Title: World Trade Organization members' participation in mechanisms under the sanitary and phytosanitary agreement

Authors: Sofia Boza; Felipe Fernández

Addresses: Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Institute of International Studies, Universidad de Chile, 11315 Santa Rosa Av., La Pintana, Santiago, Chile ' Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Institute of International Studies, Universidad de Chile, 11315 Santa Rosa Av., La Pintana, Santiago, Chile

Abstract: Non-tariff measures are increasing their visibility in international trade. Among them, sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) aim to protect food safety, animal and plant health. In order to limit their potential impact on trade, the World Trade Organization (WTO) fostered the signature of a multilateral agreement, which sets up mechanisms to promote transparency, consensus and dispute resolution. The objective of this paper is to present the divergences in participation of WTO country members in the previously mentioned mechanisms according to their income level. The results obtained evidence that, with some particular exceptions, high income countries have been much more active than developing and least developed.

Keywords: international trade; World Trade Organization; non-tariff measures; sanitary measures; phytosanitary measures; food safety; animal health; plant health; agrifood industry; multilateral agreements; transparency; notifications; specific trade concerns; trade disputes; WTO country members; development level.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTGM.2016.077850

International Journal of Trade and Global Markets, 2016 Vol.9 No.3, pp.212 - 227

Received: 29 Aug 2015
Accepted: 26 Nov 2015
Published online: 17 Jul 2016 *

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