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Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
SPS measures relate to standards for protecting food safety and animal and plant health.
SPS measures are subject to rules set under the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the SPS Agreement).
DAFF's International Division is responsible, in partnership with other state and federal government agencies, for representing Australia’s SPS interests in the international arena.
The SPS AgreementInternational Standard Setting Bodies
The SPS Committee
Dispute Settlement
The Role of the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Developing domestic SPS policy
Developing international SPS policy
Additional SPS information
The SPS Agreement
The SPS Agreement oversees the application of SPS measures adopted by WTO member countries to protect human, animal or plant health which may affect international trade in animal and plants products. All WTO member countries are signatories to the SPS Agreement.
The Agreement acknowledges a WTO member’s sovereign right to take measures that provide a level of human, animal and plant health protection it deems appropriate, while agreeing not to use arbitrary and unjustifiable discrimination.
The SPS Agreement established clear rules for the use of SPS measures, so that gains achieved in agricultural trade negotiations leading to the WTO Agreement would not be limited by the introduction or maintenance of unjustified SPS measures.
The SPS Agreement has 14 inter-related articles covering various issues in the management of pest and disease risks to human, animal and plant health that arise from international trade, including:
- risk assessment
- appropriate level of protection (ALOP)
- use of equivalent measures and standards
- areas of pest and disease freedom and low pest and disease prevalence and
- transparency
For a more detailed understanding of the agreement see Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures in the WTO Agreements Series or Understanding the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.
International Standard Setting Bodies
The SPS Agreement encourages WTO member countries to use international standards when setting their own SPS measures. These international standards are set by international organisations known as the ‘three sisters’. They are:
- the Codex Alimentarius Commission (often called simply Codex)
- the World Organisation for Animal Health (Office International des Epizooties – OIE), and
- The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC).
These organisations promote harmonisation of international standards for animal and plant health and food safety. Members may apply stricter measures than the international standards if they can justify them scientifically through a risk assessment and the measures are least trade restrictive.
The SPS Committee
The Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Committee), established at the time of signing of the SPS Agreement, oversees the implementation of the Agreement and provides a forum for discussion of animal and plant health and food safety measures affecting trade.
The Committee normally meets three times a year (WTO SPS calendar) at WTO headquarters in Geneva. DFAT and the DAFF play an active role in the Committee.
Dispute Settlement
Other WTO Members can challenge SPS measures on the grounds that the measures do not comply with the importing country’s obligations under the SPS Agreement. Often challenges may be based on claims regarding the lack of scientific evidence supporting a measure. In these cases, member countries are encouraged to find a mutually agreed solution, leaving formal dispute resolution under WTO rules as a last resort.
The Role of DAFF
SPS Contact Point
The SPS Agreement’s transparency provision requires members to notify changes in their SPS measures and provide information on their measures through a national Enquiry Point.
The Australian national SPS Enquiry Point, known as the SPS Contact Point, sits within DAFF. Its role is to:
- distribute SPS notifications to interested stakeholders within Australia
- obtains full texts to notifications (ie. details of measures)
- provide Australian SPS notifications to the WTO, and
- coordinate Australian comments on other members’ notifications.
Further information: email.
Developing domestic SPS policy
Australian import conditions are based on Australia’s ALOP against the introduction of exotic pests and diseases.
Australia’s approach to the ALOP is conservative and is intended to maintain our highly favourable human, animal and plant health status.
Within DAFF, Biosecurity Australia uses risk assessments, including formal IRAs, to develop recommendations on import conditions (which are considered to be SPS measures) that would meet Australia’s ALOP.
Biosecurity Australia conducts scientific research and risk assessments on products intended for importation into Australia. See IRA handbook for procedures and methods for assessing risks.
Biosecurity Australia uses these risk assessments to make recommendations on import policies to the Director of Animal and Plant Quarantine. Once import conditions are established, the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service is responsible for ensuring that trade meets these import conditions.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand is a bi-national, independent statutory authority that develops food standards for composition, labelling and contaminants, including microbiological limits, that apply to foods produced or imported for sale in Australia and New Zealand.
Developing international SPS policy
DAFF and DFAT have an important role in influencing the direction of international SPS policy through their participation in the WTO’s SPS Committee and the ‘International Standard Setting Bodies’.
Guidelines on recognition of pest and disease free areas, equivalence and transparency are important areas of current SPS Committee work.
Additional SPS Information
The WTO SPS gateway provides direct links to all information provided by the WTO that is relevant to the SPS measures.
Additional information: