Download - GUE/NGL

CETA, food and consumer protection
Jurjen de Waal
June 1st 2016, Brussels
Who is foodwatch?
foodwatch is an independent, non-profit organisation that exposes
food-industry practices that are not in the interests of consumers.
foodwatch fights for the right of consumers to know exactly what
they are buying and to enjoy good food that is healthy and
uncontaminated.
CETA and food
• Precautionary Principle
– Threatened by CETA
• Standards?
– Harmonisation vs. Mutual recognition
– What is a standard?
– Race to the bottom
• Food and Trade
CETA and the Precautionary Principle
• Precautionary Principle under threat
• Burden on corporate interest vs. consumer rights
• Particularly relevant in food
CETA and the Precautionary Principle
• Not explicitly mentioned in CETA
– Only reservation in chapter 23 (Labour) and chapter 24
(environment). Otherwise WTO rules are ‘confirmed’
• WTO rules on precaution and food
– Weaker form of precaution.
– Beef Hormone case
• Future issues
– Endocrine disruptors
– Pesticides
WTO and Precaution
WTO SPS agreement article 5.7
In cases where relevant scientific evidence is insufficient, a Member
may provisionally adopt sanitary or phytosanitary measures on the
basis of available pertinent information, including that from the relevant
international organizations as well as from sanitary or phytosanitary
measures applied by other Members. In such circumstances, Members
shall seek to obtain the additional information necessary for a more
objective assessment of risk and review the sanitary or phytosanitary
measure accordingly within a reasonable period of time.
Beef hormone controversy
• The EU banned the importation of meat that contained artificial beef
growth hormones approved for use and administered in the United
States and Canada
• In 1997, the WTO ruled against the EU.
CETA and the Precautionary Principle
• Not explicitly mentioned in CETA
– Only reservation in chapter 23 (Labour) and chapter 24
(environment)
• WTO rules on precaution and food
– Weaker form of precaution.
• Future issues
– Endocrine disruptors
– Pesticides
Confusion about standards
• Mutual recognition vs. harmonisation of standards
– Limited international spill-over effects
• The ‘no lowering of standards’ fallacy
• What are considered standards?
– Food safety
– Animal welfare
– Environmental requirements
– Labour standards
• Role of tariffs
• Race to the bottom instead of moving upwards
Secret trade deal no basis for safe food policy
• Prioritize public health and the environment
• Not a bargaining chip to be traded away for market access for a
different sector in Canada or U.S.
• Audio-visual industry excluded from TTIP. Why not food?
Thank you for your attention!