Lesson 1: Market Access Through Regulations
Topic 2: Why Can't I Just Export Anything?
This topic describes how countries may impose restrictions they determine to be necessary to protect animal and plant health based on their local conditions and needs, as long as the restrictions are consistent with international standards.
Objective:
- Explain why countries impose different requirements on the importation of specific plants and animals and their products, consistent with international standards.
The standards developed by the IPPC and the OIE set norms for international trade, such as how to certify a product as free of quarantine pests, or how to establish a zone within a country as free of a disease. IPPC and OIE standards also provide more specific guidance on how to assess and mitigate the risks associated with the importation of specific articles. However, these standards do not set policy for a particular country; rather, countries implement their policies in accordance with these standards. This approach to implementation of standards recognizes that countries have different needs, priorities, and conditions. What is appropriate for one country might not be appropriate for another.
In addition to local conditions, countries might also differ in their preferred level of protection against sanitary and phytosanitary risk. For example, one country might consider stuffed and mounted birds to be a generally low-risk commodity for importation because they are heavily processed, and can be a high-value commodity that stimulates trade. A second country might take a more conservative approach and ban imports of bird trophies from areas where avian diseases are present. As long as the second country can justify its actions through a science-based risk assessment, that country is free to take whatever actions it deems necessary in response to the risk, consistent with the SPS agreement principles mentioned earlier.
Although countries impose restrictions on the importation of animals and plants and their products that are consistent with international standards, those restrictions can differ based on local needs, priorities, and conditions.
To continue, select Lesson Summary from the Topics menu above or click here.