Lesson 3: SPS Agreement Principles

Topic 2: Harmonization

In this topic, you are going to study the process of standardizing how and when measures should be applied. This is called harmonization.

Objective:

  • Explain the concept of harmonization as it applies to the SPS Agreement and international trade

One of the goals of the SPS Agreement is to establish a multinational framework of rules to guide development, adoption, and enforcement of SPS measures in order to minimize negative effects on trade. Members value the use of mutually agreed upon approaches that promote consistency and technical justification.

Article 3 of the SPS Agreement details Member obligations related to harmonization and reads as follows:

  1. To harmonize sanitary and phytosanitary measures on as wide a basis as possible, Members shall base their sanitary or phytosanitary measures on international standards, guidelines or recommendations, where they exist, except as otherwise provided for in this Agreement, and in particular in paragraph 3.
  2. Sanitary or phytosanitary measures which conform to international standards, guidelines or recommendations shall be deemed to be necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health, and presumed to be consistent with the relevant provisions of this Agreement and of GATT 1994.
  3. Members may introduce or maintain sanitary or phytosanitary measures which result in a higher level of sanitary or phytosanitary protection than would be achieved by measures based on the relevant international standards, guidelines or recommendations, if there is a scientific justification, or as a consequence of the level of sanitary or phytosanitary protection a Member determines to be appropriate in accordance with the relevant provisions of paragraphs 1 through 8 of Article 5.* Notwithstanding the above, all measures which result in a level of sanitary or phytosanitary protection different from that which would be achieved by measures based on international standards, guidelines or recommendations shall not be inconsistent with any other provision of this Agreement.


    * There is a scientific justification if, on the basis of an examination and evaluation of available scientific information in conformity with the relevant provisions of this Agreement, a member determines that the relevant international standards, guidelines or recommendations are not sufficient to achieve the appropriate level of sanitary or phytosanitary protection.

  4. Members shall play a full part, within the limits of their resources, in the relevant international organizations and their subsidiary bodies, in particular the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the International Office of Epizootics, and the international and regional organizations operating within the framework of the International Plant Protection Convention, to promote within these organizations the development and periodic review of standards, guidelines and recommendations with respect to all aspects of sanitary and phytosanitary measures.
  5. The Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures provided for in paragraphs 1 and 4 of Article 12 (referred to in this Agreement as the "Committee") shall develop a procedure to monitor the process of international harmonization and coordinate efforts in this regard with the relevant international organizations.

Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.

When creating national measures, the SPS Agreement encourages governments to use international standards, guidelines, and recommendations developed by other WTO Members and international organizations. This is called harmonization. The goal of harmonization is to promote consistency in the application of measures among WTO Members.

International agricultural organizations that should be consulted to ensure harmonization include:

An important benefit of harmonization is that WTO Members may benefit from work done by other Members and international organizations. This can reduce the burden of a Member creating measures alone.

International standards do not restrict the development of national measures. National standards do not violate the SPS Agreement if they are different from international standards. If governments choose to apply national standards that are different from international standards, the national standards must be technically justified based on scientific evidence. A clear description of the risks that the standards are used to mitigate must also be provided. In the event of a dispute, a country must justify their actions based on available scientific evidence and risk assessment if their measures are stricter than international standards.

The following video will help illustrate the concept of Harmonization.

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course_01/lesson_03/topic_02/asset_001

In this topic, you learned that WTO member counties should base their national SPS measures on international standards. When additional measures are required, Members must technically justify the use of these measures.

To continue, select Topic 3 from the Topics menu above or click here.