have access to their markets. In cases where a Member does not apply an international standard, guideline or recommendation as a condition of importation, the Member should indicate the reason for this situation and, in particular, whether it considers that the standard is not sufficiently stringent to ensure the appropriate level of plant health or protection. When a Member changes its position after indicating that a standard, guideline or recommendation is used as a condition of importation, it should provide an explanation of its change and thus inform the Secretariat and the relevant international organizations, unless such notification and explanation are made in accordance with the procedures set out in Annex B. Trade in products subject to SPS-type measures can lead to significant economic gains for economies. [13] However, prioritizing economic concerns over other important health policy issues requires careful consideration by governments and the international community.

[14] Although a number of developing countries have excellent food safety services and veterinary and phytosanitary services, this is not the case in other countries. For them, the requirements of the SPS Convention pose a challenge to improving the health situation of their people, livestock and crops, which can be difficult for some to meet. As a result of these difficulties, all the requirements of the SPS Agreement, with the exception of those relating to transparency (notification and establishment of enquiry points), have been postponed to 1997 for developing countries and 2000 for least developed countries. This means that these countries are not required to provide a scientific justification of their sanitary or phytosanitary needs before that date. Countries that need longer deadlines, for example to improve their veterinary services or to implement specific obligations under the Agreement, may request the SPS Committee to grant them additional time. An agreement on how governments can enforce food safety and animal and plant health measures (sanitary and phytosanitary measures or SPS measures) sets out the basic rules of the WTO. This includes sanitary and phytosanitary measures to protect the health of fish and wildlife as well as forests and wild animals. With a view to improving human, animal and plant health in all Member States, sanitary or phytosanitary measures shall include all relevant laws, decrees, regulations, requirements and procedures, including, inter alia, criteria applicable to the final product; production processes and methods; testing, inspection, certification and approval procedures; quarantine treatments, including relevant requirements for the transport of animals or plants or with the material necessary for their survival during transport; provisions on relevant statistical methods, sampling methods and risk assessment methods; and packaging and labelling requirements directly related to food safety. 1. Members shall ensure that all sanitary and phytosanitary regulations adopted (5) are published without delay so that interested Members are aware of them. 3.

When assessing the risk to animal or plant life or health and when determining the measure to be applied to achieve an adequate level of sanitary or phytosanitary protection against such a risk, Members shall take into account relevant economic factors: potential harm in the form of production or sales losses in the event of market entry; the establishment or spread of a pest or disease; the costs of control or eradication in the territory of the importing Member State; and the relative cost-effectiveness of alternative risk mitigation approaches. (d) the accession and participation of the Member or entities concerned in its territory in international and regional sanitary and phytosanitary organizations and systems, as well as in bilateral and multilateral agreements and arrangements falling within the scope of this Convention, and the wording of such agreements and arrangements. The scope of the two agreements is different […].