By Iain MacVay, Christina Markus, and Michael Taylor

I. Introduction

The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (“TBT Agreement”), as agreed to by the members of the World Trade Organization (“WTO”) in 1994, expresses the desire that countries’ “technical regulations and standards, including packaging, marking and labelling requirements, and procedures for assessment of conformity with technical regulations and standards do not create unnecessary obstacles to international trade.”  TBT Agreement at Preamble.  At the same time, the WTO Members recognized when implementing the TBT Agreement that “no country should be prevented from taking measures necessary . . . for the protection of human, animal or plant life or health, of the environment, or for the prevention of deceptive practices, at levels it considers appropriate, subject to the requirement that they are not applied in a manner which would constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination between countries.”  Id. Continue reading →