Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS).
In foreign trade, the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) are all the non-tariff technical measures aimed at the protection of people, animals,
forests and plant life.
These Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures seek to protect against the risks
of contaminating
the
products, toxins or additives in food products.
- They also seek to protect the lives of people from possible diseases related to the intake of animals or vegetables
- They can also protect the spread of pests or biodiversity
The Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures are controlled by the customs
of the country of destination
The main Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) are the following:
- Prohibitions or restrictions of imports for sanitary and phytosanitary reasons
- Temporary
geographic prohibitions for sanitary and phytosanitary reasons
- Geographical restrictions on eligibility
- Systems approach (applies two or more independent sanitary and phytosanitary measures to a specific product)
- Special authorization requirement for sanitary and phytosanitary reasons
- Registration requirements for importers
- Other prohibitions/restrictions of imports for sanitary and phytosanitary reasons
- Tolerance limits for residues and restricted use of substances
- Residue tolerance limits or contamination by certain substances (not
microbiological). Maximum residue limits (MRL)
- Restricted use of certain substances in food and feed
- Labeling, marking and packaging requirements
- Labeling requirements
- Marking requirements on packaging (food safety)
- Packing and packaging requirements
- Hygienic requirements (final product or productive process).
- Microbiological criteria of the final product
- Hygienic practices during production
- Other Hygienic requirements
- Treatment for elimination of plant and animal pests and disease-causing organisms in the final product
- Cold/heat treatment
- Irradiation
- Fumigation
- Other treatments
- Other requirements on production or post-production processes
- Plant-growth processes
- Animal-raising or catching processes
- Food and feed processing
- Storage and transport conditions
- Other requirements
- Conformity assessment related to the Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures
- Product registration requirements
- Test or compliance requirement
- Requirement of certification in accordance with a precise standard
- Inspection requirement in the country of the importer
- Traceability requirements (production, processing, distribution)
- Origin of materials or parts
- Historical of the elaboration process
- distribution and location of products after delivery
- Other traceability requirements
- Quarantine requirements
Non-tariff measures in Foreign Trade (Customs, Technical barriers to foreign trade, Pre-shipment Inspection, Anti-dumping Measures and safeguards, Import licenses and quotas).
Trade Facilitation -
Trade Facilitation Agreement -
Kyoto Convention - Convention Harmonization of Frontier Controls of Goods.