Influence of Trade Regimes and Agreements on AKST | 73

Table 3-2. Classification of Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT).

Criteria of Classification

Types of Barriers

Policy instrument

•      Import bans—total and partial
•      Technical standards—process, product, and packaging
•      Information remedies—labeling and voluntary claims

Scope

•      Uniform —both for domestic production and imports
•      Border (u n iversal)—on ly for i m ports
•      Border (specific)—only for some imports

Regulatory goal

•      Producer/processor   interest—commercial   animal   and   plant health protection, compatibility
•      Consumer interest—food safety, quality attribute
•      Natural environment—protection and conservation of environment

 

were implemented through process and product standards mainly in the case of food safety and total and partial bans and process and product standards in the case of animal and plant health protection. On the other hand, non-risk reduc­ing measures were few and mainly with respect to quality attributes. Many countries use very blunt instruments such as import bans that excessively restrict imports well beyond what is necessary for protecting the health of their people, plants or animals. The level of protection involved in some cases is equivalent to tariffs of more than 10% (Hoekman and Anderson, 1999).      An analysis of technical barriers to US agricultural ex­ports in 1996 showed that:
•   80% were risk-reducing measures;
•   60% were about commercial animal and plant health protection (CAPHP);
•   25% were about food safety;
•   More  than  50%  in were  in  CAPHP  and  75%   in food safety category in terms of process and product standards;
•   Non-risk reducing (quality attribute) were also mainly in terms of process and product standards;
•   85% of barriers were under SPS agreement with an av­erage trade impact per barrier being US$17 million;
•   Major restriction by barriers was in market access or market expansion;
•   Most of the barriers were in East Asia, the Americas and Europe;
•   Major products facing barriers were fruits, vegetables, grains and feed grains, animal products (beef and pork) and seed (Hoekman and Anderson, 1999).
•   On the other hand, from the USA alone there were numerous technical barriers to developing country ex­ports, amounting to up to 56 detentions per million dol­lars of imports.

The WTO agreement on TBT sets standards for labeling and packaging of agricultural products as recommended by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). The CAC, on which both the TBT and the SPS measures agreements of WTO are based, was established by FAO and WHO in 1962 which recommends food safety and labeling standards. In

 

the 1980s, the CAC came out with general labeling stan­dards and nutritional labeling standards. After this in the Tokyo round of GATT, an agreement on technical barriers to trade was negotiated. The TBT agreement which has been now signed by all the WTO members is applicable to all products including agricultural goods and food but its pro­visions do not apply to SPS measures (Swinbank, 1999).     The TBT agreement covers labeling of food, quality re­quirement for fresh food products, packaging requirements and labeling of textiles in the agrofood sector (Chawla and Kumar, 1997). Although the public debate on the use of technical barriers to trade has focused on use of these mea­sures to protect consumer and the environment interest, a large number of these measures actually protect the com­mercial interest of producers by reducing the probability of biological risks to crops and livestock (Roberts, 1999). There is no doubt that TBT will remain an important issue in international regulatory and trade policy forums for the foreseeable future.

3.2.4     Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures and AKST
The SPS measures agreement of WTO, reaffirms the right of countries to set their own health and safety standards, provided that they are justifiable on scientific grounds and do not result in unjustified barriers to trade. SPS measures include all relevant laws, decrees, regulations, requirements and procedures including, inter alia, end product criteria; processes and production methods; testing, inspection, cer­tification and approval procedures; quarantine treatments including relevant requirements associated with the trans­port of animals or plants, or with the materials necessary for their survival during transport; provisions on relevant statistical methods, sampling procedures and methods of risk assessment; and packaging and labeling requirements directly related to food safety (Swinbank, 1999). The SPS measures, thus, encompass food additives, contaminants, toxins, drug or pesticide residues in food, certificate of food, animal or plant health safety, processing methods, food la­beling, plant or animal quarantine, requirements for preven­tion, control or establishment of pest or disease and sanitary requirements for imports. Whereas the sanitary provisions