Food safety regulations limit trade in bioproducts. Every country, however, has a duty to protect its citizens from food safety hazards. If risks are increasing under an existing food safety system then a strengthening of the regulatory regime can be justified, with the inevitable negative...

Canada is currently negotiating a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union; the issue of Geographic Indications (GIs) is on the negotiating agenda and is expected to be one of the most contentious issues in the negotiations. While the exact nature of protection...

Trade in genetically modified (GM) products remains a major issue in agricultural trade policy. In particular, the European Union has sought to deny market access to GM-products. In the wake of a WTO case brought by Canada and the US, among others, against an import ban imposed on genetically...

The regulatory regime for contamination permits the imposition of import bans with neither a scientific justification nor a risk assessment. No scientific assessment of Triffid flax was done prior to the import ban. The import regime put in place to deal with the contamination of flax with the...

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) which was signed into law in January, 2011 represents a major initiative to improve food safety in the US. The legislation mandates the US Food and Drug Administration with developing a regulatory system to implement the Act. As yet, the full effect of...

Canada and Mexico are formally challenging US country of origin (COOL) legislation at the World Trade Organization. The industries most affected by COOL are beef and pork. The effect of COOL on North American cross border supply chains is outlined. The areas of international trade law upon which...

Most observers agree that the major areas where gains can be made in CETA are in the services sector and selected areas of manufacturing. It seems unlikely that CETA will be as all encompassing as the NAFTA with only a few agricultural products excluded from full tariff elimination. Still, it...

Regulations relating to disease management have traditionally been an important component of the overall environment in which international trade in agriculture products occurs. The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement)...

Trade policy initiatives of developed country governments are in flux. Governments’ need for new trade policy measures has arisen partly because of constraints imposed on the use of export subsidies by the Agreement on Agriculture reached as part of the Uruguay Round of General Agreement on...

A number of major agricultural exporting countries responded to high food prices from 2007 to 2010 by imposing export restrictions on agricultural commodities in efforts to constrain domestic food-price inflation. These restrictions reduced the volume of internationally traded food, and...