The WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures: A Commentary

Almost every day newspapers carry stories which implicate the SPS Agreement. From avian flu and GMOs to ‘mad honey disease’, the trade dimension of these is never far from the surface. The SPS Agreement is concerned with trade and food safety regulation, and with the regulation of pests and diseases in agriculture. This book offers a legal commentary on this agreement, and on the case law which has grown up around it. It examines how the agreement has turned to science, as well as the operation of the SPS Committee as a site for transnational governance. It also examines the agreement’s attempt to establish a framework to draw together the diverse institutions and regulatory regimes already populating the food safety arena.