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Precaution WTO Symposium, 6-7 July 2001 Current issues facing the World Trading System

Precaution WTO Symposium, 6-7 July 2001 Current issues facing the World Trading System Session:Food Safety and SPS D. TAEYMANS, Director Scientific & Regulatory Affairs. Precaution & Environment. Rio Declaration: Principle 15:

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Precaution WTO Symposium, 6-7 July 2001 Current issues facing the World Trading System

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  1. Precaution WTO Symposium, 6-7 July 2001 Current issues facing the World Trading System Session:Food Safety and SPS D. TAEYMANS, Director Scientific & Regulatory Affairs

  2. Precaution & Environment • Rio Declaration: Principle 15: “in order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capability. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation”

  3. Precaution Should it be extended to other fields? Such as food safety?

  4. WTO Agreement on the Application of SPS Article 2.2 states: “Members shall ensure that any SPS measure… is based on scientific principles and is not maintained without scientific evidence, except as provided for in Article 5.7” Scientific principles = RISK ANALYSIS

  5. Risk Analysis - Codex concepts • Risk assessment • Risk management • Risk communication

  6. Precaution & Plant, Animal and Human Health WTO Agreement on SPS, Art 5.7: “In cases where relevant scientific evidence is insufficient, a Member may provisionally adopt sanitary or phytosanitary measures on the basis of available pertinent information, including that from relevant international organisations as well as from SPS measures applied by other Members. In such circumstances, Members shall seek to obtain the additional information necessary for a more objective assessment of risk and review the SPS measure accordingly within a reasonable period of time”

  7. Precaution • Precaution should be considered within a structured approach to risk analysis • Precaution is particularly relevant to risk management • Precaution, which is used by decision-makers in risk management, should not be confused with the element of caution (prudential approach) that scientists apply in their assessment of scientific data

  8. Precaution • For economic operators, precaution is not welcomed • because it has the potential to create non-justified barriers to trade. • But, in exceptional circumstances, decision-makers may need to take such measures to protect human health • In such exceptional circumstances, the measures taken should comply with several criteria

  9. Precautionary measures • Exceptional • Provisional • Proportional • Non-discriminatory • Consistent • Based on a cost/benefit analysis • Assign burden of proof • Allow consultation of stakeholders

  10. Precaution - Codex discussions • Codex develops Working Principles for Risk Analysis • In the frame of this discussion, Codex discussed how to integrate precautionary approach in risk management possibly through definition of guidelines

  11. Precaution - Codex recommendation “When there is evidence that a risk to human health exists but that scientific data are insufficient or incomplete, the CAC should not proceed to elaborate a standard but should consider the need for a Codex related text, such as a code of practice, provided that such a text would be supported by the available scientific evidence” CAC, July 2001

  12. Precaution - Conclusions • Risk analysis • Risk assessment • Risk management • Risk communication remains the rule • Precautionary measures should remain the exception

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