Private food standards in international trade

One of the ironic outcomes of trade liberalisation in agriculture has been the rise of private standards which impose increasingly onerous requirements on suppliers into the agri-food chain. These standards frequently embody concerns not covered by the WTO trade regime, such as animal welfare, human rights, environmental management and labour standards. The signatories to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade sought, through the Agriculture Agreement negotiated during the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations, to reduce barriers to free trade in agriculture. An important goal was ensuring that food regulations and standards did not constitute non-tariff barriers and were only applied in accordance with scientific evidence to protect plant, animal and human health and safety. However, trade liberalisation also facilitated the consolidation of large supermarket chains which increased their market power and allowed them greater leverage over their suppliers, and this included the imposition of standards throughout the agri-food production chain