More on precautionism

Following up on "precautionism" that ex DG of the WTO, Pascal Lamy spoke about in a podcast blogged about here, I thought more about it. He mentioned that it tends to be more subjective and could lead to more protectionism than higher tariffs or quotas. Levelling the playing field is much more tougher when countries adopt more precautionary principles to determine what needs to be opened up and for how long.

This made me do a bit of research on the well known "precautionary" principle in EU trade policy. This detailed communication by the European Union on what the precautionary principle involves explains the circumstances under which the principle is applied.

The precautionary principle is detailed in Article 191 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It aims at ensuring a higher level of environmental protection through preventative decision-taking in the case of risk. However, in practice, the scope of this principle is far wider and also covers consumer policy, European Union (EU) legislation concerning food and human, animal and plant health.

The summary goes on to state:

The precautionary principle shall be informed by three specific principles:

• the fullest possible scientific evaluation, the determination, as far as possible, of the degree of scientific uncertainty;

• a risk evaluation and an evaluation of the potential consequences of inaction;

• the participation of all interested parties in the study of precautionary measures, once the results of the scientific evaluation and/or the risk evaluation are available.

In addition, the general principles of risk management remain applicable when the precautionary principle is invoked. These are the following five principles:

• proportionality between the measures taken and the chosen level of protection;

• non-discrimination in application of the measures;

• consistency of the measures with similar measures already taken in similar situations or using similar approaches;

• examination of the benefits and costs of action or lack of action;

• review of the measures in the light of scientific developments.

 The debate really is to what extent "precautionism" can be used to be veiled protectionism. Risk evaluation and assessments do have their element of subjectivity. So while tariffs and quotas are objective numbers and limits, precautionism can turn more murkier.

Coming from a person who was the former EU Trade Commissioner, precautionism does ring a bell!