Legal Analysis of the Import ban on GMO under the SPS Agreement: The Case of Peru and Mexico: Part II

The first paper of this research covered some of the most important arguments for and against Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). It also explained how the measures in Peru and Mexico are designed, as well as their current status.This second paper focuses on the compatibility of Peru’s and Mexico’s domestic measures with the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In the case of Mexico, this paper analyses some provisions of the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) Agreement and the award in the dispute Mexico – Measures Concerning Genetically Engineered Corn. This paper also explains the role of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB) in the GMO discussion.The paper concludes that the import ban measures on GMO adopted by Peru and Mexico are inconsistent with the SPS Agreement within the WTO framework. Therefore, these measures should be either removed or modified. However, contrary to the conclusion reached by the arbitral tribunal in the dispute Mexico – Measures Concerning Genetically Engineered Corn, this paper argues that Mexico’s measure could have been justified under the USMCA.