Determining an FSO/ALOP for Application in Developing Countries

Abstract

When determining the Appropriate Level of Protection (ALOP), developed countries rely on the Food Safety Objective (FSO) to meet the requirements of WTO law and to provide a high level of protection based on insights from food safety science. Implementing an FSO/ALOP is resource-intensive and costly. Developing countries, which are subject to the same WTO law and would like to provide similar levels of protection, are restricted by limited resources and often face difficulties implementing such an FSO-based ALOP. As a consequence, developing countries may base their ALOP on other legally acceptable reasons, which are non-scientific and less effective. We illustrate a less resource-intensive way to implement the FSO in ALOP, which enables developing countries to design an ALOP that is based on food safety science. Depending on the resources available in the respective country, we map different possibilities to determine a science-based FSO/ALOP concept for developing countries, which also takes into account the requirements of WTO law.

Keywords: WTO Law, FSO/ALOP, SPS Agreement, Food Safety Science