As a result of ever-increasing global food trade, SPS controls and food safety have become a critical issue and the advantages of having uniform food standards for the protection of consumers against sanitary and phytosanitary hazards are now self-evident. The European Union (EU) realises that safeguards to ensure SPS safety are paramount to human health and has been at the forefront of designing global food standards as well as measures in the areas of animal and plant health.
Provisions for SPS measures are an imperative and essential element to maintain and expand market access. As the norms and standards are predetermined by the superior WTO rules, the EU in its agreements with third countries always emphasises the application of the WTO SPS provisions. This is done by encouraging the consistent application of WTO SPS measures by pursuing a common understanding of the WTO provisions and by harmonising SPS regimes with the standards guidelines and recommendations developed by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) for food safety, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) as the EU has done.
Examples of relevant EU legislation include:
- EC regulation 852/2004 which outlines general hygiene requirements for food businesses at all stages of the food chain. The regulation follows the "Farm to Fork" approach, stating the obligations of food business operators to trace the product from production through processing to the distribution of primary foods, which are foodstuffs that are processed.
- Article 5 (1) of EC regulation 852/2004 states that food business operators "shall put in place, implement and maintain a permanent procedure or procedures based on HACCP principles."
- Before 1st January 2006, Directive 93/43/EEC already obliged all of the competent authorities in the Member States to ensure that all foodstuffs imported into the EU were submitted to official controls to ensure that food hygiene rules, including procedures based on HACCP, were observed.
The European Union is the leading actor in international food trade and the largest importer of food products in the world. Seminars enabled third countries to gain an understanding of the EU’s SPS import requirements such that the current difficulties being experienced by third countries would be reduced and that awareness was raised of the benefits of food safety and control through SPS standards harmonisation. Delivering these seminars in the context of the FTAs that were at the time under negotiation between the EU and target countries/region also promoted mutual understanding in the SPS field and contributed to its effective implementation.