Food Regulation and Trade: Towards a Safe and Open Global Food System

by Tim Josling, Donna Roberts, David Orden

Overview

Guarding the safety of a nation's food supply, ensuring quality, and providing information to consumers so that they can make informed food purchase choices are widely accepted as universal obligations of governments. But differences in the way that governments fulfill these obligations can lead to trade conflicts. The potential for such conflicts increases as more affluent and safety-conscious consumers demand additional regulations in the national food systems. Governments should handle these conflicts in a way that both upholds food safety standards—and public confidence in them—and preserves the framework for trade and the benefits of an open food system.

This book examines the current state of regulation of the increasingly global food system, analyzes the underlying causes of the trade conflicts (both those that are currently evident and those that are waiting in the wings), and outlines the steps that could be taken to ensure that food safety and open trade become, at the least, compatible and, at best, mutually supporting.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780881323467
Publisher:	Peterson Institute for International Economics
Publication date:	07/28/2003
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	275
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Donna Roberts is a senior economist at the Economic Research Service, US Department of Agriculture. She served as a delegate to the WTO's Committee on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures and trade regulations.

David Orden has served since 2007 as Director of the Global Issues Initiative (GII) of Virginia Tech's Institute for Society, Culture and Environment (ISCE) and as a Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC.

Tim Josling is a Professor, Emeritus, at the (former) Food Research Institute at Stanford University; a Senior Fellow by courtesy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies; and a faculty member at FSI's Europe Center. His research focuses on agricultural policy and food policy in industrialized nations; international trade in agricultural and food products; and the development of the multilateral trade regime.

Table of Contents

	Preface	ix
	Acknowledgments	xiii
1	Food Regulation in an Open Economy	1
	Globalization of the Food Supply	3
	Objectives and Organization of This Book	7
2	Trade-Related Regulations in the Global Food System	13
	Economic Rationales for Food Regulation	14
	Classification of Regulations	16
	Risk Analysis and Appropriate Degrees of Caution	25
	Trade Effects of Food Regulations	26
	Science and Economics in Risk-Reducing Regulations	28
	Capture of Regulations by Producers or Consumers	31
	Welfare-Enhancing Regulation of Food Trade	32
3	Global Food Regulatory Framework	35
	Multilateral Governance of Food Regulation	35
	The SPS Agreement	40
	The TBT Agreement	51
	The TRIPS Agreement	56
	Enforcement of the Multilateral Disciplines	59
	The Doha Development Agenda Negotiations	75
4	Control of Animal and Plant Pests and Diseases	77
	Animal and Plant Pests and Diseases and Their Control	78
	Trade Issues Related to Agricultural Pests and Diseases	80
	Animal and Plant Regulations in Practice	82
	Managing Agricultural Trade in the Presence of Risks	98
5	Food Safety and Control of Human Health Hazards	101
	Food Safety Regulation	102
	Trade Issues and Food Safety	104
	Controlling Natural Food-Borne Pathogens	106
	The Health Effects of Yield-Enhancing Inputs	114
	Managing Trade-Related Food Safety Issues	125
6	Regulating Quality Through Labeling and Standards	127
	Private and Public Provision of Information	128
	Food Quality Regulations in Practice	131
	Impacts of Labeling and Standards on Trade	146
7	Emerging Food Regulation Issues	151
	Scope for Trade Conflicts	152
	Labeling Process Attributes	155
	International Regulation of Process Attributes	156
	Recent Regulatory Developments: Genetically Modified Foods, Organics, and Animal Welfare	160
	The Challenges Ahead	181
8	Toward a Safe and Open Global Food Supply	185
	Assessment of the State of Food Regulation	187
	Role of the WTO in the Food Regulatory Framework	193
	Recommendations for Improving Regulation	199
	Seizing the Opportunities from Trade	205
	References	207
	Acronyms	217
	Index	219
	Tables
Table 1.1	Trade patterns in agricultural, forestry, and fishery products	4
Table 2.1	Classification scheme for food regulations	18
Table 3.1	Number of complaints about regulations brought before the WTO's SPS Committee, 1995-2001	61
Table 3.2	WTO disputes over regulation of agricultural product safety and quality, 1995-2002	64
Table 3.3	Decisions in the four SPS cases heard by WTO panels and the Appellate Body	70
Table 4.1	Risk reduction under a systems approach to Mexican avocado imports	84

Editorial Reviews

In order to channel and enrich the debate among practitioners, academics, policy makers and the general public, more books like Food Regulation and Trade... are needed.

Journal of International Economic Law

This comprehensive book examines various impediments towards creating a well-functioning global trade in food products... Considerable breadth and empirical data are strong points of this book.

Global Law Books