Sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures that protect human, animal, and plant health are impeding trade and provoking high-profile disputes. This paper argues that the WTO's Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM) could play an important role in defusing the trade-disrupting potential of SPS...

Using SPS measures obtained from the SPS Information Management System of the WTO and controlling for zero trade flows, we find that SPS concerns reduce the probability of trade in agricultural and food products consistently. However, the amount of trade is positively affected by SPS measures...

The de facto moratorium and product-specific measures at issue in the EC - Biotech case involved what amounted to an EC decision to impose a substantive marketing ban on all biotech products. Yet they were treated as involving only a procedural delay under Annex C(1)(A) of the SPS Agreement. The...

Agricultural products worth over US$ 1,765 billion were traded in 2013. WTO rules help to ensure that these products are traded safely and that health protection measures are not used as an excuse for protecting domestic producers. This brochure, produced to mark the WTO’s 20th anniversary,...

The WTO Secretariat has prepared this booklet to assist public understanding of the SPS Agreement, it concerns the application of food safety and animal and plant health regulations. The first section of the booklet presents the basic structure of WTO agreements; the second looks at the key...