Lin, Ching-Fu --- "Megaregional transformation of global food safety governance: Normative roots and ramifications" [2018] ELECD 444; in Peng, Shin-yi; Liu, Han-Wei; Lin, Ching-Fu (eds), "Governing Science and Technology under the International Economic Order" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018) 232

Book Title: Governing Science and Technology under the International Economic Order

Editor(s): Peng, Shin-yi; Liu, Han-Wei; Lin, Ching-Fu

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN: 9781788115551

Section: Chapter 11

Section Title: Megaregional transformation of global food safety governance: Normative roots and ramifications

Author(s): Lin, Ching-Fu

Number of pages: 26

Abstract/Description:

Over the past several decades, the governance of food safety has been framed by various norms and actors at multiple levels, in particular the WTO and its Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS). The recent conclusion of the TPP/CPTPP negotiations in October 2015, however, represents a defining moment not only in trade liberalization, but also in food safety governance. Despite its unsettled future, the TPP/CPTPP in many ways serves as a crucial model as well as a major catalyst, leading to further transformation in the interactions between regulatory autonomy and international cooperation. While harmonization with international standards, scientific principle, risk analysis, and transparency still serve as the fundamental rubric of SPS cooperation, the cross-cutting of regulatory coherence rules, such as notice-and-comment requirements, cost-benefit analysis, and regulatory impact assessment, will come into play in significantly relevant and important ways. This chapter uses the TPP/CPTPP’s SPS Chapter as a vantage point to explore the transformation of food safety governance in the era of megaregionals. By referencing the WTO SPS Agreement and other essential legal instruments, this chapter analyzes the SPS-plus institutional designs therein and discusses their normative interactions with the Regulatory Coherence Chapter and, more broadly, the WTO multilateral trading system.