Department of Sociology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
PLoS Med. 2018 Jun 26;15(6):e1002590. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002590. eCollection 2018 Jun.
It has long been contested that trade rules and agreements are used to dispute regulations aimed at preventing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Yet most analyses of trade rules and agreements focus on trade disputes, potentially overlooking how a challenge to a regulation's consistency with trade rules may lead to 'policy or regulatory chill' effects whereby countries delay, alter, or repeal regulations in order to avoid the costs of a dispute. Systematic empirical analysis of this pathway to impact was previously prevented by a dearth of systematically coded data.
Here, we analyse a newly created dataset of trade challenges about food, beverage, and tobacco regulations among 122 World Trade Organization (WTO) members from January 1, 1995 to December 31, 2016. We thematically describe the scope and frequency of trade challenges, analyse economic asymmetries between countries raising and defending them, and summarise 4 cases of their possible influence. Between 1995 and 2016, 93 food, beverage, and tobacco regulations were challenged at the WTO. 'Unnecessary' trade costs were the focus of 16.4% of the challenges. Only one (1.1%) challenge remained unresolved and escalated to a trade dispute. Thirty-nine (41.9%) challenges focussed on labelling regulations, and 18 (19.4%) focussed on quality standards and restrictions on certain products like processed meats and cigarette flavourings. High-income countries raised 77.4% (n = 72) of all challenges raised against low- and lower-middle-income countries. We further identified 4 cases in Indonesia, Chile, Colombia, and Saudi Arabia in which challenges were associated with changes to food and beverage regulations. Data limitations precluded a comprehensive evaluation of policy impact and challenge validity.
Policy makers appear to face significant pressure to design food, beverage, and tobacco regulations that other countries will deem consistent with trade rules. Trade-related influence on public health policy is likely to be understated by analyses limited to formal trade disputes.
长期以来，人们一直认为贸易规则和协议被用于对旨在预防非传染性疾病（NCDs）的法规提出争议。然而，大多数对贸易规则和协议的分析都集中在贸易争端上，这可能忽略了对法规与贸易规则一致性的质疑如何导致“政策或监管冷却”效应，即各国为了避免争端成本而延迟、修改或废除法规。由于缺乏系统编码的数据，以前对这种影响途径的系统实证分析受到阻碍。
在这里，我们分析了一个新创建的数据集，其中包括 1995 年 1 月 1 日至 2016 年 12 月 31 日期间 122 个世界贸易组织（WTO）成员对食品、饮料和烟草法规提出的贸易挑战。我们对贸易挑战的范围和频率进行了主题描述，分析了提出和捍卫这些挑战的国家之间的经济不对称性，并总结了 4 个可能产生影响的案例。在 1995 年至 2016 年间，WTO 共对 93 项食品、饮料和烟草法规提出了挑战。“不必要”的贸易成本是 16.4%的挑战的重点。只有一个（1.1%）挑战仍未解决，并升级为贸易争端。39 项（41.9%）挑战集中在标签法规上，18 项（19.4%）集中在质量标准和某些产品的限制上，如加工肉类和香烟调味剂。高收入国家对低收入和中低收入国家提出的所有挑战的 77.4%（n=72）。我们还在印度尼西亚、智利、哥伦比亚和沙特阿拉伯确定了 4 个案例，在这些案例中，挑战与食品和饮料法规的变化有关。数据限制使我们无法全面评估政策影响和挑战的有效性。
决策者似乎面临着巨大的压力，需要设计出其他国家认为符合贸易规则的食品、饮料和烟草法规。对仅限于正式贸易争端的分析来说，贸易对公共卫生政策的影响可能被低估了。
