The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)
The TBT Agreement also has a bearing on the
production, labelling, packaging and quality standards of
pharmaceuticals, biologicals, foodstuffs and other technology
assessments (Koivusalo 1999). It deals with various aspects of food
labelling, and with claims relating to health and nutrition, which are
made for food products. The Agreement also covers other health related
commodities, medicinal products and medical devices.
The TBT Agreement encourages member states to apply
internationally agreed standards as a basis for their technical
regulations, but unlike the SPS Agreement it does not identify them. As
the TBT covers a very broad range of products, the Agreement does not
specify the international standards to be taken as a reference. Should a
trade dispute arise involving biologicals, the dispute settlement panel
might have to take a decision on which standards should apply to that
case. They could be WHO’s guidelines and requirements for good
manufacturing practices for biological substances (e.g. vaccines and
blood products) or the norms of another standardizing body. This will
bring on uncertainty as to what might happen in a dispute e.g. like
vaccines; for which manufacturers have differing, yet equally valid
standards. It might raise the issue of whether to apply WHO’s standard
or those of industry, both of which are recognised under the TBT
Agreement (Kinnon 1998). These concerns have far reaching implications
for health.
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