University of Saskatchewan College of Law, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Can J Diabetes. 2013 Jun;37(3):182-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jcjd.2013.03.402. Epub 2013 May 29.
Regulatory measures, including taxes and subsidies on food and beverage products, food labelling requirements, regulation of food content and regulation of food marketing, have been proposed to encourage healthier eating and prevent obesity. The objective of this article is to explore the extent to which international trade agreements affect governments' choices to use such regulatory measures.
It reviews key provisions of relevant World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements and their implications. Some insights can be gained by examining 2 recent developments in the WTO regarding tobacco control: a current dispute involving Australia's plain packaging law and its effect on trademarks, and a recent decision involving the United States law banning flavoured cigarettes.
This decision said that the ban did not restrict trade more than necessary to fulfil its legitimate health objective, but it was discriminatory because it banned imported products (clove cigarettes) while exempting domestic products (menthol cigarettes) with similar characteristics.
The conclusion we can draw from this decision is that WTO member states probably enjoy a significant degree of latitude in developing food regulations as part of an obesity prevention strategy, so long as those do not disproportionately affect imported products and therefore raise questions of discrimination. The approach taken in this case encourages the adoption of public health policies that are consistent with strong scientific evidence, but may restrict governments' ability to make political compromises, which could frustrate some proposals. The ongoing development of WTO law will continue to affect policy choices in public health.
监管措施，包括对食品和饮料产品的税收和补贴、食品标签要求、食品成分监管和食品营销监管，已被提议用于鼓励更健康的饮食和预防肥胖。本文的目的是探讨国际贸易协定在多大程度上影响政府使用此类监管措施的选择。
本文审查了世界贸易组织（WTO）相关协议的关键条款及其影响。通过审查 WTO 最近在烟草控制方面的两项发展，可以获得一些见解：目前涉及澳大利亚普通包装法及其对商标影响的争端，以及最近涉及美国禁止调味香烟的法律的决定。
该决定表示，该禁令没有超出实现其合法健康目标所必需的程度限制贸易，但存在歧视性，因为它禁止了进口产品（丁香烟），而豁免了具有类似特征的国内产品（薄荷醇香烟）。
我们可以从这个决定中得出的结论是，WTO 成员国在制定食品法规作为预防肥胖策略的一部分方面可能享有很大的自由度，只要这些法规不会不成比例地影响进口产品，从而引起歧视问题。此案所采取的方法鼓励采取符合强有力科学证据的公共卫生政策，但可能限制政府做出政治妥协的能力，这可能会使一些提议受挫。WTO 法律的不断发展将继续影响公共卫生政策的选择。
