Background to the SPS Agreement
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established rules for international trade in all goods, including food and agricultural products, in 1948. But the GATT rules also contained an exception which permitted countries to apply measures “necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health” as long as these did not unjustifiably discriminate between countries nor were a disguised restriction to trade. During the GATT's Tokyo Round of multilateral trade negotiations (1974–9), an Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (often referred to as the “Standards Code”) was negotiated, which inter alia covered technical requirements resulting from food safety and animal and plant health measures.
The focus during the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations (1986–94) on the liberalization and reform of agricultural trade renewed interest in disciplining the use of non-tariff trade barriers (NTBs), including sanitary and other technical regulations. The Standards Code was rewritten during the Uruguay Round, and at the same time a separate agreement covering sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures was negotiated. The new Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement (TBT Agreement) and the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) entered into force along with the Agreement on Agriculture, on January 1, 1995.
Basic provisions of the SPS Agreement
The SPS Agreement affirms the right of WTO Members to restrict international trade when necessary to protect human, animal or plant life, or health.