Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- PART I International economic law: conceptions of convergence and divergence
- PART II WTO treaty interpretation: implications and consequences
- 4 Demanding perfection: private food standards and the SPS Agreement
- 5 Eroding national autonomy from the TRIPS Agreement
- 6 The WTO and RTAs: a ‘bottom-up’ interpretation of RTAs' autonomy over WTO law
- 7 ‘Gambling’ with sovereignty: complying with international obligations or upholding national autonomy
- PART III Responding to international economic law commitments
- PART IV Transformations in international economic law
- Index
- References
4 - Demanding perfection: private food standards and the SPS Agreement
from PART II - WTO treaty interpretation: implications and consequences
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- PART I International economic law: conceptions of convergence and divergence
- PART II WTO treaty interpretation: implications and consequences
- 4 Demanding perfection: private food standards and the SPS Agreement
- 5 Eroding national autonomy from the TRIPS Agreement
- 6 The WTO and RTAs: a ‘bottom-up’ interpretation of RTAs' autonomy over WTO law
- 7 ‘Gambling’ with sovereignty: complying with international obligations or upholding national autonomy
- PART III Responding to international economic law commitments
- PART IV Transformations in international economic law
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
In a June 2005 meeting of the WTO's Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the SPS Committee), St Vincent and the Grenadines and Jamaica voiced concern about difficulties exporting bananas due to strict safety and quality standards imposed by British supermarkets. With other countries, they raised the issue again at meetings in October 2006 and June 2007.
These producer countries' concerns are driven by an increasing trend for private retailers in developed countries to require adherence from their suppliers with, inter alia, food safety standards that are more stringent than official government regulations. The countries in question have argued that, under the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement), governments are responsible for standards set by their private sectors. However, this argument is contentious and there is no supporting precedent for the complaining countries' position. This chapter examines whether the SPS Agreement covers private sector standards. It concludes that it does not and considers some of the implications of this conclusion. Private standards potentially undermine the SPS Agreement's objectives, impacting negatively on the international trading system and causing difficulties for developing countries. Conversely, they provide significant benefits for the private sector.
Section II describes the use of private standards in the global agrifood system. Section III examines the SPS Agreement's objectives and rules and concludes that they are not applicable to private food standards.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- International Economic Law and National Autonomy , pp. 73 - 98Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010