The SPS Agreement emphasizes the importance of assessing risk as a prerequisite to the determination of appropriate levels of sanitary and phytosanitary protection. The SPS Agreement also requires members to ensure that the sanitary and phytosanitary measures they apply are not more trade-restrictive than is required to achieve the appropriate level of protection.
Risk assessment is particularly relevant in the trading of animals.
Under the SPS, the complete negation of risk by arbitrarily placing a comprehensive prohibition on the entry of all livestock from selected countries is no longer acceptable. Countries must be able to demonstrate that their disease surveillance is sufficiently capable and their control capacity adequate to meet the requirements of importing countries. At all three levels, FAO provides training, conducts workshops and prepares manuals on a wide range of animal health matters. Manuals produced cover quality control of the manufacture of veterinary vaccines and phar-maceuticals, animal disease diagnosis, animal quarantine, disease control, feed and forage safety, animal health laws and regulations and disease control strategies. The quantities of meat and meat products moving in international trade are substantial and of economic importance to both exporting and importing countries.