Food Safety, Risk Analysis, and International Trade 23 May 2002

Food Trade and Barriers  Traditional trade barriers: subsidies, quotas, and tariffs  Uruguay Round: Tariffication | Conversion of many food trade barriers into tariffs Transparency | ta‘rīf: “to make known” Tariff-reductions | in Agreement on Agriculture

“…as border barriers, such as tariffs and quotas, fall, other obstacles to market access [emerge].” - de Jonquières and Dunne, Financial Times, 8 March 1999, italics added

The Problem “While often legitimately employed to protect public health, health protection measures can also simply be disguised barriers to trade.” - Moy, G.G. (1999)

The SPS Agreement  Uruguay Round | Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) Sanitary measures | human and animal health Phytosanitary measures | plant protection

The SPS Agreement 1.Recognizes national rights to protect health 2.Ensures that sanitary and phytosanitary measures are not: Arbitrary, Discriminatory, or Scientifically unjustifiable

The SPS Agreement | WTO “enforcement” WTO treaty agreement: wronged countries may suspend tariff concessions (that is, apply tariffs) to violating countries.

The SPS Agreement & Risk Analysis  Risk Analysis | Risk Assessment, Risk Management, and Risk Communication  The SPS Agreement specifically mentions risk assessment

The SPS Agreement & Risk Analysis  The SPS Agreement also recognizes three scientific standard-setting bodies that embrace risk analysis: Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) | food safety Office International des Epizooties (OIE) | animal health International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) | plant health  Article 3.1: Recognition of international (Codex, OIE, and IPPC) standards

The SPS Agreement & Risk Analysis Article 5.1: Measures must be based on risk assessment Measures must also be consistently applied If international standards do not exist or A country decides to adopt a higher “Appropriate Level of Health Protection” (ALOP),

The SPS Agreement & Risk Analysis  WTO Cases involving risk analysis N. America and European Union | hormone- treated beef Canada and Australia | salmon

Hormone-treated beef  Economic factors and risk-perception motivating the EU ban  Risk assessment (Article 5) the principal basis for the ruling against the EU.  Comprehensive risk analysis, including risk management, recognized in the appellate ruling

Salmon  Economic factors, specifically in Tasmania, influential  Consistency of Appropriate Levels of Health Protection (ALOPs) a key for the ruling against Australia

Other Risk Analysis issues  Article 4: Equivalence  Non-Risk Analysis Factors in Disputes The need to feed a population (e.g., 19 th - century Britain, modern-day Russia and China) Regulatory and disease reputation (modern- day Britain)