CAFTA introduces 11 Principles for Sustainable Trade

Principles for Sustainable Trade

from the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance

1. Sustainable trade should enable and support economic and productivity growth.
2. Global food security is an imperative and international trade plays an integral role in the production and exchange of food across all systems.
3. Sustainability policy must reflect the latest recognized science and evidence, fully align with WTO disciplines, WTO agreements, and other international trade agreements, while supporting the adoption and use of new and innovative technologies across the value chain. These disciplines include principles of non-discrimination, transparency, and predictability.
4. Sustainability measures must not be a barrier to freer and fairer international agri-food trade and should not be used as a cover for protectionist trade policies, regulations, and measures.
5. Trade liberalization should contribute to the sustainable intensification of production.
6. Natural comparative advantage should be a central consideration in the design and implementation of sustainable trade policies and trade-related climate measures.
7. Sustainability policies and trade-related climate measures must not impose unnecessary regulatory burdens, restrictions, or compliance costs on producers or the broader value chain.
8. Sustainable trade policies and trade-related climate measures must recognize that different countries have unique agri-food production conditions, practices, and systems and that there is no one size fits all approach for improving sustainability outcomes. Legislative, regulatory, and policy instruments should be designed to achieve sustainable outcomes, not impose prescriptive requirements, and not unfairly limit or restrict market access nor be applied extraterritorially.
9. Regulatory cooperation should be pursued in order to promote positive sustainability outcomes and encourage liberalized trade.
10. Decisions by governments impacting trade, including sustainability dimensions of trade, should be subject to dispute settlement, including at the WTO and within other trade agreements.
11. Countries should partner with agri-food producers, value-chain partners, and each other to reach positive sustainability outcomes aligned with the principles enumerated above.