As the Doha Round seeks to address tariff liberalisation issues in a comprehensive manner, the market access possibilities in agricultural exporting countries would be particularly glaring given that Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures which regulate these products have gone up. There is growing evidence of increased protectionism in terms of usage of national and more stringent SPS measures. The book provides clear and detailed empirical evidence on the systemic issues of the SPS Agreement under the WTO and shows how just by intensifying the scale of technology measures, the developed countries are virtually blocking developing country exports in selected products.

The author is an Associate Professor at the Centre for WTO Studies, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi.