markets afforded by investment in the establishment and enhancement of animal disease controls, through a case study of Food and Mouth Disease (FMD) controls in Zimbabwe.

Similar issues arise with plant pests and diseases and, indeed, arguably these currently have the greatest impact on many developing countries given the importance of trade in fresh fruit and vegetables, grains, nuts etc. For example, many Caribbean countries are restricted in the fresh fruit and vegetables they can export to the United States because of the presence of various species of fruit fly. In some cases exports are prohibited altogether, whilst in others prescribed treatments are required. These treatments can involve fumigation or use of hot water to kill any pests that may be present. Such treatments not only impose costs on the exporter, but can also reduce shelf-life and degrade product quality. Further, the costs of establishing such facilities can be considerable. A case example is Jamaica that is unable to export mango to the United States because of the presence of West Indian and Caribbean fruit fly. The US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS} requires that mangoes undergo hot water treatment to kill any flies that might be present on the fruit, but no facility currently exists in Jamaica.

In some cases the impact of plant disease controls on trade in agricultural and food products can be mitigated through cooperation between governments, for example through the sharing of plant pest surveillance data or the establishment of pre-clearance programs. For example, a preclearance program for exports of fresh produce to the United States has been established in Jamaica, under the supervision of APHIS officers. This enables plant pest problems to be detected prior to export from Jamaica and facilitates import to the United States with little or no further inspection. By 2001, 64 products had been approved for pre-clearance, including fruit, vegetables, roots and tubers, herbs and spices, and ornamentals plants and flowers. Around 80 percent of all exports to the United States now go through the pre-clearance program.

# **6.2. Disputes and complaints through the WTO**

Another indicator commonly used to depict the nature and breadth of the standards challenge for developing countries is the number and nature of complaints and counter-notifications made through the SPS Committee within the context of the WTO. Table 3 from Roberts (2004), provides a summary of the pattern of complaints according to regulatory goal and the country group raising the issue or being the subject of a complaint. On the face of it, these data suggest developing countries have actively used the formal review and complaint process of the SPS Committee to register their concerns with respect to a significant number of notified measures, both by developed and other developing countries. Taking a more detailed look at the individual complaints, however, the following observations can be made:

- Given the nature of the counter-notification database and the information provided in most of the actual counter-notifications, it is not possible to quantify the levels of developing country trade which has or might be affected by the contested measures.

- Complaints by developing countries are dominated by a handful of countries, in particular Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Thailand.  Each of these countries has issued or supported more than a dozen complaints, with Argentina alone being involved in more than a quarter of all cases of developing country complaints.  These four countries have been involved, in one way or another, in the vast majority of complaints by developing

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