Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-11-Speech-3-417"
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"en.20090311.38.3-417"2
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"− I appreciate another question again from the Irish MEPs – it looks like the Irish are most active during Question Time here.
In the current context of the financial turmoil and economic meltdown, the importance of full compliance and effective implementation of all WTO rules and agreements cannot be over-emphasised.
The European Community has been working towards strengthening the international standards within the relevant WTO committees, in particular, the TBT, SPS, TRIPS, trade and environmental committees. A recent case which may be mentioned is the hard stance of the European Community in the SPS committee at the end of February on the issue of some members’ non-compliance with the standard of the World Organisation for Animal Health.
So, concerning the initiative at the WTO to raise awareness and encourage higher production standards around the world, let me first of all remind the honourable Member that the Commission is the main trade negotiator of the European Community at the WTO, acting on the basis of the mandate given by the Council. Therefore, we would need Commissioner Ashton here.
Regarding production standards, Article 20 of the GATT allows governments to act regarding trade in order to protect human, animal or plant life or health, provided they do not discriminate or use this as disguised protectionism.
In addition, there are two specific WTO arrangements dealing with these issues: the sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) measures and technical barriers to trade (TBT) agreements.
The SPS is a separate agreement containing basic rules on food safety and animal and plant health standards. It allows countries to set their own standards, provided that these are based on science. The TBT agreements oblige the WTO members to ensure that technical regulations, voluntary standards and conformity assessment procedures do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade.
Members of the WTO are therefore encouraged to use international standards, guidelines and recommendations where these exist. They may take measures which result in higher standards only if there is a scientific justification for doing so.
The European Community imposes high-level standards through which we protect our consumers. However, we must ensure that the required standards are not in conflict with the agreements mentioned above.
We all know that there are different viewpoints on these issues and that the European Community has been many times on the defensive side of a dispute over such measures.
In the Community’s view, good regulatory practice can, among other things, help to avoid unnecessary obstacles to international trade and make sure that legislation is not more trade-restrictive than necessary. At the same time, it can defend the right to set public policy objectives, for instance, in relation to human, animal and plant life and environments at levels it considers appropriate, provided these are not applied in a manner which would constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination."@en1
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