WTO SPS협정상 지역화에 관한 연구

A Research on Regionalization under the WTO SPS Agreement

The World Trade Organization (hereinafter, WTO) Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (hereinafter, SPS Agreement) is the first multilateral agreement which elaborates on the principles of Article XX(b) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994. The SPS Agreement aims to protect human, animal or plant life or health, and prevent those SPS measures from discriminating arbitrarily between the WTO members. Especially, it is important to understand the Adaptation to Regional Conditions (hereinafter, Regionalization) of Article 6 under the SPS Agreement, as WTO Appellate Body in the Russia-Pigs Dispute examined the implementation aspects of Article 6.2 under the SPS Agreement. The Appellate Body reversed its previous rulings on Article 6.2 in the India-Agricultural Products Dispute, the US-Animals Dispute, and the Russia-Pigs Dispute, and highlighted the implementation aspects of the 'Regionalization Procedure', for the first time. In addition, the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) in the US-Animals Dispute and the Russia-Pigs Dispute pinpointed the relationship between the 'Import Approval Procedure' under Article 8 and Annex C, and the 'Regionalization Procedure' under the Article 6 of the SPS Agreement. Thus, this research focuses on the WTO Adjudications on Regionalization of Article 6, and its extended interpretations to the 'Import Approval Procedure' of Article 8 and Annex C of the SPS Agreement. It continues to study on the Regionalization provisions within the United States, European Union, and the Republic of Korea. Also, it analyzes and compares on the legal obligations of Regionalization provisions under the preferential trade agreements, such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (hereinafter, CPTPP), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (hereinafter, RCEP), and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (hereinafter, USMCA). It mainly compares CPTPP and RCEP, or CPTPP and USMCA. The main purpose of this analysis is to comprehend the contents and the level of legal obligations of CPTPP, and find legal improvements for the domestic regulations of the Republic of Korea after its accession to CPTPP. In the same vein, this research emphasizes on the significance of the WTO Adjudications and its implications to be reflected on the domestic regulations. The Republic of Korea needs to organize a systematic framework for dealing with the Regionalization requests from foreign governments, and establish an official position who specializes in the 'Regionalization Procedure'. This research will provide implications for the improvement of the legal and administrative framework of the Republic of Korea.