As the Uruguay Round has liberalized tariff and quantitative barriers to trade, concern has grown about the impact of other measures – many of which are not explicitly trade-related – on agricultural and food exports. In particular, analysts widely acknowledge that technical measures such as food quality and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements can impede trade, particularly for developing countries.

The Uruguay Round addressed the impact of these requirements through the SPS and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreements. This chapter identifies the specific problems of developing countries in meeting SPS requirements in developed country markets, especially the European Union (EU). We base our findings on the results of case studies and an in-depth survey of developing country officials.

SPS measures as barriers to trade

Concerns over food safety regulations, labeling requirements, and standards for food quality and composition reflect the global proliferation of such measures, particularly in developed countries (figure 16.1). These measures can damage trade by imposing an import ban or by prohibitively raising production and marketing costs. They can also divert trade from one trading partner to another by discriminating among suppliers. Finally, they can reduce overall trade flows by increasing the costs and barriers for all suppliers.

Attention to the trade impacts of SPS measures has focused largely on developed countries – through, for example, the high-profile dispute between the EU and the United States over the use of hormones to produce beef (Hormones case, see also chapter 15 in this volume).