rigorous risk assessments which are acceptable to overseas trading partners. Thus, regardless of capacity within the private sector, for example to meet the food safety and quality requirements of overseas customers, the country as a whole will be unable to gain market access.

On the other hand, core elements of effective food safety management involve awareness and understanding of good agricultural and manufacturing practices and their effective implementation. Further, the application of HACCP is fast becoming the norm within food processing and is beginning to extend down the supply chain to agricultural production. For many food safety hazards there is an array of effective technologies or approaches, some of which do not require sophisticated equipment or expertise. Still, even where the management of prevailing food safety hazards is well within the capacities of producers and processors, systems of conformity assessment require testing and certification of both food safety management systems and end-products. Here smaller and poorer countries and industries typically suffer from the absence of accredited laboratories and/or internationally recognized systems for certification (El Tawil 2002).

While many developing countries have widespread weaknesses in food safety and agricultural health management capacity, there is evidence that even low-income countries can, selectively, put in place the necessary regulatory, technical and administrative arrangements to meet demanding standards in high-income export markets. One example is the relatively large number of low and lower middle-income countries which have been recognized by the European Commission as having standards of hygiene in the capture, processing, transportation and storage of fish and fishery products that are at least equivalent to those of the European Union. These countries have been listed in Part I of the relevant EU legislation and their shipments benefit from reduced physical inspection at the border. Over the period 1997 to 2003, the number of countries achieving List I status increased from 27 to 83, with more than half of these being low or lower-middle income countries.

The SPS Agreement calls for increased external assistance to developing countries to strengthen their capacities in food safety and agricultural health management. In recent years, $65 to $75 million has been spent annually by bilateral and multilateral agencies on an array of programs to strengthen trade-related capacities.<sup>20</sup> Beyond this, there are a large number of private sector initiatives, involving individual firms or wider industry groups, which contribute towards improved food safety and agricultural health management among their developing country suppliers and make provision for third-party monitoring/certifying of suppliers. Despite this, the remaining unmet needs are considerable and at the same time capacity requirements are increasing over time as food safety and agricultural health standards proliferate and lay down seemingly ever more stringent requirements.

> 20 Based on estimates from the WTO website (www.wto.org) together with information from other agencies whose program are under-reported on that website.

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