Technical standards are increasingly determining the development, production, trade in and marketing of goods and services. In order to ensure that technical regulations and product standards which vary from country to country do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade was adopted during the Uruguay Round. It is paralleled by the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures which sets out the basic rules on how governments can apply food safety as well as animal and plant health measures without, however, using them as an excuse for … read moreprotecting domestic producers. Prominent decisions under the WTO Dispute Settlement have interpreted those provisions.
This volume gives a detailed account of the necessary parameters for technical standards and measures seeking to protect health and environment. Included are commentaries on Articles III, XI and XX of GATT 1994 which are equally relevant in this context. The article by article commentaries draw from a considerable body of case law, the work by the TBT and SPS Committee and the relevant legal literature. Attention is given to substantive requirements as well as the necessary standard setting procedures. Apart from a thorough analysis of the relevant and most recent jurisprudence including the Biotech Panel Report the commentary seeks to give answers to newly emerging issues, such as special needs of developing countries. It is an indispensable tool for practitioners and academics working in this field of WTO law.

Preface to the Series vii
Preface to this Volume ix
List of Contributors xi
Table of Abbreviations and Acronyms xv
General Bibliography xxvii
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994
Article III GATT (Hestermeyer) 2(44)
Article XI GATT (Wolfrum) 46(15)
Article XX GATT [Introduction] (Wolfrum) 61(5)
Article XX GATT [Chapeau] (Wolfrum) 66(14)
Article XX lit. a GATT (Wenzel) 80(16)
Article XX lit. b GATT (Stoll & Strack) 96(25)
Article XX lit. c GATT (Matz-Luck) 121(3)
Article XX lit. d GATT (Reyes-Knoche & Arend) 124(10)
Article XX lit. e GATT (Wenzel) 134(3)
Article XX lit. f GATT (Matz-Luck) 137(4)
Article XX lit. g GATT (Matz-Luck & Wolfrum) 141(17)
Article XX lit. h GATT (Matz-Luck) 158(4)
Article XX lit. i GATT (Matz-Luck) 162(3)
Article XX lit. j GATT (Matz-Luck) 165(2)
Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade
Preamble TBT (Koebele) 167(11)
Article 1 and Annex 1 TBT (Koebele) 178(32)
Article 2 TBT (Tamiotti) 210(25)
Article 3 TBT (Tamiotti) 235(8)
Article 4 und Annex 3 TBT (Koebele & LaFortune) 243(18)
Article 5 TBT (Munoz) 261(20)
Article 6 TBT (Munoz) 281(10)
Article 7 TBT (Munoz) 291(7)
Article 8 TBT (Munoz) 298(5)
Article 9 TBT (Koebele) 303(4)
Article 10 TBT (Koebele) 307(8)
Article 11 TBT (Krajewski) 315(12)
Article 12 TBT (Krajewski) 327(9)
Article 13 TBT (Bartels) 336(11)
Article 14 and Annex 2 TBT (Schorkopf) 347(11)
Article 15 TBT (Bartels) 358(7)
Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
Preamble SPS (Charnovitz) 365(10)
Article 1 and Annex A SPS (Charnovitz) 375(17)
Article 2 SPS (Seibert-Fohr) 392(20)
Article 3 SPS (Landwehr) 412(16)
Article 4 SPS (Landwehr) 428(7)
Article 5 SPS (Stoll & Strack) 435(33)
Article 6 SPS (Landwehr) 468(8)
Article 7 and Annex B SPS (Boeckenfoerde) 476(12)
Article 8 and Annex C SPS (Boeckenfoerde) 488(7)
Article 9 SPS (Seibert-Fohr) 495(8)
Article 10 SPS (Seibert-Fohr) 503(10)
Article 11 SPS (Schorkopf) 513(11)
Article 12 SPS (Roben) 524(14)
Article 13 SPS (Roben) 538(7)
Article 14 SPS (Roben) 545(6)
Index 551