WTO member governments are directly bound by the agreement. The SPS Agreement is supposed to distinguish genuine sanitary measures from those whose only purpose is to disguise attempts to protect domestic products from foreign competition. It should not act as a disguised barrier to trade. It should be based on scientific evidence. The international food safety standards set by the Codex Alimentarius Commission provide a reference point for internationally accepted standards.
Countries can set higher standards, if they conform to the above three principles.
It is with the different interpretation of these three principles that disputes have arisen and concerns emerged. There are some concerns emerging from the implementation of the SPS agreement. These cover the move towards harmonising standards, the use of factors other than science in managing risk, the use of the precautionary principle, and the lack of transparency of the reviews of the implementation of the Agreement. The SPS agreement encourages the harmonisation of food safety standards to facilitate trade. However, a key concern to all consumers is how standards are harmonised.