WTO/SPS협정상의 주요 의무인 위험평가의무와 지역화 인정의무에 대한 고찰

Each country establishes safety standards that it deems appropriate to provide safe food to its citizens. The original purpose of the safety standards is to ensure food safety, but sometimes it has become more excessive regulations than necessary as a device for protecting the domestic agricultural and food industries. Therefore, the basic spirit of the WTO/SPS agreement is to ensure transparency based on science and to minimize the effect of trade restrictions. The most important obligation to base SPS measures on science is the risk assessment obligation, and the obligation to recognize regionalization is the obligation to specify that SPS measures are initiated to the minimum extent necessary.themmmm Members shall ensure that their SPS measures are based on a risk assessment, as appropriate as the circumstances in accordance with Article 5.1. Risk assessment can be classified into food-based assessment of risk and assessment of risk from pests or diseases. Since the first type of risk assessment requires an assessment of potential and the second type of risk assessment requires an assessment of likelihood, questions may arise as to whether the degree of risk level to be expressed as a result of risk assessment. However, both types of risk assessment are also possible through qualitative assessment, and the fact that there is no level of risk to be expressed through risk assessment is a consistent position through SPS dispute cases so far does not vary depending on the type. Where an adequate risk assessment is not allowed, a provisional SPS measures may be adopted based on available pertinent information pursuant to Article 5.7. In addition to the exceptional circumstances based on this provision, negative judgments have been made as to whether it is possible to escape the risk assessment obligation using the precautionary principle. In order for this provisional measures to be justified, all four requirements required by the article must be met. A consistent position has not yet been established as to which country bears the burden of proof on whether or not the four requirements are met. The strong demands of importing countries for the obligation to recognize concept of regionalization continue. In 2018, government reopened the U.S. poultry based on this regionalization. In addition to, Germany is also demanding re-import of their pork like the US poultry case. The obligation to recognize concept of regionalization is one of the important obligations specifying the main principle of SPS Agreement, that is necessity and least trade-restrictive requirements. However, as an importing country like Korea and a country with limited territory, the possibility to demand this obligation is very limited, but it is also an obligation that can act as an excessive burden. It should also be noted that through recent dispute cases, this obligation was judged in the direction of further limiting the discretion of the importing country.