Control, inspection and approval procedures for sanitary and phytosanitary measures

Procedures to check the compliance of imported agri-food products with domestic regulatory requirements play a crucial role in risk governance, particularly in the context of global value chain production. However, compliance procedures may also be misused for protectionist purposes. To address this tension, the rules governing compliance procedures in the WTO’s SPS Agreement strive to strike a balance between the liberalisation of agri-food trade and the protection of health