By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter

Law professors are criticizing the government for not citing a significant paragraph of the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) among World Trade Organization (WTO) members in their recent pledges to reduce risks from the full opening of the beef market to U.S. products.

They say the legally optimum solution, which would justify Korea's ban on American beef imports when a case of mad cow disease occurs in the United States, can be found in the WTO accord.

``Instead of highlighting paragraph (b) of Article XX of the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs on Trade) 1947, the government should have informed the people of the paragraph 7 of Article 5 of the WTO SPS Measures,'' a Yonsei University professor said on condition of anonymity.

The paragraph stipulates that in cases where relevant ``scientific evidence is insufficient,'' a member may provisionally adopt sanitary or phytosanitary measures on the basis of available pertinent information.

It also clarifies that the measures include that from the relevant international organizations as well as from sanitary and phytosanitary measures ``applied by other members.''

The professor likened public officials' not mentioning the paragraph 7 of Article 5 under the SPS Agreement to giving up the so-called ``quarantine sovereignty.''

``The people would be more upset when they know the government tried to evade making public the paragraph stipulating the apparent right of WTO members,'' he said.

Based on the SPS paragraph, the government can call on Washington to revise any ``poisonous clause'' via renegotiations or additional talks, the professor emphasized.

Even some professors who support the beef imports are reportedly skeptical about government officials' recent remarks.

A professor at Ewha Womans University said, ``It seems that the government's application of the GATT article (to placate the people) was inappropriate. Officials should have cited the paragraph 7 of Article 5 of the WTO SPS Measures.''

The GATT article does not ensure the right of a country, but allows just general ``exceptions,'' which involve measures ``necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health.''

Public officials, who highlighted the GATT, included Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon and Prime Minister Han Seung-soo.

In a statement on May 12, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said, ``The GATT and the WTO SPS Agreement preserve each country's sovereignty so that every government can ensure the safety of its citizens, and that includes food safety.''

But Schwab did not comment on the SPS measures in her supplementary statement: ``The United States recognizes that Article 20 of the GATT preserves Korea's right to take measures necessary to protect public health, so long as the requirements of that article are met.''

Unlike the unclear GATT stipulation, the SPS paragraph clarifies that ``members shall seek to obtain the additional information necessary for a more objective assessment of risk and review the SPS measures accordingly within a reasonable period of time.''

kys@koreatimes.co.kr