A ‘New Haven’ Look at ASEAN’s Promotion of Transparency in Agri-food Trade

Abstract

In a region where agriculture is the ‘backbone’ of national economies, where an annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth is estimated at over 5% and where potential consumers represent one fifth of the world population, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) tend to be employed not only for public health protection purposes, but also for advantaging national industries. To minimize abusive uses of such measures, it is necessary to have a clear picture of applicable SPS requirements and regulations. From a policy-oriented perspective, the paper examines ASEAN’s contributions to the promotion of transparency in agri-food trade under the World Trade Organization (WTO) regime and clarifies problems likely to cause regulatory protectionism. Considering the current trend of cooperation, it also reviews SPS-related transparency provisions in free trade agreements (FTAs), before suggesting that ASEAN’s decision-makers have a closer look at the Japanese FTA model for inspiration, with a view to establishing provisions having non-discriminatory effects on third parties in their future agreements.