The SPS agreement and its application in the WTO dispute settlement

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Note: Footnotes Omitted

Part I. Introduction

The fundamental goal of the WTO system is the reduction of trade barriers, and thereby maximizing economic welfare.[1] To achieve its goal, the WTO has established sophisticated legal principles as well as institutional mechanism to secure international cooperation and collective action among member states.  Besides measures on the reduction of national tariffs, the WTO also prohibits member states (¡°Members¡±) from setting up or keeping in place non-tariff barriers to trade in goods, or NTBs.  Nonetheless, as a flexible and pragmatic system, WTO agreement also renders some exceptions to its general rules.  The One of the provisions in the General Exception of GATT 20 excepts adoption and enforcement of measures ¡°(b) necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health.¡±  In GATT Uruguay Round Talk, the negotiators added a substantial body of new principles and rules to the very summary language of GATT 20(b), which was entitled Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement or Agreement).  As pointed out by a commentator, this agreement quickly became a flash-point for controversies and confrontations between developed nations over NTBs that block imports of certain agricultural and fisheries products that are deemed unsafe.¡± [2] 

Three major disputes have been decided already by the DSU Appellate Body after the effectiveness of the SPS agreement, namely, the EC Measures Concerning Meat and Meat Products,[3] Australia ¨C Measures Affecting Importation of Salmon,[4] and Japan ¨C Measures Affecting Agricultural Products.[5]  Those cases, all happened among developed nations which are equipped with a relatively more liberal theory, highlighted the controversy of this issue in international trade.  A couple of issues have been raised by these cases: the government¡¯s role in health protection, the standards employed in risk assessment, the role of science in risk assessment, the levels of protection ¡­

This project is an attempt to explore the application of the SPS Agreement by the WTO Appellate Body (¡°AB¡±).  Part II will make a brief introduction on the history and basic concepts of the SPS Agreement.  Part III will examine the three cases, analyzing how the Appellate Body interpret and apply the Agreement.  Part IV will discuss the implications of those decisions and the future of the application of the SPS Agreement by the DSB.