Articoli di riviste sul tema "Framework for wto sps compliance"

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address the challenges developing countries face in attempting to balance sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) health and safety measures against concerns about protectionism, illustrated by the impact of trade barriers on the fisheries and aquaculture sector in Bangladesh. The paper then provides recommendations to overcome the effects of these trade barriers. Design/methodology/approach The author uses a close doctrinal approach for the first three parts of the paper by analysing the provisions of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) SPS Agreement and the effect of those provisions in creating domestic compliance gaps in the Bangladeshi fisheries and aquaculture sector. A qualitative approach is then adopted in suggesting potential reforms and future directions to assist the Bangladeshi fisheries and aquaculture sector overcome SPS trade barrier issues. Findings To overcome the market access issues created by SPS trade barriers, Bangladesh and other developing countries require multilateral assistance, accommodation by trading partners and internal reforms. This includes reforming internal governance structures, improving trade participation and negotiation, increasing infrastructure investment and learning from similar countries who have improved their supply chain management. Research limitations/implications This paper will have significant implications by contributing to law and policy reform debates involving international trade law and domestic compliance gaps. It will also assist other developing countries that experience SPS trade barriers to learn from the experience of the Bangladeshi fisheries and aquaculture sector. Practical implications This paper has practical implications by providing recommendations for how Bangladesh can overcome SPS trade barriers and improve its market access. This will help Bangladesh integrate into the global trading system by enhancing its participation in the SPS framework. Social implications By addressing and providing recommendations for the SPS trade barrier challenges faced by Bangladesh fishery and aquaculture sector, this paper provides a framework to improve the economic development and global competitiveness of the industry. This will contribute the gross domestic product growth and help increase the overall living standards of the people involved in the fisheries and aquaculture business in Bangladesh. Originality/value This paper is an original work that has not been published elsewhere. It is the first time a paper has dealt with the legal, policy and compliance challenges faced by the fisheries and aquaculture sector in Bangladesh.

There has been growing 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 food 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 countries. 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 resources 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 which it currently operates.

AbstractThis article introduces the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and the European Union's policies and legislation that exemplify these rules. This forms the basis for examining primary Russian SPS legislation governing border controls and its relationship with legislative provisions on human, animal, and plant health and food safety. Specific Russsian primary federal laws (federal'nye zakony) covering veterinary medicine, plant health, food quality/safety, pesticides and agrochemicals, and technical regulations are compared with corresponding international conventions, norms, and standards and relevant legislation in the EU. Finally, general remarks are made about the Russian Federation's secondary legislation in the SPS area. Instances of non-compliance with international norms, found by the authors, may contribute to trade difficulties with other countries and likely will need to be addressed as part of Russia's negotiations to join the WTO and, also, to remove some of the difficulties in trade with the EU.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement procedure is a key arena for establishing global legal norms for what counts as relevant knowledge. As a high-profile case, the WTO trade dispute on GMOs mobilized scientific expertise in somewhat novel ways. Early on, the Panel put the dispute under the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement through a new legal ontology; it classified transgenes as potential pests and limited all environmental issues to the ‘plant and animal health’ category. The selection of scientific experts sought a multi-party consensus through a fast adversarial process, reflecting a specific legal epistemology. For the SPS framing, focusing on the defendant’s regulatory procedures, the Panel staged scientific expertise in specific ways that set up how experts were questioned, the answers they would give, their specific role in the legal arena, and the way their statements would complement the Panel’s findings. In these ways, the dispute settlement procedure co-produced legal and scientific expertise within the Panel’s SPS framework. Moreover, the Panel operated a procedural turn in WTO jurisprudence by representing its findings as a purely legal-administrative judgement on whether the EC’s regulatory procedures violated the SPS Agreement, while keeping implicit its own judgements on substantive risk issues. As this case illustrates, the WTO settlement procedure mobilizes scientific expertise for sophisticated, multiple aims: it recruits a source of credibility from the scientific arena, thus reinforcing the standard narrative of ‘science-based trade discipline’, while also constructing new scientific expertise for the main task – namely, challenging trade restrictions for being unduly cautious.

INTRODUCTION. Since there are many threats in the modern world, states consider the essence of security in its various manifestations. A rather extensive understanding of security should be noted, as this concept applies to multiple directions of our life. So-called SPS measures are one of the vectors aimed at ensuring safety (protection) of human life and health. The scientific literature covers rather extensively SPS measures, taken by states, which include mandatory sanitary, veterinary and quarantine phytosanitary requirements and procedures. The novelty of the study is that SPS measures will be analyzed in terms of their use as hidden barriers to international trade, as well as how often they are used when a particular sanitary or phytosanitary measure imposed by a state or maintained in force by a member of an international organization restrains or can potentially restrain export of its goods.MATERIALS AND METHODS. In international trade certain issues of the contemplated problem are regulated by Article XX of GATT, as well as by the Special Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement). Security measures reflected in the Article XXI of GATT-94 are not considered.RESEARCH RESULTS. Th author concluded that SPS measures construe hidden barriers to international trade. However, it is possible to establish "rules of the game", to agree on this problem in concluded agreements on the rules of application of SPS measures, minimizing the possibility of their unfair use. As for the EAEU law, it affects the development of international norms in the field under consideration.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. The urgency of the issues dealt with in the article is based on the fact that every resident of any state in one way or another wants to be sure of the safety of all that he consumes and that the state or a number of states within the framework of an international organization are obliged to ensure this. The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is no exception, it also faces similar tasks. The article analyzes the results of activities in the sphere of decision-making on SPS measures and the framework of the international organization of regional economic integration – the EAEU.

The health problems, due to obesity and overweight (NCD), which cross the countries worldwide faces the challenge of applying different measures and restrictions, and at the same time raises the question whether these measures and restrictions are compatible with WTO and other commitments. Nowadays trade restrictions should not be justified based only on the industry process but rather in the ingredients and quality of those food contents, when the critical nutrients ingredients exceed a healthy threshold. The justification for the restrictive measures of the SPS agreement has been applied both in food labelling formats and in other formats, to address NDCs and whether similar restrictions can be applied to ultra-processed foods, such as those that have been applied in the past to the tobacco consumption, without breaking commitments.

With incidence of food-borne diseases, consumers have become more conscious of food safety. Share of high value food items in the export bounty from developing countries like India is on the rise. These high value food items such as fresh & processed fruits and vegetables, marine products, meat and its preparations are highly income elastic as well as sensitive from the viewpoint of food safety. Article 20 of GATT allows governments to act on trade in order to protect human, animal or plant life or health, provided they do not discriminate or use this as disguised protectionism. SPS Agreement sets out the basic rules concerning food safety and animal & plant health standards. It allows countries to set their own standards but also says that regulations must be based on science. With increased retail concentration ratio, large retailers in the developed countries are enforcing their own food safety standards and these standards are stringent as compared to standards of standard setting bodies of WTO. At times these standards are used for discrimination in international trade and are telling upon the exports from developing countries in terms of additional costs of compliance and lack of “harmonization” and difficulties in establishing “equivalence”. For the benefit of exporters from the developing countries and consumers of the developed countries, efforts must be made for encouraging harmonization in these private standards and reducing the resulting discrimination.

AbstractThe unprecedented enforcement of the mutually agreed solution (MAS) in the WTO Softwood Lumber disputes – but outside the WTO dispute settlement system – and the recent use of MAS to resolve important trade disputes should trigger a hard look at these dispute settlement instruments provided for by the DSU. This article seeks to provide a detailed framework of analysis of MAS under the DSU that allows the WTO dispute settlement system to adjudicate MAS-related disputes. WTO Members should not go outside the system to enforce MAS. The article illustrates that MAS can create binding obligations and that MAS are WTO law, given the explicit reference to them in the DSU, their intimate relation with the WTO-covered agreements and the requirement for compliance with these agreements. In addition, the article offers an interpretation of the DSU that allows panels and the Appellate Body to regard MAS as applicable law. This interpretation is offered in the view that there is no policy reason to sustain that these controversies – always fully related to WTO rights and obligations and framed under the corners of the covered agreements – have to be resolved by an adjudication system other than that of the WTO.

New food regulations may impede international trade, but multilateral mechanisms can resolve trade conflicts when they do arise. Food safety regulation in industrialized countries during the 1990s increasingly uses risk analysis in a farm-to-table approach, promotes the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system, and increases the stringency of standards or creates new regulations for hazards. The 1995 Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement), negotiated by World Trade Organization (WTO) members, establishes a framework to reduce their trade distorting aspects. Three of the principles under the SPS Agreement – science-based risk assessment, equivalence, and harmonization – directly address aspects of food safety regulation that create the potential for trade disputes. In many cases, the science requirements of the Agreement have led to the elimination of unnecessary regulatory barriers to trade. However, some high profile cases remain unresolved because of gaps in convergence around risk management principles that were not spelled out in the Agreement in deference to national sovereignty. The evidence also indicates that there has been limited progress in reducing regulatory transactions costs to trade in food through equivalence or harmonization.

AbstractIn line with current research on the effectiveness of international law and institutions, much of the literature on the effectiveness of the WTO dispute settlement system (DSS) has settled on compliance as its primary effectiveness benchmark. This article challenges this trend. It argues that common models gauging the DSS effectiveness through the narrow lens of compliance disregard many other institutional goals pursued by the system, and the conflicts latent among them. Furthermore, existing models are also static in nature—predicated on problematic assumptions regarding the constant supremacy of the DSS compliance objective—what leads them to overlook important shifts amidst the multiple and conflicting goals of the DSS that take place over time and across disputes. Building on the goal-based approach developed in the social sciences, the article introduces a multidimensional framework for analyzing the DSS effectiveness, using the multiple, conflicting and shifting goals set for the system by WTO Members as key effectiveness benchmarks. The article then turns to closely examine the novel concept of ‘goal-shifting’ – essential for effectiveness assessment – and through interview-based analysis of different categories of WTO disputes shows how the DSS goals change with time and context, as a consequence of the changing modalities in which the system operates.

AbstractThis article surveys the literature on China and the World Trade Organization (WTO) and provides background information on China and the WTO. It also identifies some future research directions for those studying China and the WTO. Other important purposes are to summarise the articles in this special issue and to highlight some of the answers they offer to a variety of question. As useful as it is, the extant literature has various deficiencies. First, it is narrowly focused, emphasising topics such as China’s WTO accession, rather than China’s compliance and participation record. Second, a large proportion is becoming dated. Third, it is largely descriptive. The contributions to this special issue address some of these problems by supplying us with contemporary information about a number of WTO topics, such as China’s fulfilment of its WTO obligations in regards to trading and distribution rights, and the evolution of its intellectual property rights protection regime. They make a significant conceptual contribution by showing that a cost/benefit framework can illuminate a wide variety of China-WTO-related phenomenon ranging from China’s acceptance of highly demanding WTO accession terms to China’s interactions with Taiwan prior to and after the two party’s respective entry into the WTO.

ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) regulates the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in its relation with their economic activities. It was stipulated in the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Intellectual Property Cooperation in 1995. As the ASEAN member states are also the member of World Trade Organization (WTO), the principles of AEC have to be in harmony with the WTO principles. This paper analyzes the compliance of ASEAN IPR laws with the principles of Trade Related to Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) of WTO. Second, this paper analyzes the enforcement of those regulations in the member states, finding out whether there is implementation in the region that is different with the international principles or not. It is a part of qualitative research that used secondary data to complete the explanative analysis. Classical liberalism and self-reference criterion becomes theoretical framework of analysis. Classical liberalism promotes laissez-faire economics and private property in the means of production. Meanwhile, self-reference criterion refers to an unconscious reference to one’s own culture, values, knowledge, and experience as a basis for decisions. The result reveals that the ASEAN IPR regulations have different specific and special nature with the TRIPs, affected by the characteristics of the nations.

The article discusses issues related to the settlement of disputes within the framework of the World Trade Organization, as well as assesses the advantages and disadvantages of this system. The specific problems of the dispute settlement system functioning today are considered, and options for optimizing the dispute resolution mechanism and various ways to improve the effectiveness of legal remedies in cases of non-compliance with decisions are proposed. Special attention is paid to the latest topical disputes involving the Russian Federation, the European Union, Ukraine, China and USA resolved within the framework of the World Tr ade Organization, as well as to the crisis faced by the organization due to the absence of a permanent appeals body.

This article is designed to appraise TPRM as a monitoring instrument in WTO and understand how it affects Indonesia’s compliance in the agriculture sector. On paper, TPRM should be exercised as a surveillance system to boost transparency and compliance. However, the author doubts the current periodic, differentiated by economic power, and the self-serving reporting system of the TPRM. As this process is complicated and flexible, where often used as a diplomatic visit or excuses to initiate diplomatic relations between turbulent nations, the writer believes that TPRM is only the tip of the iceberg with unlimited complex problems underneath. Adapting instruments from International Law and Rational Choice Theory, the writer borrowed Guzman’s framework to determine how TPRM could affect Indonesia’s compliance in the agriculture sector. This article will give a better understanding of the monitoring process of an international institution, especially the one with no law enforcement system and held fundamentally by mutual respect and good faith.

Systems approaches to managing risks on a pathway are increasingly seen as alternatives to singlepoint risk management treatments applied at the border One key challenge of systems approaches is the difficulty in measuring risk management effectiveness across an entire pathway comprising many complex processes The World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement on the application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures (SPS) states that measures must be applied only to the extent required to achieve an appropriate degree of sanitary/phytosanitary protection (not unnecessarily traderestrictive) and must use sciencebased risk assessment The framework for import risk analysis within the scope of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) is outlined in the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs) Although a systems approach and independent risk reduction system processes are described in various ISPMs the methodology for determining risk across an entire pathway with complex processes is not This contribution reviews methodologies with potential for such use

AbstractThis article argues in favour of broadening the trade and environment debate in the World Trade Organization (WTO) to include a developmental perspective. WTO litigation involving environmental regulation touches upon the issue of global justice and the power asymmetries structurally embedded in the global economy. The recognition of the WTO as a legitimate global institution, therefore, depends on its ability to reconcile the respect for the right to regulate with the need to give due regard to the interests and concerns of foreign constituencies affected by domestic regulation. By imposing other-regarding obligations, WTO law can act as a mechanism of external accountability of powerful states vis-à-vis affected foreigners, especially where asymmetric relations and different stages of economic development are involved. The article applies this framework to analyze the legal reasoning of the Appellate Body in theUS-Tuna IIdispute between the US and Mexico – a dispute illustrating the complex intertwinement between economic, environmental and developmental issues. It concludes that the use of the concepts of ‘even-handedness’ and ‘calibration’ under Article 2.1 of the Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement and Article XX of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade did not enable the Appellate Body to strike an adequate balance between the right to regulate and external accountability. While in the original report the Appellate Body used ‘even-handedness’ to impose only a minimal level of external accountability on the US, in the compliance report, the Appellate Body has gone too far by failing to defer to the US risk assessment amidst scientific controversy and uncertainty.

In the current geopolitical and economic relations between the states, in particular the relations with the participation of Ukraine, the availability of an effective and efficient mechanism for the implementation of government procurement becomes important, which is also guaranteed by international and national legal regulation. The purpose of the study is to characterize the System of national legal regulation of public procurement of Ukraine, to determine the features of the impact of international law on the Ukrainian procurement system, as well as ways to improve it. The results showed that the legal regulation of government procurement on the territory of Ukraine is undergoing significant changes, in connection with the harmonisation of legislation to international (worldwide and regional) standards, this stipulates the adoption of a large number of regulatory acts. The study proved that the majority part of the WTO GPA and Association Agreement provisions in the field of government procurement has already been implemented or is being implemented by Ukraine. Indeed, taking into account the access to the EU market obtained within the GPA framework, Ukraine has already not so many external incentives for the full compliance with the obligations to harmonize the legislation under the Association Agreement than it was expected at its signing. One cannot forget that the enhancement of Ukraine’s positions on the international stage contributes to performing its own international obligations, especially to the countries and international organizations / integrations, partners, donors and creditors.

The purpose of the study is to characterize the System of national legal regulation of public procurement of Ukraine, to determine the features of the impact of international law on the Ukrainian procurement system, as well as ways to improve it. The research methodology is based on an integrated intersectoral approach and a comparative approach. The effectiveness of the current legislation of Ukraine on public procurement was determined by means of the "ex post" assessment methodology, and the methodology of legal monitoring, including as a result of the study of court decisions. The results showed that the legal regulation of government procurement on the territory of Ukraine is undergoing significant changes, in connection with the harmonisation of legislation to international (worldwide and regional) standards; the majority part of the WTO GPA and Association Agreement provisions in the field of government procurement has already been implemented or is being implemented by Ukraine. Indeed, taking into account the access to the EU market obtained within the GPA framework, Ukraine has already not so many external incentives for the full compliance with the obligations to harmonize the legislation under the Association Agreement than it was expected at its signing.

A research study was initiated to investigate the influence and impact of Emotional Intelligence (EI) on extended Service Profit Chain (SPC) model in a telecom service industry in Oman. The operations management literature frequently exhorts that in addition to quality compliance, customer satisfaction, retention some attention to be devoted to attributes like employees satisfaction and loyalty as well. Accordingly, the SPC integrates EI as a pivotal component and has been in wide use for studying mutual linkages between employees and customers. The present study empirically examines the suitability and usefulness of this model in telecommunications industry, by collecting feedback about various attributes associated with from entities in both upstream and downstream paths viz. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM), Service Providers (SP) and Customers. Using a battery of carefully-crafted, inter-linked hypotheses by thorough statistical analysis of the survey data was made to validate the assumptions and the soundness of three-tier architecture of SPC. The proposed research framework demonstrated that Service Quality (SQ) of upstream OEMs increases in proportion to the SQ and employee loyalty of SPs, which in turn generates satisfaction and loyalty among downstream customers. Interestingly, loyalty among downstream customers diffuses or propagates upward, translating into higher sales and performance for upstream OEMs. These findings suggest that EI is a benevolent, binding force and plays an invisible hand, in enhancing internal performance of an organization. By embracing extended SPC model, service industries are bound to gain competitive advantage and unleash firm profitability.

Purpose This paper aims to focus on the perspectives of correctional officers supervising young offenders on community supervision in Singapore. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted a qualitative research framework, where attention was devoted to understanding the perspectives of eight reintegration officers, and what they perceived to have helped young offenders successfully discharged from community supervision. Findings The five essential factors that emerged are compliance to supervision conditions, education and/or employment, ability to cope and efforts to change, support and environment. Each factor is defensible and had been substantiated by past research that incorporates evidence-based practice in correctional rehabilitation for offenders. Research limitations/implications Due to constraints imposed on the research timeline, the five factors identified do not take into account societal-level barriers such as stigma, discrimination and inequalities, which are important factors that can be further explored in subsequent studies. Originality/value In Singapore, there is no research study on the Reintegration Officers' perspectives on what they deemed as critical for offenders to be discharged from community supervision. Understanding these key factors may help to shape future research in determining supervisees’ readiness for discharge from community supervision in Singapore. This knowledge gained could further inform and bolster the correctional rehabilitation services provided by SPS and be further developed into a tool that can be used to systematically assess the readiness of offenders to be discharged from community supervision.

Introduction. The article emphasizes that the current features of the implementation of foreign economic activity require consideration of two factors that are contradictory to each other. In particular, on the one hand, the growth of external threats is forcing the governments of many countries to tighten control measures when crossing the state border of goods and commercial vehicles. On the other hand, according to international conventions and agreements (Kyoto Convention, WMO Framework Standards for Security, WTO Facilitation Agreement), measures to reduce the interference of regulatory authorities in the operational activities of economic operators are envisaged. In this context, the use of risk-oriented customs control tools, which allow simplifying business without reducing the level of national security, is becoming especially important. Purpose. The purpose of the article is to generalize and systematize foreign and domestic approaches to simplification of customs procedures through the use of risk-oriented instruments of customs control, as well as to develop their own proposals for simplification of foreign trade entities in the domestic regulatory field by using subject-oriented criteria. Results. The authors analyzed the provisions of the International Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures, the Framework Standards for Security and Facilitation of International Trade, the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation, which are provided for significant simplification of international trade procedures by reducing the share of customs inspections and controls. Сustoms security, customs clearance of goods and vehicles on the territory of the subjects of foreign economic activity or in another place permitted by the customs, without the direct participation of customs officials. These measures are based on the widespread use of risk-oriented instruments of customs control. It is noted that some of the provisions of international conventions and agreements on the use of risk-oriented instruments of customs control and simplification of economic operators have been implemented in domestic customs legislation, namely Art. 320 of the Customs Code of Ukraine introduced selective customs control, it is determined that the forms and scope of control sufficient to ensure compliance with legislation on state customs and international treaties of Ukraine in customs clearance are selected by customs (customs posts) based on the results of risk management. Conclusion. The study analyzes the peculiarities of the customs risk management system application in customs control in Ukraine, and offers proposals for the use of subject-oriented criteria of customs control as a simplification for honest economic operators to reduce the selectivity of risk profiles ASUR.

The purpose of this article stated that the global economic arena has taken new insights across the shore of nations. THE new economic challenges are waiting for the anti-trust enforcers to make sure strict compliance with the antitrust laws and in addition this dissertational work highlights the incipient violations across the borders and suggests its possible legel outcoms in the near future in order to make the economic market a level playing field for any business entrants. It particularly shed light on the cross border cartels and their effects on the relevant market, additionally we have taken the global view of the legislative aspects along with their de jure appliances and improvements for the proper economic growth under the auspices of legal framework. The ramification of cross border cartel enforcement has surfaced astoundingly between 1998 to 2015, underlining the earnest and prompt action to strengthen and revisit the competition law enforcement tools and proficiency. The technological advancements and liberalization of trade has risen significant challenges which includes the enforcement of cross border cartels and mergers. The globalization of corporate activities and deregulation of business markets and numerous industrial sectors has endangered the theoretical foundation of domestic and international competition enforcement regime. The transnational anticompetitive practices like monopolization of markets, collusive price fixing, vertical restraints of trade and international cartels currently challenged the jurisdiction and policies of OECD, WTO, UNCTAD, and ICN. This frightening situation necessarily be regularized by establishing worldwide competition policy and globally admirable enforcement standard. The weaknesses of unilateral, bilateral, and multilateral compacts be re-examined in order to cope with the cross- border competition challenges efficaciously. The extraterritorial, jurisdictional, and investigative mechanisms could be enclosed with binding nature of legal structures to deter cross border antitrust violations for smooth economic growth. The EU and US actively pursuing to establish the unanimous international antitrust regime instead of discrepancies to integrate WTO and ICN being multilateral cooperation forum. Currently, US, CANADA, EU, JAPAN and CHINA across the globe become more engaged in international cartels evidence gathering and investigations. The developments in information sharing, private enforcement, follow on civil litigation, dawn raids, extraterritorial reach of enforcement watchdog is yet to be established.

The article explores Ukraine’s experience in conducting phytosanitary expertise based on international standards. It was stated that Ukraine should develop a series of draft in national legislation in the field of quarantine and plant protection, which would be adapted to the legislation of the European Union and at the same time meet the requirements of the International Plant Protection Convention. In this area, Ukraine has already partially implemented some structural reforms in the phytosanitary sector, but these processes require continued state support and encouragement, international coordination that will facilitate the development of agriculture in general. Such coordination can be undertaken primarily in the framework of international universal organisations within the UN system, in particular within FAO. It has been emphasised that Law of Ukraine No. 2501-VIII “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Regulation of Some Phytosanitary Procedures” came into force on February 2, 2019. Among the innovations are the granting of the right to carry out expert examination to private laboratories, new terms in the field of plant quarantine and the creation of the Register of Phytosanitary Certificates issued. It has been concluded that Ukraine is currently actively applying international standards, participating in their development and registering official translations of international standards for phytosanitary measures. Developing national and applying international standards, as a key factor in creating a quality system in the field of plant quarantine, not only ensure full fulfilment by Ukraine of its obligations under the IPPC and SPS, agreeing on the phytosanitary safety of exported quarantine cargoes, but also increase the competitiveness of the domestic vegetal products in the world market. This creates a positive image of Ukraine as a reliable trading partner that does not violate the requirements of other countries and guarantees the conformity of product quality, phytosanitary procedures to internationally recognised standards. Therefore, for qualified phytosanitary examinations, the mechanism of guaranteeing compliance with national and international standards, amending legislation, introducing effective penalties for violation of the rules and procedure for conducting phytosanitary examinations should be a promising area

Abstract The WTO SPS Agreement sets a framework of rules that encourages harmonization through international standards. However, there is a lack of empirical research at the macro-level on how such international standards affect trade flows. This study conducts a general impact analysis on one of the most widely used food-related international standards in the world, the ISO22000, accounting for the different product types and country groups. The Codex Alimentarius Commission, one of three sister organizations of the SPS Agreement, notably participated in developing this standard that is based on its Food Code, harmonizing the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). This study employs recent developments in using the gravity model, along with uniquely employed additional specifications to enhance further the reliability of the estimates. Results show that ISO22000 diffusion negatively affects the exports of processed products that are the major export goods of developed countries. Primary and semi-processed products that compose the majority of developing country exports are not significantly affected, providing evidence against the concerns for the compliance burdens of developing countries when being certified to the standard. The burdens may depend more on the degree of processing of the exported goods rather than on a country's development status.

This paper juxtaposes the long-mooted Plant Health (Phytosanitary) Bill with its corollary, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS). Firstly, this paper finds that the Bill creates an ambiguity by including in the definition of “phytosanitary measures”, those “measures, regulations or procedures that limit the economic impact of regulated non-quarantine pests”, without any guidance on the relevant factors to be considered in this regard. Secondly, it is found that the Bill explicitly establishes the requirement that the new phytosanitary regime is based on “scientific principles”. Thirdly, the paper argues that the Bill also establishes the general rule that makes “sufficient science” the basis of any phytosanitary measure in conformity with South Africa’s core obligations under the SPS. Fourthly, this paper finds that the Bill contravenes Article 5.7 of the SPS in that it provides for the implementation of the so-called “emergency and provisional measures” by the competent authority as an exception to the “sufficient science” rule, without any of the necessary safeguards created by Article 5.7. Lastly, the paper finds that the Bill has unduly shifted the primary burden of preventing the entry and establishment of a pest, from the competent authority to the “user of land”.

This study considers the development and reform of the anti-dumping regime in Brazil as a ratification example of the multilateral trading system proposed by the World Trade Organization (WTO). Brazil's history of leadership in the WTO Rounds, as well as its emergence among users of temporary barriers illustrates the fact that developing countries participate, with some success, in the endorsement and strengthening of the multilateral system itself. Using the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement (ADA) as a model for its own regulatory framework, this practice ensures that domestic legislation will have greater compliance to international obligations and avoid constraints via the Dispute Settlement Body. Finally, the case of Decree 8,058/2013 highlighted the importance that specialized agents in the middle management of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC) have in the management and improvement of the Brazilian public policy.

Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health (2001) recognized the difficulty of some WTO member states in using the compulsory licensing flexibility allowed in the TRIPS Agreement due to their lack of local pharmaceutical manufacturing capacities. However, there has been almost no implementation by countries of the subsequent WTO General Council decision of 30th August, 2003 which was designed to resolve this Paragraph 6 issue. This is due to the existence of various impediments – generally in the form of external and internal barriers. A comparative analysis is undertaken of the implementation of the Council Decision in two countries with varying levels of development and with different obligations with regards to enforcement of the TRIPS Agreement. It is shown that external barriers such as proliferation of bilateral agreements have more impeding effect on developing countries such as South Africa which are already part of the full TRIPS compliance regime. Conversely, internal barriers such as institutional and structural drawbacks have more of an impact in Least Developing Countries (LDCs) such as Bangladesh which have been given a transition period for TRIPS compliance and are not yet fully susceptible to external pressures of the international trade regime. The increased preference of countries to use alternative innovative mechanisms such as the Medicines Patent Pool to improve access to medicine outside the framework of the global IP/Trade regime reiterates the unworkability of the Council Decision in promoting access to medicines.

The article deals with the issue of state regulation over the construction products industry. Analysis resulted in the identification of two main forms of regulation: tariff and non-tariff regulation. Global practices show the effectiveness of non-tariff regulation in the construction industry. Being a WTO member, Ukraine has to implement the legal framework of non-tariff regulation, in regards to those aspects contributing to compliance with the rating and standards of the European Union to ensure the quality of products. The main objective of non-tariff market regulation is to ensure the quality of finished products, environmental protection, health and safety of life. The national system of regulation, including technical rate-setting of the construction products manufacturing must comply with the international documents ratified by Ukraine. The article analyzes the domestic legal framework and proposes an algorithm for designing a national system of non-tariff regulation in accordance with international rules and standards.

The issues of improvement of the system of customs examinations in Ukraine in the context of compliance with the requirements of the European Union are researched. One of the elements of the adaptation process is the implementation of European regulations on the organization and conduct of examinations by customs laboratories and the use of the best national practices in regulating the activities of the customs institutions. It has been determined that modern cooperation in harmonizing national legislation with the requirements of the European Union in the field of expert activity encourages the formation of the unified understanding of the content of expert competencies, expert training and certification programs, as well as mutual accreditation of expert structures. This allows us to recognize the methodological support of expert activity and to obtain expert opinions on the basis of studies conducted in customs laboratories of other countries. To this effect, within the framework of harmonization there is a need for the unified procedures of approbation and valuation techniques for goods examining. It has been noted in the work that the mutual validation of research methods in the framework of examinations and their voluntary certification in the bodies of conformity assessment of the WTO member states is the matter of great importance. In this regard, the priority task of the development of the institute of customs examination in Ukraine is to increase the reliability of expert opinions and the prevention of expert errors. It has been specified that the judicial practice of considering cases in the customs sphere indicates the presence of procedural, legal, organizational, and methodological errors in the appointment, organization and conduct of customs examinations. The main international trends in the development of the institution of examination as an expert form of specialist knowledge is the convergence of the Anglo-American and continental systems of law in matters of examination. The necessity of securing in the customs legislation the right of the declarant to pose their own questions when the examination is conducted, to be present during the selection of samples or studies as part of the examination, to get acquainted with the methods and tools used to conduct research has been proved.

The Australian Government has been actively evaluating how best to merge the functions of the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) and the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) for around two years now. Broadly, the reason for this is an attempt to keep pace with the communications media transformations we reduce to the term “convergence.” Mounting pressure for restructuring is emerging as a site of turf contestation: the possibility of a regulatory “one-stop shop” for governments (and some industry players) is an end game of considerable force. But, from a public interest perspective, the case for a converged regulator needs to make sense to audiences using various media, as well as in terms of arguments about global, industrial, and technological change. This national debate about the institutional reshaping of media regulation is occurring within a wider global context of transformations in social, technological, and politico-economic frameworks of open capital and cultural markets, including the increasing prominence of international economic organisations, corporations, and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). Although the recently concluded FTA with the US explicitly carves out a right for Australian Governments to make regulatory policy in relation to existing and new media, considerable uncertainty remains as to future regulatory arrangements. A key concern is how a right to intervene in cultural markets will be sustained in the face of cultural, politico-economic, and technological pressures that are reconfiguring creative industries on an international scale. While the right to intervene was retained for the audiovisual sector in the FTA, by contrast, it appears that comparable unilateral rights to intervene will not operate for telecommunications, e-commerce or intellectual property (DFAT). Blurring Boundaries A lack of certainty for audiences is a by-product of industry change, and further blurs regulatory boundaries: new digital media content and overlapping delivering technologies are already a reality for Australia’s media regulators. These hypothetical media usage scenarios indicate how confusion over the appropriate regulatory agency may arise: 1. playing electronic games that use racist language; 2. being subjected to deceptive or misleading pop-up advertising online 3. receiving messaged imagery on your mobile phone that offends, disturbs, or annoys; 4. watching a program like World Idol with SMS voting that subsequently raises charging or billing issues; or 5. watching a new “reality” TV program where products are being promoted with no explicit acknowledgement of the underlying commercial arrangements either during or at the end of the program. These are all instances where, theoretically, regulatory mechanisms are in place that allow individuals to complain and to seek some kind of redress as consumers and citizens. In the last scenario, in commercial television under the sector code, no clear-cut rules exist as to the precise form of the disclosure—as there is (from 2000) in commercial radio. It’s one of a number of issues the peak TV industry lobby Commercial TV Australia (CTVA) is considering in their review of the industry’s code of practice. CTVA have proposed an amendment to the code that will simply formalise the already existing practice . That is, commercial arrangements that assist in the making of a program should be acknowledged either during programs, or in their credits. In my view, this amendment doesn’t go far enough in post “cash for comment” mediascapes (Dwyer). Audiences have a right to expect that broadcasters, production companies and program celebrities are open and transparent with the Australian community about these kinds of arrangements. They need to be far more clearly signposted, and people better informed about their role. In the US, the “Commercial Alert” <http://www.commercialalert.org/> organisation has been lobbying the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission to achieve similar in-program “visual acknowledgements.” The ABA’s Commercial Radio Inquiry (“Cash-for-Comment”) found widespread systemic regulatory failure and introduced three new standards. On that basis, how could a “standstill” response by CTVA, constitute best practice for such a pervasive and influential medium as contemporary commercial television? The World Idol example may lead to confusion for some audiences, who are unsure whether the issues involved relate to broadcasting or telecommunications. In fact, it could be dealt with as a complaint to the Telecommunication Industry Ombudsman (TIO) under an ACA registered, but Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF) developed, code of practice. These kind of cross-platform issues may become more vexed in future years from an audience’s perspective, especially if reality formats using on-screen premium rate service numbers invite audiences to participate, by sending MMS (multimedia messaging services) images or short video grabs over wireless networks. The political and cultural implications of this kind of audience interaction, in terms of access, participation, and more generally the symbolic power of media, may perhaps even indicate a longer-term shift in relations with consumers and citizens. In the Internet example, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Internet advertising jurisdiction would apply—not the ABA’s “co-regulatory” Internet content regime as some may have thought. Although the ACCC deals with complaints relating to Internet advertising, there won’t be much traction for them in a more complex issue that also includes, say, racist or religious bigotry. The DVD example would probably fall between the remits of the Office of Film and Literature Classification’s (OFLC) new “convergent” Guidelines for the Classification of Film and Computer Games and race discrimination legislation administered by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC). The OFLC’s National Classification Scheme is really geared to provide consumer advice on media products that contain sexual and violent imagery or coarse language, rather than issues of racist language. And it’s unlikely that a single person would have the locus standito even apply for a reclassification. It may fall within the jurisdiction of the HREOC depending on whether it was played in public or not. Even then it would probably be considered exempt on free speech grounds as an “artistic work.” Unsolicited, potentially illegal, content transmitted via mobile wireless devices, in particular 3G phones, provide another example of content that falls between the media regulation cracks. It illustrates a potential content policy “turf grab” too. Image-enabled mobile phones create a variety of novel issues for content producers, network operators, regulators, parents and viewers. There is no one government media authority or agency with a remit to deal with this issue. Although it has elements relating to the regulatory activities of the ACA, the ABA, the OFLC, the TIO, and TISSC, the combination of illegal or potentially prohibited content and its carriage over wireless networks positions it outside their current frameworks. The ACA may argue it should have responsibility for this kind of content since: it now enforces the recently enacted Commonwealth anti-Spam laws; has registered an industry code of practice for unsolicited content delivered over wireless networks; is seeking to include ‘adult’ content within premium rate service numbers, and, has been actively involved in consumer education for mobile telephony. It has also worked with TISSC and the ABA in relation to telephone sex information services over voice networks. On the other hand, the ABA would probably argue that it has the relevant expertise for regulating wirelessly transmitted image-content, arising from its experience of Internet and free and subscription TV industries, under co-regulatory codes of practice. The OFLC can also stake its claim for policy and compliance expertise, since the recently implemented Guidelines for Classification of Film and Computer Games were specifically developed to address issues of industry convergence. These Guidelines now underpin the regulation of content across the film, TV, video, subscription TV, computer games and Internet sectors. Reshaping Institutions Debates around the “merged regulator” concept have occurred on and off for at least a decade, with vested interests in agencies and the executive jockeying to stake claims over new turf. On several occasions the debate has been given renewed impetus in the context of ruling conservative parties’ mooted changes to the ownership and control regime. It’s tended to highlight demarcations of remit, informed as they are by historical and legal developments, and the gradual accretion of regulatory cultures. Now the key pressure points for regulatory change include the mere existence of already converged single regulatory structures in those countries with whom we tend to triangulate our policy comparisons—the US, the UK and Canada—increasingly in a context of debates concerning international trade agreements; and, overlaying this, new media formats and devices are complicating existing institutional arrangements and legal frameworks. The Department of Communications, Information Technology & the Arts’s (DCITA) review brief was initially framed as “options for reform in spectrum management,” but was then widened to include “new institutional arrangements” for a converged regulator, to deal with visual content in the latest generation of mobile telephony, and other image-enabled wireless devices (DCITA). No other regulatory agencies appear, at this point, to be actively on the Government’s radar screen (although they previously have been). Were the review to look more inclusively, the ACCC, the OFLC and the specialist telecommunications bodies, the TIO and the TISSC may also be drawn in. Current regulatory arrangements see the ACA delegate responsibility for broadcasting services bands of the radio frequency spectrum to the ABA. In fact, spectrum management is the turf least contested by the regulatory players themselves, although the “convergent regulator” issue provokes considerable angst among powerful incumbent media players. The consensus that exists at a regulatory level can be linked to the scientific convention that holds the radio frequency spectrum is a continuum of electromagnetic bands. In this view, it becomes artificial to sever broadcasting, as “broadcasting services bands” from the other remaining highly diverse communications uses, as occurred from 1992 when the Broadcasting Services Act was introduced. The prospect of new forms of spectrum charging is highly alarming for commercial broadcasters. In a joint submission to the DCITA review, the peak TV and radio industry lobby groups have indicated they will fight tooth and nail to resist new regulatory arrangements that would see a move away from the existing licence fee arrangements. These are paid as a sliding scale percentage of gross earnings that, it has been argued by Julian Thomas and Marion McCutcheon, “do not reflect the amount of spectrum used by a broadcaster, do not reflect the opportunity cost of using the spectrum, and do not provide an incentive for broadcasters to pursue more efficient ways of delivering their services” (6). An economic rationalist logic underpins pressure to modify the spectrum management (and charging) regime, and undoubtedly contributes to the commercial broadcasting industry’s general paranoia about reform. Total revenues collected by the ABA and the ACA between 1997 and 2002 were, respectively, $1423 million and $3644.7 million. Of these sums, using auction mechanisms, the ABA collected $391 million, while the ACA collected some $3 billion. The sale of spectrum that will be returned to the Commonwealth by television broadcasters when analog spectrum is eventually switched off, around the end of the decade, is a salivating prospect for Treasury officials. The large sums that have been successfully raised by the ACA boosts their position in planning discussions for the convergent media regulatory agency. The way in which media outlets and regulators respond to publics is an enduring question for a democratic polity, irrespective of how the product itself has been mediated and accessed. Media regulation and civic responsibility, including frameworks for negotiating consumer and citizen rights, are fundamental democratic rights (Keane; Tambini). The ABA’s Commercial Radio Inquiry (‘cash for comment’) has also reminded us that regulatory frameworks are important at the level of corporate conduct, as well as how they negotiate relations with specific media audiences (Johnson; Turner; Gordon-Smith). Building publicly meaningful regulatory frameworks will be demanding: relationships with audiences are often complex as people are constructed as both consumers and citizens, through marketised media regulation, institutions and more recently, through hybridising program formats (Murdock and Golding; Lumby and Probyn). In TV, we’ve seen the growth of infotainment formats blending entertainment and informational aspects of media consumption. At a deeper level, changes in the regulatory landscape are symptomatic of broader tectonic shifts in the discourses of governance in advanced information economies from the late 1980s onwards, where deregulatory agendas created an increasing reliance on free market, business-oriented solutions to regulation. “Co-regulation” and “self-regulation’ became the preferred mechanisms to more direct state control. Yet, curiously contradicting these market transformations, we continue to witness recurring instances of direct intervention on the basis of censorship rationales (Dwyer and Stockbridge). That digital media content is “converging” between different technologies and modes of delivery is the norm in “new media” regulatory rhetoric. Others critique “visions of techno-glory,” arguing instead for a view that sees fundamental continuities in media technologies (Winston). But the socio-cultural impacts of new media developments surround us: the introduction of multichannel digital and interactive TV (in free-to-air and subscription variants); broadband access in the office and home; wirelessly delivered content and mobility, and, as Jock Given notes, around the corner, there’s the possibility of “an Amazon.Com of movies-on-demand, with the local video and DVD store replaced by online access to a distant server” (90). Taking a longer view of media history, these changes can be seen to be embedded in the global (and local) “innovation frontier” of converging digital media content industries and its transforming modes of delivery and access technologies (QUT/CIRAC/Cutler & Co). The activities of regulatory agencies will continue to be a source of policy rivalry and turf contestation until such time as a convergent regulator is established to the satisfaction of key players. However, there are risks that the benefits of institutional reshaping will not be readily available for either audiences or industry. In the past, the idea that media power and responsibility ought to coexist has been recognised in both the regulation of the media by the state, and the field of communications media analysis (Curran and Seaton; Couldry). But for now, as media industries transform, whatever the eventual institutional configuration, the evolution of media power in neo-liberal market mediascapes will challenge the ongoing capacity for interventions by national governments and their agencies. Works Cited Australian Broadcasting Authority. Commercial Radio Inquiry: Final Report of the Australian Broadcasting Authority. Sydney: ABA, 2000. Australian Communications Information Forum. Industry Code: Short Message Service (SMS) Issues. Dec. 2002. 8 Mar. 2004 <http://www.acif.org.au/__data/page/3235/C580_Dec_2002_ACA.pdf >. Commercial Television Australia. Draft Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice. Aug. 2003. 8 Mar. 2004 <http://www.ctva.com.au/control.cfm?page=codereview&pageID=171&menucat=1.2.110.171&Level=3>. Couldry, Nick. The Place of Media Power: Pilgrims and Witnesses of the Media Age. London: Routledge, 2000. Curran, James, and Jean Seaton. Power without Responsibility: The Press, Broadcasting and New Media in Britain. 6th ed. London: Routledge, 2003. Dept. of Communication, Information Technology and the Arts. Options for Structural Reform in Spectrum Management. Canberra: DCITA, Aug. 2002. ---. Proposal for New Institutional Arrangements for the ACA and the ABA. Aug. 2003. 8 Mar. 2004 <http://www.dcita.gov.au/Article/0,,0_1-2_1-4_116552,00.php>. Dept. of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement. Feb. 2004. 8 Mar. 2004 <http://www.dfat.gov.au/trade/negotiations/us_fta/outcomes/11_audio_visual.php>. Dwyer, Tim. Submission to Commercial Television Australia’s Review of the Commercial Television Industry’s Code of Practice. Sept. 2003. Dwyer, Tim, and Sally Stockbridge. “Putting Violence to Work in New Media Policies: Trends in Australian Internet, Computer Game and Video Regulation.” New Media and Society 1.2 (1999): 227-49. Given, Jock. America’s Pie: Trade and Culture After 9/11. Sydney: U of NSW P, 2003. Gordon-Smith, Michael. “Media Ethics After Cash-for-Comment.” The Media and Communications in Australia. Ed. Stuart Cunningham and Graeme Turner. Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 2002. Johnson, Rob. Cash-for-Comment: The Seduction of Journo Culture. Sydney: Pluto, 2000. Keane, John. The Media and Democracy. Cambridge: Polity, 1991. Lumby, Cathy, and Elspeth Probyn, eds. Remote Control: New Media, New Ethics. Melbourne: Cambridge UP, 2003. Murdock, Graham, and Peter Golding. “Information Poverty and Political Inequality: Citizenship in the Age of Privatized Communications.” Journal of Communication 39.3 (1991): 180-95. QUT, CIRAC, and Cutler & Co. Research and Innovation Systems in the Production of Digital Content and Applications: Report for the National Office for the Information Economy. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, Sept. 2003. Tambini, Damian. Universal Access: A Realistic View. IPPR/Citizens Online Research Publication 1. London: IPPR, 2000. Thomas, Julian and Marion McCutcheon. “Is Broadcasting Special? Charging for Spectrum.” Conference paper. ABA conference, Canberra. May 2003. Turner, Graeme. “Talkback, Advertising and Journalism: A cautionary tale of self-regulated radio”. International Journal of Cultural Studies 3.2 (2000): 247-255. ---. “Reshaping Australian Institutions: Popular Culture, the Market and the Public Sphere.” Culture in Australia: Policies, Publics and Programs. Ed. Tony Bennett and David Carter. Melbourne: Cambridge UP, 2001. Winston, Brian. Media, Technology and Society: A History from the Telegraph to the Internet. London: Routledge, 1998. Web Links http://www.aba.gov.au http://www.aca.gov.au http://www.accc.gov.au http://www.acif.org.au http://www.adma.com.au http://www.ctva.com.au http://www.crtc.gc.ca http://www.dcita.com.au http://www.dfat.gov.au http://www.fcc.gov http://www.ippr.org.uk http://www.ofcom.org.uk http://www.oflc.gov.au Links http://www.commercialalert.org/ Citation reference for this article MLA Style Dwyer, Tim. "Transformations" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture <http://www.media-culture.org.au/0403/06-transformations.php>. APA Style Dwyer, T. (2004, Mar17). Transformations. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture, 7, <http://www.media-culture.org.au/0403/06-transformations.php>