2014 Report on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is pleased to publish its fifth annual Report on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Report). This report was created to maintain an inventory of the concerns of U.S. farmers, ranchers, manufacturers, and workers who confront sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) trade barriers as they seek to export high-quality American food and agricultural products globally. SPS measures are rules and procedures that governments use to ensure that foods and beverages are safe to consume and to protect animals and plants from unwanted pests and diseases.
Many SPS measures are fully justified, but some governments cloak discriminatory and protectionist trade measures in the guise of ensuring human, animal, or plant safety. USTR is committed to continuing to engage other governments in all available bilateral, regional, and multilateral fora to dismantle these barriers to U.S. food and agricultural exports and strengthen the rules-based trading system to ensure a level playing field abroad for U.S. farm and ranch products.
