3/6/2005
EU Export/Import Health Rules Must Not Become Unjustified Barriers To Trade

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has told a Brussels conference on sanitary and phytosanitary rules that international export and import standards need to be based on sound scientific evidence and the option “that restricts trade the least”. Commissioner Mandelson told an audience of MEPs, industry and Member State representatives that the EU needs to act more coherently to ensure market access for EU exports in the field of sanitary and phytosanitary products. The Commissioner argued that the EU needs to ensure that European and international standards are scientifically justified and that trade development assistance needs to be better used to help developing countries to meet those standards so they continue to benefit from access to the EU market.

Commissioner Mandelson said: “I am committed to open markets and clear regulatory frameworks. For European exporters that should mean transparent, scientifically justified standards applied in the same way by third countries to all Member States. The EU should use trade development assistance to help importers from poorer countries invest in the capacity to meet Europe’s standards and so not lose the advantage of trade with the EU.”

Commissioner Mandelson argued that market access for European Union’s exports could be better secured if we addressed problems relating to sanitary and phytosanitary standards in third countries with a single voice. He also said European diplomatic representations need more specific veterinary and phytosanitary experience to deal with what is a relatively new field of rule-making. Commisisoner Mandelson raised the possibility of the EU’s border inspection posts functioning as a single export certification service, and asked if Europe would not benefit from a single Veterinary and Plant Health service “from the standpoint of practical common sense, not starry-eyed integrationism”. He argued that a more co-ordinated export certifying system would give the EU a more coherent voice in negotiating on standards with its trading partners.

Commissioner Mandelson stressed the need to help poor exporters in the developing world build the long-term capacity to meet European and international standards through trade development assistance and better co-ordination between the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank. Commissioner Mandelson called for greater effort in developing internationally agreed sanitary and phytosanitary standards in close cooperation with developing countries.