EPPO Council Colloquium on the consequences of the SPS Agreement, Berlin (DE), 1998‐09‐17

Abstract

The Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been in force since 1995 and is intended to have a considerable effect on the application of phytosanitary measures worldwide, or their modification if they cannot be accepted as technically justified non‐tariff barriers to trade. The EPPO Council Colloquium set out to examine the impact of the agreement on the NPPOs of EPPO countries. The Colloquium reviewed the objectives of the agreement, its relationship with the Principles of Plant Quarantine and the revised IPPC, its practical consequences for an NPPO, the impact of the transparency and notification obligations, the meaning of‘technical justification’in relation to the agreement, the concept of‘appropriate level of protection’and the conclusions to be drawn.