The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the “SPS Agreement”) entered into force with the establishment of the World Trade Organization on 1 January 1995. It concerns the application of food safety and animal and plant health regulations.
This introduction discusses the text of the SPS Agreement as it appears in the Final Act of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, signed in Marrakesh on 15 April 1994. This agreement and others contained in the Final Act, along with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade as amended (GATT 1994), are part of the treaty which established the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO superseded the GATT as the umbrella organization for international trade.
The Yemen Ministry of Trade and Industry has prepared this text to assist public understanding of the SPS Agreement. It is not intended to provide a legal interpretation of the WTO agreement.
- SPS-Republican Decree By-Law No. 38_1992 On Control of Food and its Circulation dated 3 April 1992
- SPS-Law No. 17 “On the Organization and Protection of Livestock” dated 22 August 2004
- SPS-Law No. 32 “On Plant Quarantine” dated 28 June 1999
- SPS-Law No. 13:2002 “On Control of Food and its Circulation” dated 10 March 2002
- SPS-Law No.794:2004 “On Requirements for Animal Slaughtering, in Accordance with the Provisions of Islamic Sharia”
- SPS-Law No. 32:1999 on Plant Quarantine