As part of its FAO Legal Papers Online series, the FAO Legal Office has recently published "The SPS Agreement and biosafety" by M. Spreij. This paper was presented at a regional training workshop on drafting secondary biosafety regulations held on 10-13 October 2006 in Hanoi, Vietnam, organised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). It includes a general introduction to the World Trade Organization (WTO), its objectives, functions and structure, and to the relevant WTO Agreements in the biosafety area, notably the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the SPS Agreement). In addition, it presents the findings of the Panel Report in the recent biotechnology dispute and identifies some areas of potential conflict between the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and WTO rules, in particular the SPS Agreement. The concluding remarks contain some practical considerations on drafting biosafety legislation. See http://www.fao.org/Legal/prs-ol/lpo65.pdf or contact [email protected] to request a copy or to provide any comments.

13/04/2007