WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3731/97 by Daniel VARELA SUANZES- CARPEGNA to the Commission. Technical barriers to imports
Date: 1997-11-21
Institutions: European Parliament, VARELA SUANZES-CARPEGNA
Subjects: European standard, GATT, World Trade Organisation, import restriction, international cooperation, standardisation, technical barriers to trade

C 223/20

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

17. 7. 98

The Commission(cid:146)s communication on consumer health and food safety (1) and the green paper on the general
principles of food law in the European Union (1) testify to the importance that the Commission will always attach
to protection of human health. Awareness of its importance is also reflected in Agenda 2000 (2). It should be
possible in the reform of agricultural policy for an approach to be taken that maintains a proper balance between
agriculture, consumer expectations on food quality and safety and environmental protection requirements.

(1)  COM(97) 176 final.
(2)  COM(97) 2000 final.

(98/C 223/20)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3731/97

by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE) to the Commission

(21 November 1997)

Subject: Technical barriers to imports

Although agreement to remove technical barriers to imports was reached among the signatory states to GATT,
and subsequently the WTO, in reality this is far from the case.

Day-to-day experience shows that technical barriers without any technical justification continue to exist, as is the
case with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Canadian laws on imports of processed
fishery products.

Does the Commission not consider that, in the interests of fairer and more balanced trade, these countries should
accept Community rules as a legitimate defence of Community interests?

Answer given by Sir Leon Brittan on behalf of the Commission

(13 January 1998)

Following the establishment of the World trade organisation (WTO), a large number of technical trade barriers
have been eliminated by its members, but some do still exist.

The  Honourable  Member  refers  to  specific  national  standards  set  up  to  protect  human  health  and  life.  All
countries  apply  such  standards,  including  the  Community,  which  generally  speaking  has  chosen  to  set  its
standards at a relatively high level.

According  to  the  WTO  SPS  Agreement  sanitary  measures  should  be  applied  only  to  the  extent  necessary  to
protect human animal or plant life or health and be based on scientific principles and not be maintained without
sufficient  scientific  evidence.  Furthermore,  they  must  not  constitute  a  means  of  arbitrary  or  unjustifiable
discrimination  between  Members,  where  identical  or  similar  could  thus  prevail  or  function  as  a  disguised
restriction  on  trade.  The  measures  should  either  be  based  on  international  standards,  such  as  the  Codex
Alimentarius  or  the  International  office  of  Epizootics  or  be  based  on  a  decision  to  have  a  higher  level  of
protection  than  the  one  achieved  by  the  international  standards  if  there  is  scientific  justification,  or  as  a
consequence  of  the  level  of  sanitary  or  phytosanitary  protection  a  member  determines  to  be  appropriate  in
accordance with the relevant provisions of Article 5 of the WTO SPS code (risk assessment).

As a general rule, the Community supports the policy of preparing international standards inside the relevant
multilateral fora, thereby gradually eliminating the various national technical trade barriers.

The Commission is not aware of any current import problems related to United States or Canadian legislation for
canned fisheries products.