Course information

This course is no longer open for registration. To complete the series of courses please contact elearning@wto.org or register for the new edition of the SPS Course Series. 

In this course, you will learn about principles and concepts in the SPS Agreement that facilitate safe trade in agricultural and food products.

Course objectives:

1. The principle of equivalence, which obliges WTO Members to accept each other's different SPS measures when they achieve the same level of protection (Article 4 of the SPS Agreement);
2. The principle of regionalization, according to which Members must adapt their measures to the SPS conditions (for example, regional variations in pest prevalence) of the areas of origin and destination of the product (Article 6);
3. Transparency-related requirements to guarantee that information about SPS requirements is systematically communicated and exchanged, resulting in increased certainty and better regulation (Article 7 and Annex B); and
4. Rules on the application of control, inspection and approval procedures, which require that such procedures are not lengthier nor more burdensome than necessary and that they do not discriminate between trading partners (Article 8 and Annex C of the SPS Agreement).

Subjects: Non-tariff measures, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures

Trailer: