针对巴基斯坦农产品出口的壁垒世界贸易组织实施动植物卫生检疫措施协定产生的作用外文翻译.docx

1、针对巴基斯坦农产品出口的壁垒世界贸易组织实施动植物卫生检疫措施协定产生的作用外文翻译外文翻译原文Barriers against Agricultural Exports from Pakistan: The Role of WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary AgreementMaterial Source: The Pakistan Development Review 42 : 4 Part II (Winter 2003) pp. 487510Author: KHALID MUSTAFAI. INTRODUCTIONThere has been growing

2、 recognition that Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement can impede trade in agricultural and food products. Pakistan, in particular experiences problems in meeting the SPS requirements of developed countries and, it is claimed, this can seriously impede its ability to export agricultural and fo

3、od products. Attempts have been made to reduce the trade distortive effects of SPS measures through, for example, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) SPS Agreement, although it is claimed that current initiatives fail to address many of the key problems experienced by Pakistan and other developing co

4、untries.The present paper explores implications of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement on exports of agricultural and food products from Pakistan. It identifies the problems that Pakistan faces in meeting SPS requirements and how these relate to the nature of SPS measures and the compliance r

5、esources available to Government of Pakistan and the supply chain. The paper examines the impact of SPS agreement on the extent to which SPS measures impede exports from Pakistan. It identifies the problems that limit participation of Pakistan in the SPS agreement and its concerns about the way in w

6、hich it currently operates.II. SALIENT FEATURES OF THE SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY (SPS) AGREEMENTThe SPS agreement concerns the application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary measuresin other words, food safety and animal and plant health regulations. The agreement recognises that governments have the ri

7、ght to take Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures but that they should be applied only to the extent necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health and should not arbitrarily or unjustifiably discriminate between members where identical or similar conditions prevail.In order to harmonise S

8、anitary and Phytosanitary measures on as wide a basis as possible, members are encouraged to base their measures on international standards, guidelines and recommendations where they exist. However, members may maintain or introduce measures, which result in higher standards if there is scientific j

9、ustification or as a consequence of consistent risk decisions based on an appropriate risk assessment. The Agreement spells out procedures and criteria for the assessment of risk and the determination of appropriate levels of Sanitary or Phytosanitary protection. It is expected that members would ac

10、cept the Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures of others as equivalent if the exporting country demonstrates to the importing country that its measures achieve the importing countrys appropriate level of health protection. The agreement includes provisions on control, inspection and approval procedure

11、s.Given that Pakistan implements qualitatively or quantitatively lower SPS standards than developed countries, in principle the SPS Agreement should help to facilitate trade from Pakistan to developed countries by improving transparency,promoting harmonisation and preventing the implementation of SP

12、S measures that cannot be justified scientifically. Much of this is dependent, however, on the ability of the government to participate effectively in the Agreement. The Agreement itself tries to facilitate this by acknowledging the special problems that Pakistan and many other developing countries

13、face in complying with SPS measures and allowing for special and differential treatment.III. KEY ISSUES ARISING FROM THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SPSNo work has been undertaken to study the impact of Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement of WTO on export of agricultural products from Pakistan. Few studies h

14、ave however addressed the issue of SPS measures and developing country exports directly, although in most cases the related cost of compliance and impact of trade flows is not quantified. SPS measures are claimed to be an impediment to exports of, for example: fish, spices, livestock products and ho

15、rticultural products. More theoretical work has demonstrated that developing countries find it difficult to trade with developed countries due to differences in quality equipments, which in turn reflect prevailing consumer demand or the nature of government regulation（Murphy and Shleifer, 1997).An a

16、ttempt was undertaken to quantify the costs of compliance with SPS measures in Bangladesh. It was found that the cost of upgrading sanitary conditions in the Bangladesh frozen shrimp industry to satisfy EU and US hygiene requirements amounted to $ 17.6 million, mainly incurred for upgrading plants o

17、ver the years 1997-98. This gave an average expenditure per plant of $ 239,630. The natural industry cost required to maintain HACCP was estimated to be $ 2.2 million per annum. Further, the Government of Bangladesh was estimated to have spent $ 283,000 over this period and predicted an expenditure

18、of $ 225000 per annum to maintain a HACCP monitoring programme (Cato, 1998).The degree to which SPS requirements impeded exports of agricultural and food products from African countries was assessed through a survey of Codex Alimentarius contact points. Of the countries that responded, 57 percent in

19、dicated that exported products were rejected following border inspection. The main reasons were microbiological spoilage or contamination. Although all these countries inspected food products prior to export, most considered that financial constraints limited the effectiveness of these procedures an

20、d that, in particular, available testing and inspection facilities were inadequate (Mutasa and Nyamandi, 1998).The cost of SPS-related projects supported by the World Bank was examined as an indicator of the resources required for the development of SPS controls, both domestically and related to tra

21、de, in many developing countries. For example, the cost of achieving disease and pest free status to enable Argentina to export meat, fruits and vegetables was reported to have been $ 82.7 million over the period 1991-96. Similarly, the cost of upgrading hygiene standards in slaughterhouses in Hunga

22、ry over 1985-91 was estimated to be $ 41.2 million (Finger and Schuler, 1999).Sri Lanka faced SPS related quality problems in its produce, particularly spices in terms of presence of mould, high moisture level and aflatoxin.The quality related problems were mainly due to cultural practices and techn

23、ological limitations. The estimated average volume loss was about 5,500 metric tons during 1999-2000 and the estimated value of foreign exchange loss due to non-compliance was reported to be US$ 2.9 million per year. The net loss of employment was 2,400 persons every year as a consequence of the los

24、s of export volume. Further, the cost of compliance with quality requirements in terms of providing training to 70,000 traders was about US$ 1.954 million (Hearth, 2001).A broader indication of the impact of SPS requirements on developing country exports of agricultural and food products are provide

25、d by data on rejections following border inspection in developed countries. At the current time, these data are only systematically collected and publicly available for the United States. Over the period June 1996 to June 1997, there were significant rejections of imports from Africa, Asia and Latin

26、 America and the Caribbean due to microbiological contamination, filth and decomposition. The cost of rejection at the border was also considerable, including loss of product value, transport and other export costs, and product re-export or destruction (FAO, 1999). This indicates considerable proble

27、ms that developing countries have in meeting basic food hygiene requirements.There is strong need for application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures that include enforcement of laws which protect human, animal or plant life and health based on scientific evidence, environmental considerations an

28、d use of child labour in the production process for enhancing export of agricultural products from Pakistan. Appropriate measures are required for curtailing illicit trade practices and ensuring quality of exports in terms of purity of the product, environmental considerations and labour standards i

29、n order to comply with emerging requirements of WTO satisfactorily.IV. PARTICIPATION IN THE SPS AGREEMENTAlthough the majority of low and lower middle-income countries are members of the WTO, the rate of membership(62 percent) was found significantly lower than amongst upper middle or high income co

30、untries (83 percent and 92 percent respectively). Likewise the majority of low and lower middle income countries were reported to be the members of the three major international standards organisations, Codex Alimentarius, OIE and IPPC, although less than 30 percent were reported as members of WTO a

31、nd all three of these organisations.The SPS Agreement lays down certain requirements that aim to ensure transparency in the implementation of SPS measures in member countries. Members are required to establish specific contact points to facilitate communication regarding SPS measures. This involves

32、firstly, a single national enquiry point, which is responsible for responding to queries from a single national notification authority, which is responsible for all procedures associated with notification of new or amended SPS measures. It was reported that only 65 percent of low and lower middle in

33、come countries had specified an enquiry point and only 59 percent had specified a national notification authority until June 1999. These proportions included 29 least developed countries, which were not required to comply until 2000.The most significant constraint of Pakistan on effective participation in the SPS Agreement is judged to be