A managerial approach to secure compliance with the SPS agreement

This chapter explores the usefulness of a managerial model of governance to resolve sanitary and phytosanitary issues and secure compliance with the SPS Agreement as an alternative or supplementary to an enforcement model of governance. It argues that the managerial model favours informal and nonbinding methods over formal and binding ones. Among the several managerial methods provided for in the SPS Agreement, it focuses on the ad hoc consultations under Article 12.2. While further improvements may be possible, the ad hoc consultations have advantages, when compared to the panel and Appellate Body review, in that they: (i) enable long-term monitoring; (ii) facilitate collaborative interactions between interested Members; (iii) give scientific experts a proactive role; (iv) allow developing country Members to participate in the WTO process; (v) assist developing country Members in implementing the SPS Agreement; (vi) pay proper deference to Members’ sovereign right to adopt and enforce public health policy.