Increasing WTO concerns over agricultural and food regulations

An ever-increasing number of sanitary and phytosanitary measures which affect the agricultural and food industries are giving rise to specific trade concerns at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

In its most recent report on trade-related developments during the period from mid-October 2014 to mid-May 2015, the WTO noted a significant increase in the notification of new or modified sanitary and phytosanitary measures. This increase led to the expression of a record number of trade concerns at the meeting of the WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures held in Geneva from July 15 to 16 2015.

WTO member states use the committee meetings to raise and discuss concerns about regulations introduced to protect human, animal or plant life or health, including food safety measures, which they consider hinder international trade and adversely impact competitive opportunities. The types of measure discussed range from new product standards and approval processes to regulations restricting marketing and banning imports...

Specific trade concerns regarding European Union...

• lacked a scientific basis;
• would create a food approval system with serious delays and a lack of transparency; and
• would create unnecessary barriers to international trade.

New issues that were raised for the first time included:

• the EU approval regime for biotech products (for further details please see "Do the new EU GMO rules comply with its WTO obligations?") – the concerns were raised by Argentina, Paraguay and the United States;
• Russia's import restriction on processed fishery products from Estonia and Latvia; and
• China's import restrictions due to African swine fever...

This has been exerpted from the 20 August 2015 posting on the International Law Office website.