ABSTRACT
The decades-long process of lowering trade barriers resembles the draining of a lake that reveals mountain peaks formerly concealed or (more pessimistically) the peeling of an onion that reveals innumerable layers of barriers. 1
One of the successes of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade of 1947 (GATT) 2 was that in each successive round of negotiations 3 there was a further reduction in tariffs. 4 Consequently, starting from the Kennedy Round (19641967), this led to a shift in focus, from reducing tariffs to tackling non-tariff barriers to trade. The concern was increasingly on trade barriers ‘within the border’, as opposed to ‘barriers at the border’. 5 The most important of these non-tariff barriers are sanitary and phytosanitary standards (SPS standards) enacted for protecting human, animal, and plant health and safety, and the environment. SPS standards are aimed at addressing risks from microbial pathogens, pesticides, and
1 Kahler Miles, ‘Trade and Domestic Differences’ in Berger Suzanne and Ronald P Dore R (eds) National Diversity and Global Capitalism (Cornell University Press, 1996) 298, 299.
