UK-New Zealand FTA Chapter 5: Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
Text of chapter 5 of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and New Zealand.
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This chapter sets out how the UK and New Zealand will facilitate trade while protecting human, animal and plant life and health. The SPS chapter will function in parallel with the already established UK-New Zealand Sanitary Agreement, which covers and facilitates our trade in animal products. This chapter therefore focuses on plants, plant products, and processed plant-based foods. The UK and New Zealand have agreed to amend the Sanitary Agreement to cover composite products.
The chapter will allow businesses to benefit from increased transparency and cooperation on each other’s SPS requirements. Provisions on regionalisation will allow for trade to continue when pest outbreaks are safely managed. The chapter also establishes dialogue structures to resolve technical issues and provide routes to ease SPS related market access issues.
This agreement does not create any new permissions or authorisations for imports from New Zealand. Imports will still have to meet the same respective food safety and biosecurity standards in New Zealand and the UK.
The UK and New Zealand both recognise the global threat of antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, the chapter also includes strong commitments to cooperate on this important issue, both bilaterally and in relevant international fora. This includes working together on addressing the unnecessary use of antibiotics in the rearing of animals for food production.