Leaked TTIP SPS Text Outlines Equivalency, Transparency Mechanisms
The U.S. and European Union (EU) aim to harmonize ways to address pests and other sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) threats as part of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) pact, according to leaked text of the TTIP SPS chapter. The Minneapolis-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), a critic of status quo U.S. trade policy, leaked the text in recent days.
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The text, originated in the EU, strongly emphasizes trade facilitation by providing equivalency and transparency mechanisms. The objective of the chapter is to expedite clearance processes as long as products are compliant with the rules, the text says. U.S. and EU officials would be required to establish lists of regulated pests for commodities where a phytosanitary threat exists. The lists should contain details of the location of the pests.
The text would also permit the one side to unilaterally establish and certify risk-free facilities that the other side will regard as risk-free. Regulated commodities should also be accepted by importers through guarantees by exporters to avoid pre-clearance, permitting and other SPS protocol, the text says. Regarding animal welfare, the two sides would have to collaborate to align standards and conduct research.
U.S. lawmakers and industry representatives say the EU is one of the most egregious abusers of SPS measures (see 14061128). The EU geographic indication policy has hit a particularly sensitive nerve on Capitol Hill.