The precautionary principle in the multilateral trade context

Abstract

The way countries handle their politics concerning risks must take into account the role of the precautionary principle in the context of the trade relations. The article faces the possibilities of applying the principle, addressing the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS), and principles, such as most favored nation clause and national treatment. To a more accurate vision, it discusses the way the panel and the Appellate Body treated the principle in the Hormones Case, emphasizing the article 5.7 of the SPS, and the necessity of risk assessment and scientific justification to justify such a measure. By the end, it talks about the principle inside the negotiations launched in November 2001, in Doha. The conclusion states that the principle is not accepted in the trade context as in the environmental conventions, which do not take out the possibility of applying measures based on the precautionary approach.