Page 40 - Trade and Food Standards

The complementary expertise and experience of the public and private sectors make a critical contribution to standard setting and to resolving trade concerns. With regard to standard setting, it is the government that initiates the process by setting objectives for public health and food safety, subsequently involving private sector expertise. Conversely, it is usually the private sector that first identifies market-access issues, while it is the government that is able to investigate and prioritize issues and bring them to the attention of the TBT or SPS Committee.
Members may establish any of a range of different mechanisms to facilitate this public-private collaboration, but what is important is that there is a way for dialogue to take place, to prioritize and reach a national position on an issue, and enable it to be raised in the Codex Alimentarius Commission or at the WTO.
Kenya's mechanisms for national coordination
Understanding trade issues at the national level
The WTO system has functional tools for addressing trade problems arising from import requirements on food products, including from their alignment with Codex standards. But the effectiveness of these tools, such as commenting on notifications of new or modified regulations and discussion of STCs, is directly contingent upon members' engagement and participation in the SPS and TBT Committees. Effective participation in these committees requires investment in effective and well-coordinated multi-stakeholder dialogue at home, to be able to identify trade issues related to food standards, define priorities and choose how best to address these issues, for example, by sending comments in response to a notification or by raising an issue in the SPS or TBT Committee.
Why raise STCs in the SPS or TBT Committee? Should a country’s domestic industry encounter market-access barriers in export markets related to food standards, the regular meetings of the TBT and SPS Committees provide a low-cost and expedient mechanism to address these problems. The discussion of STCs is a practical tool that can help to restore market access for exporters, without resorting to usually longer dispute- settlement proceedings. The discussion is pragmatic and solution-oriented, taking the form of a peer-to-peer dialogue between technical experts and/or regulators and trade officials.
Using the committee to highlight STCs may also be a way to find allies. Frequently, WTO members share similar market access problems, and discussion in the committee helps to build a coalition of concerned governments. Several WTO members applying pressure together can be more successful than one acting alone.
As noted above, the basis for effective participation at the international level is strong multi-stakeholder dialogue at home. There is no easy way to build this up; it takes time, resources, hard work and investment in people and structures that facilitate the coordination process. But the benefits can be significant, even if they are hard to quantify. Often the costs are only apparent when market access is lost, which can have a major economic impact on the exporting sector, including farmers and workers in processing industries. For most WTO members, this
In Kenya, the National Consultative Committees on TBT and SPS help promote coordination between different stakeholders on TBT and SPS matters. This multi-stakeholder committee is comprised of representatives from various state departments, regulatory authorities, business associations, non- governmental bodies, academia and international organizations. The National Consultative Committees promote public-private partnerships to review issues pertinent to TBT and SPS matters, for example: reviewing developments in technical
regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures that are potential barriers to trade for domestic and international partners; and fostering stronger channels for dialogue on information exchange amongst ministries and lead agencies. At a minimum, the Committees meet at least three times per year. The meetings are scheduled to precede the WTO TBT and SPS Committee meetings, such that internal consultations can be held amongst the various national stakeholders in preparation for the WTO TBT and SPS Committee meetings.
28 Trade and food standards