A framework for evaluating non-tariff barriers to trade related to sanitary and phytosanitary regulation

Under recent trade agreements, a two part science and policy test is used t o evaluate whether a country's sanitary or phytosanitary regulatory regimes constitute illegitimate non-tariff barriers to trade. We present a framewo rk for operationalising this test, focusing on how the SPS regime affects t rade flows through differences in compliance rests, which in turn depend on the level of regulatory rapprochement between trading partners.