Food Labelling and International Trade

Abstract

National food labelling legislation dealing with matters such as health claims nutritional content and safety warnings are governed by a complex of international agreements the most important of which are the the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS). This article examines the food labelling jurisprudence which has been developed by the recent decisions of the WTO dispute panels and Appeal Body. It seeks to locate this jurisprudence within the complex of other international instruments such as the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol as well as the GATT and the TRIP Agreements.

Keywords: food labelling, Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Agreement