The Key Provisions of the Agreement

2.3 SPS measures not based on international standards

Members do not always base their measures on internationally-agreed standards, for several reasons. For example, the three sister organizations have not elaborated international standards for every aspect of food safety, animal and plant health. Furthermore, Members may desire to adopt SPS measures that achieve a higher level of health protection than that achieved by the relevant international standards.

In this context it is important to note that the encouragement to use international standards does not mean that these constitute a floor or a ceiling on national standards. National measures do not violate the SPS Agreement simply because they differ from international norms.

According to Article 3 and Article 5 of the SPS Agreement, Members are permitted to adopt SPS measures which are more stringent than the relevant international standards or adopt SPS measures when international standards do not exist, provided the measures are:

• based on scientific risk assessment;
• consistently applied; and
• not more trade restrictive than necessary.

To find out how this article has been applied in dispute settlement see relevant findings in the Hormones case.