WTO Reviews SPS on 50 Years of Codex
The calls came in a two-day meeting of the WTO’s
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Committee,
which consists of all 159 WTO members and deals with food safety and animal and
plant health - measures having an increasing impact on trade.
They echoed a paper circulated by Brazil (document
G/SPS/GEN/1253), which described food safety as an important contributor to
food security, and said international standards and guidelines should be based
on science, that confidence in Codex and other international standards-setting
bodies should be strengthened, and that any measures that apply higher
standards should also be justified by science.
The discussion of the six new specific trade
concerns and the 10 previously raised and discussed in this meeting reflected
that theme.
They covered; processed meat, genetically modified
organisms (GMOs), restrictions related to the Japanese nuclear plant accident,
orchid tissue culture plantlets in flasks, citrus fruits (a complaint by South
Africa against the EU about black spot, which is the first dispute settlement
case in the International Plant Protection Convention), offal, salmon, pesticide
residues, sheepmeat, phthalates (materials added to
plastics in food and drink containers) in wines and spirits, shrimp, mad cow
disease (BSE), GMO pollen in honey, Indonesia’s port closures, and pine trees
and other products (some details below).
Also on the agenda were: six items of information
from members, mainly about administrative changes in Australia, the EU and Rep.
Korea, but also the horsemeat scandal in the EU and a new Food Safety Act in
the Philippines; and Costa Rica’s notification of minimum residue levels for
veterinary medicines in live animals (with questions from Panama).
One issue was reported resolved - Slovenia’s
concern about Croatia’s measures on pork imports, dating back to 2003 and not
reported solved until almost a decade later.
The committee also continued to discuss two
long-standing issues in informal consultations immediately before this meeting.
And the committee was introduced to a new
publication on invasive alien species and trade rules (see below)
Some details
The SPS Committee’s main task is to monitor how
countries are implementing food safety and animal and plant health measures
under the WTO Agreement, and to discuss issues arising from that, including the
work of recognized international standards-setting bodies. Its deliberations
range from comments on specific measures to broader principles.
CODEX anniversary and good scientific practice
Although this was not mentioned specifically in
this meeting, the call to shield Codex standards against what some countries
consider to be non-scientific considerations, has in
the past been raised in the WTO and in Codex itself. This is particularly about
ractopamine, a feed additive to encourage growth and
leanness in meat. Some countries called on Codex to agree a minimum residue level,
which would allow trade. Some others ban ractopamine
and for several years blocked a standard in Codex, until it was adopted by a
very close vote in 2012.
Developing countries, meanwhile, described Codex’s
value in harmonizing standards and in providing technical assistance to help
them meet their trading partners’ standards. They called for support for
Codex’s trust funds, which enables delegates from poorer countries to
participate in the commission’s standards-setting work.
The Dominican Republic, China and Cuba also called
for Codex to harmonize private standards, which are stricter than governments’
standards and, they said, are not always based on science.
Lebanon urged Codex to set maximum residue levels
for antibiotics and pesticides honey. Lebanese consumers consider honey to be a
medicine and cannot accept any residues in honey, the delegate said.
Codex Alimentarius is one
of “three sisters” recognized in the WTO’s SPS Agreement as international
standards-setting bodies: the other two are the World Organization for Animal
Health (OIE), and the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) for
plant health.
The SPS Agreement says SPS measures should either
be based on recognized international standards or on scientific assessment of
risks if countries prefer to set their own standards. The measures should also
avoid unnecessarily obstructing trade.
Specific trade concerns
Among the specific concerns were:
Import restrictions in response to Japan’s nuclear
power plant accident. Japan updated
members on the latest situation and said radiation levels are generally within
normal safety levels, and that any contaminated products could not be traded.
Many trading partners have lifted their import restrictions, Japan said.
However, restrictions remain in Hong Kong China and Chinese Taipei although
Japan is starting to work with them on analysing the situation. China remains a
major trading partner that still has import bans and Japan has not been able to
discuss this bilaterally, Japan said. China said that only products from
seriously polluted areas are affected.
Indonesia’s port closure (see news story on March 2012 meeting and specific
trade concern 330 in spsims.wto.org) for fruit and vegetables, raised again by
China, which also complained about various import licensing conditions. Support
came this time from the EU, South Africa, Rep. Korea, Chile and Chinese Taipei.
Indonesia, which has said Jakarta Port was closed to horticultural imports because it lacked
inspection and quarantine facilities, repeated that three other ports are
available and that they are also close to population centres.
Invasive alien species
A new study on international trade and invasive
alien species has been produced by the Standards and Trade Development Facility
(STDF), a partnership involving the WTO and other agencies that supports
developing countries in building their capacity to implement international
sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures.
It includes a recommendation for the SPS Committee
to consider developing guidance for countries on the relationship between
invasive alien species and the SPS Agreement, so that the legal situation is
clear and ensure that dealing with these species can
be dealt with in governments’ regulations.
These are some of the trade issues or concerns
discussed or information supplied by members. The full agenda is here.
Information from members
• Australia - Release of draft Biosecurity
Regulations and Inspector-General of Biosecurity Regulations for comment
• Australia - update on retiring the Australian
Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) brand
• European Union - update on the fraud case related to
the labelling of horse meat in meat products
• European Union - “Smarter Rules For
Safer Food” proposals on animal health, plant health, plant propagating
materials and official controls (G/SPS/GEN/1252)
• Republic of Korea - update on reorganization of government
agencies
• Philippines - new Food Safety Act passed on
5 June 2013
Specific trade concerns
(Document G/SPS/GEN/204/REV.13)
New issues
• EU temperature treatment requirements for imports
of processed meat products - concerns of Russia
• US proposed rule on good manufacturing practice and
hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls for human food
(G/SPS/N/USA/2502) - concerns of China
• EU renewal of GMO approvals (EC regulation
1829/2003) - concerns of Argentina
• Import restrictions in response to the nuclear
power plant accident - concerns of Japan
• EU import requirements on orchid tissue culture
plantlets in flasks - concerns of Chinese Taipei
• European Union - phytosanitary
measures on citrus black spot - concerns of South Africa
Issues previously raised
(Numbers are “specific trade concerns” numbers in
the database http://spsims.wto.org/)
• Viet Nam’s ban on offals
- concerns of the European Union and the United States (no. 314)
• China’s quarantine and testing procedures for
salmon - concerns of Norway (no. 319)
• EU maximum residue levels of pesticides - concerns
of India (no. 306)
• Turkey’s requirements for importation of sheepmeat - concerns of Australia (no. 340)
• China’s import conditions related to phthalates -
concerns of the European Union (no. 345)
• Japan’s restrictions on shrimp due to anti-oxidant
residues - concerns of India (no. 342)
• Import restrictions due to BSE - concerns of the
European Union (no. 193)
• EU court of justice ruling regarding pollen derived
from GMOs - concerns of Argentina (no. 327)
• Indonesia’s port closure (G/SPS/N/IDN/53,
G/SPS/N/IDN/54 and G/SPS/N/IDN/54/CORR.1) - concerns of China (no. 330)
• EU quarantine measures on certain pine trees and
other products - concerns of Russia (no. 348)
Consideration of specific notifications received
• Costa Rica’s MRLs for veterinary medicines in live
animals (G/SPS/N/CRI/136) - concerns of Panama
Information on resolution of issues
• Croatia’s
restrictions on imports of pork - concerns of Slovenia (no. 158)