Although not legally binding in a regulatory sense, private-sector standards are, de facto, increasingly becoming mandatory from a commercial, buying-power perspective. Several of these standards combine food safety standards with environmental health, and workers’ health and safety requirements, which makes compliance a very tall order for developing-country producers and exporters. One of the reasons for this trend towards multidimensionality is that the standards aim to fulfil food safety objectives by encouraging environmentally sustainable production methods. While adjustment to these new requirements entails many costs, it also offers benefits in terms of fewer undesirable environmental and health impacts on producers as well as material and resource savings.

Attachment	Size
UNCTAD_DITC_TED_2007_2.pdf	1.19 MB