The Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement

This chapter examines the WTO's Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement, which seeks to prevent technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures from creating unnecessary barriers to international trade. Though covering all goods, it has significant implications for food regulation, particularly in labelling, packaging and safety requirements. The TBT Agreement balances trade liberalization with national sovereignty, allowing member states to implement regulations to protect legitimate objectives like health, safety and environmental protection. The chapter highlights key principles, including the necessity and proportionality of technical measures, the alignment with international standards whenever feasible and procedural guarantees like transparency and stakeholder engagement. The interplay between the TBT and the WTO's Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement is also explored, showing how the SPS governs health-related measures while the TBT applies to non-health-related technical barriers. The chapter concludes by emphasizing the TBT Agreement's role in fostering harmonized global trade while respecting members’ regulatory objectives.