Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 12 • Number 18 • 21st May 2008
New sanitary guidelines recognise disease-free regions during outbreaks
A new set of WTO guidelines entered into force last week, allowing importers to discriminate between farm imports from different regions of a single country in cases of disease or pest outbreaks. Previously, an outbreak automatically led to the barring of all agricultural imports in the affected sector from the entire country. The new rules allow exports from disease-free regions to continue.
The non-binding guidelines on regionalisation aim to facilitate trade and enhance transparency by providing step-by-step guidance on the recognition process from non-affected regions. Agreed at the meeting of the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS) in early April, the guidelines entered into force on 15 May, as no Member raised objections in the interim (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 18 April 2008, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/08-04-18/inbrief.htm#2).
The new guidelines modify the WTO framework for ensuring that disease and pests do not spread from country to country. The revised rules are the result of five years of talks, led by New Zealand.
To view the non-binding guidelines of regionalisation, visit http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/sps_e/g_sps_48_e.doc
ICTSD reporting; “Decision on SPS ‘regionalization’ confirmed,” WTO RELEASE, 19 May 2008.