The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) is an international agreement of the WTO. It was negotiated as part of the GATT’s Uruguay Round and came into effect at the start of 1995 with the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO). SPS measures, as they are commonly known, are those intended to safeguard human, animal, or plant life or health against specific threats.
The WTO imposes restrictions on member states’ policies under the SPS agreement concerning both animal and plant health (phytosanitation) and food safety (bacterial contaminants, pesticides, inspection, and labeling). Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), and the Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) are the three standards-setting bodies on which WTO countries should base their SPS methodology.
Purpose
The fundamental guidelines for food safety and criteria for the health of animals and plants are outlined in the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. It enables nations to establish their standards. However, it also states that laws must be grounded in science. They should only be used as much as is required to safeguard human, animal, or plant life or health. Additionally, they shouldn’t unfairly or arbitrarily discriminate across nations where the same or similar criteria are in effect. Member nations are urged to follow existing international norms, directives, and recommendations. If there is scientific support, members may apply measures that result in higher criteria. As long as the strategy is consistent and not arbitrary, they can also establish higher requirements based on an accurate assessment of the risks. The agreement nevertheless permits nations to utilize various product inspection standards and techniques.
Key elements
All nations maintain safeguards to guarantee consumer food safety and to stop the spread of pests and diseases among animals and plants. These SPS measures can take a variety of shapes, such as mandating that products originate from disease-free regions, subjecting products to particular processing steps, or only allowing the use of specific food additives. Both domestically produced food and diseases affecting local animals and plants are subject to sanitary (human and animal health) and phytosanitary (plant health) regulations.
Norms applied globally
The SPS Agreement encourages national SPS measures that are compliant with international standards, recommendations, and guidelines. Harmonization is a common term used to describe this process. Such standards are not being developed by the WTO and never will be. However, the majority of the WTO’s member nations take part in other international organizations that develop these standards. International examination and assessment are applied to the standards, which are created by top researchers in the field and government specialists on health protection. The SPS Agreement specifically allows states to decide not to utilize the international standards, even though they are frequently higher than the national requirements of many nations, even industrialized nations. To show that the applicable international norm would not result in the level of health protection the country deemed necessary, a country may be asked to demonstrate scientific reason if the national requirement results in a higher limitation of trade.
Adapting to circumstances
It is not always acceptable to apply the same sanitary and phytosanitary regulations on food, animal, or plant products arriving from various nations due to differences in climate, prevalent pests or illnesses, or food safety circumstances. As a result, depending on the place of origin of the food, animal, or plant product in question, sanitary and phytosanitary procedures can change. The SPS Agreement considers this. However, the agreement prohibits unfair favoritism of domestic producers or foreign suppliers when using sanitary and phytosanitary measures.
Alternate actions
There are frequently other approaches to obtain an acceptable risk level. Governments should choose alternatives that don’t impose more trade restrictions than necessary to achieve their health goal. However, they must be technically and economically possible and offer the same level of food safety or animal and plant health. Additionally, if a different nation can demonstrate the measures it uses to offer the same level of health protection, these should be regarded as similar. With the best availability of safe inputs for producers, the greatest quantity and diversity of safe foods for consumers, and a healthy amount of economic rivalry, protection is maintained.
Risk evaluation
The SPS Agreement makes sanitary and phytosanitary actions more transparent. Based on an appropriate assessment of the actual risks involved, countries must establish SPS measures. They must also, upon request, disclose the factors they took into consideration, the assessment methods they used, and the level of risk they determined to be acceptable. The SPS Agreement encourages the expanded use of systematic risk assessment across all WTO member nations and for all pertinent products.
