Toward Open Recognition? Standardization and Regional Integration Under Article XXIV of GATT

Abstract

This paper provides a legal analysis of the significance of standards, technical regulations and SPS provisions (collectively, TBTSPS) in regional trade agreements (RTAs) in relation to the multilateral trading system. From a normative perspective, it examines the way in which RTA regulation of national TBTSPS measures may contribute to or detract from liberalization goals. From a positive perspective, this paper describes how GATT Article XXIV and the Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV (the Understanding), as presently understood, regulate RTA regulation of national TBTSPS measures. This paper then compares its normative findings to its positive results, and concludes by suggesting how Article XXIV and the Understanding might be reinterpreted or revised to conform more closely with the normative goal, expressed in Article XXIV:4, of balancing regional integration goals with multilateral liberalization goals.