Fine-Tuning WTO Jurisprudence and the SPS Agreement: Lessons from the Beef Hormone Case
Notice bibliographique
Résumé
I. INTRODUCTION In 1989, the European Community (EC)(1) implemented Council Directive 96/22, a law prohibiting the import of beef treated with growth hormones.(2) Specifically, as amended in 1996, the Directive prohibits the administration of certain growth-promoting hormones to farm animals, bans the sale of domestic and imported meat from animals that received these hormones, and allows an exception for meat from animals that received hormone treatment for therapeutic and zootechnical purposes.(3) The ban includes three synthetic hormones, trenbolone acetate (TBA), zeranol, and melengestrol acetate (MGA); and three natural hormones, oestradiol-17 beta, progesterone, and testosterone.(4) It is widely recognized that there is little scientific evidence supporting this ban.(5) Since the 1950s, many worldwide studies regarding the health impact of these hormones, including studies by the EC, have indicated that their proper administration presents indications of a possible human health risk.(6) In 1996, the United States and Canada filed complaints with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the EC import ban under the recently implemented Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the Agreement).(7) On August 16, 1997, a WTO dispute settlement panel (the Panel) issued its report finding that this EC ban violated the SPS Agreement.(8) In particular, it found that the EC ban was based neither on a risk assessment nor on existing international standards.(9) The EC appealed this ruling to the WTO Body (the Appellate Body), which released its opinion on January 16, 1998. It agreed with the Panel's finding that SPS measures must be warranted by an appropriately conducted risk assessment and that the EC hormone ban was not based on such a risk assessment. However, in disagreement with the Panel, the Body found that the hormone ban was not inconsistent with international standards.(10) In the last decade, much has been written about the EC hormone ban, and both the Panel's and the Body's decisions have been repeatedly analyzed--and criticized. The commentators who favor greater trade liberalization and harmonization of SPS standards criticize the Body's ruling as having taken much of the SPS Agreement's thunder, reducing it from a powerful mandate into a polite suggestion. The greater number of commentators have criticized the SPS Agreement as being insufficient to deal with global environmental issues.(11) Though they generally breathed a sigh of relief when the Body overruled the Panel's strident interpretations, these commentators nonetheless state that this case has proved that the WTO is incapable of dealing with cases that involve complex scientific and significant environmental issues. This Note argues that the SPS Agreement was not drafted with the intent of being an environmental treaty. Concerns that it weakens member countries' abilities to protect the environment are misplaced. Further, harmonization of SPS standards is a worthy goal that should be pursued. While the SPS Agreement is not perfect, and its force has been weakened by the WTO Body's ruling in the Beef Hormone case, it is still the WTO's best tool to further the goal of harmonization. This Note also argues that the WTO is able to handle cases involving complex issues, scientific or otherwise. By establishing a series of common-sense guidelines for dispute resolution panels and the Body to deal with complex scientific or technical evidence, the WTO will be able to develop a body of jurisprudence that correctly interprets and supports the aims of the SPS Agreement. Beyond developing such guidelines and fine-tuning the SPS Agreement through amendments to the Agreement itself and through WTO jurisprudence, no further reforms should be implemented and the status quo should be maintained. Part II of this Note describes the aims and provisions of the SPS Agreement and the international organizations responsible for developing the relevant international standards. …
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Comment cette classification a été obtenuedéplier
Prédiction distillée sur la base complète
Imitation des enseignantsNi prévalence calibrée, ni vérité terrain. Validation humaine à venir. Apprise à partir de 10 348 étiquettes directes de Codex et de 10 348 étiquettes directes de Gemma. Le mode candidate est l'union des têtes enseignantes seuillées; le consensus est leur intersection. Ces sorties portent le statut machine_predicted_unvalidated et ne sont ni des étiquettes humaines ni des étiquettes directes de modèles de pointe.
Scores Codex et Gemma par catégorie
| Catégorie | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Métarecherche | 0,000 | 0,000 |
| Méta-épidémiologie (sens strict) | 0,000 | 0,000 |
| Méta-épidémiologie (sens large) | 0,000 | 0,000 |
| Bibliométrie | 0,000 | 0,000 |
| Études des sciences et des technologies | 0,001 | 0,001 |
| Communication savante | 0,000 | 0,000 |
| Science ouverte | 0,000 | 0,000 |
| Intégrité de la recherche | 0,000 | 0,000 |
| Charge utile insuffisante (le modèle a refusé de juger) | 0,000 | 0,000 |
Scores machine (provisoires)
Les deux têtes enseignantes du modèle étudiant, lues sur ce travail. Un score ordonne la base pour la relecture; il n'affirme jamais une catégorie, et le statut de validation accompagne chaque rangée tel quel.
Scores de référence d'un modèle non mature (critères de maturité non atteints, 7 itérations). Un score ordonne; il n'affirme jamais une catégorie.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · tel quel depuis la passe de notation : score_only signifie que le nombre peut ordonner les travaux, et qu'aucune étiquette de catégorie n'en découleClassification
machine, non validéePrédiction automatique; un appel candidat d’une seule tête enseignante, pas un consensus.
Le détail, modèle par modèle et score par score, se trouve en fin de page sous « Comment cette classification a été obtenue ».