Proposal for a Transatlantic Platform for Consumer Concerns and International Trade
Author(s)
Staman, Jan
Abstract
Consumer concerns pop up. They are related to the safety of agrifood products for people, for animals, and for the environment as well as the social and ethical implications of certain agrifood production methods. At first sight, the WTO agreement and the SPS and TBT agreements appear to offer sufficient legal scope to deal with these concerns and resolve trade conflicts. The events of recent years, however, have shown the limitations of these agreements in dealing with cultural differences between nations and in dealing with the social and political pressure on national governments to lay down restrictive, trade distorting measures. We propose that these issues should be studied by experts in several disciplines: technical experts, hygiene experts and veterinarians, public administration experts, lawyers, philosophers, ethicists, sociologists, and, of course, economists. To unite these disciplines and provide a platform for discussion in the light of international trade liberalisation, the cultural identity of distinct communities, and the functioning of the democratic nation state an international network is needed.
