Exporting to the United States – A Team Canada Inc Publication

7.5 The World Trade Organization Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures

A particular class of standards, called Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS), constitute a major part of the trade regime facing Canadian exporters of agricultural and other natural resource products. If you're an exporter of such products, shipping your goods across the U.S. border may require that you meet these standards, as specified in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.

This agreement concerns the application of food safety and animal and plant health standards and regulations. According to the WTO:

"The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures sets out the basic rules for food safety and animal and plant health standards. It allows countries to set their own standards. But it also says regulations must be based on science. They should be applied only to the extent necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health. And they should not arbitrarily or unjustifiably discriminate between countries where identical or similar conditions prevail.

"Member countries are encouraged to use international standards, guidelines and recommendations where they exist. However, members may use measures which result in higher standards if there is scientific justification. They can also set higher standards based on appropriate assessment of risks so long as the approach is consistent, not arbitrary.

"The agreement still allows countries to use different standards and different methods of inspecting products."

The SPS agreement encourages countries to use commonly-agreed-on international standards and regulations to reduce barriers to trade. To do so, the agreement sets out a code of practice for the preparation, adoption and application of standards by central government bodies, such as the Government of Canada. Again, the agreement encourages countries to recognize each other's testing procedures and standards to reduce barriers to trade and to ensure that domestically produced goods do not receive an unfair advantage in a country's domestic marketplace. Canada's International Market Access Priorities has a section on Canada's approach to SPS measures.

To help exporters understand and keep up with the standards that apply to their particular market and product, the WTO requires all member governments to set up an "enquiry point." In Canada, this is the Standards Council of Canada. Related bodies are the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Health Canada.