The National Food Processors Association (NFPA) – joining with the membership
of AgTrade, a U.S. coalition to promote agricultural trade – today voiced
support for the launch of a new World Trade Organization Round during meetings
in Doha, Qatar in November 2001. John Cady, NFPA’s President and CEO, made
the following comments on the new WTO round:
"NFPA views the WTO negotiations as an important opportunity for global
agri-food trade, to improve market access for food products by reducing both
tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. It also will provide a critical forum
to address emerging issues and new technologies, and define trade disciplines
critical to today’s international marketplace. The U.S. leads the world
in agri-food exports, exporting one-third of what is produced. Processed foods,
or value-added products, now account for more than 40 percent of U.S. agricultural
exports. Still, tariffs on processed foods are among the highest and non-tariff
barriers in many nations continue to disrupt trade.
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"A key component of the WTO Agreements is the Agreement on Sanitary and
Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement). The SPS Agreement requires regulatory
measures to be applied only to the extent necessary to protect health and be
based on scientific principles. Measures are not to be maintained without sufficient
scientific evidence including risk assessment. The EU has indicated some interest
in renegotiating the SPS Agreement to provide for a ‘Precautionary Principle’
that can be used to block trade when uncertainty exists. NFPA believes that
risk assessment already takes precaution into account. NFPA supports international
food policy based on science. An undefined ‘Precautionary Principle’
likely would be used to prohibit import of products for cultural or societal
reasons (as in the case of EU blocking U.S. beef treated with hormones). The
U.S. will not support the EU’s position.
"NFPA also welcomes a WTO dialogue to consider trade disciplines on transparent
and timely policies to guide the advancement of new technologies. NFPA believes
that decisions made through this forum will dictate the future of emerging food
production, processing and packaging technologies, which will serve a critical
role in food safety policy and world food security.
"NFPA has worked to influence U.S. positions for the Round through membership
in the Agriculture Policy Advisory Committee for Trade (APAC) and AgTrade, formerly
known as the Seattle Round Agriculture Committee (SRAC). NFPA also works with
an Ad Hoc Coalition for Processed Food Products and has maintained a proactive
dialogue with key U.S. negotiators providing information to support a science
base for technical and regulatory issues decisions."
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