ISO Research Library

This paper reviews empirical studies that have investigated how SPS/TBT measures impact trade in the food and agricultural sector. The author concludes that research supports the existence of a 'dual effect' of SPS-TBT measures on international trade of food and agricultural products, wit...

Compliance with public and private food safety standards has been the subject of increasing attention. Much of the literature on impacts of food safety regulation in developed countries focuses on public health. In poorer countries, the emphasis is on economic development. How standards shape access...

This paper reviews existing research on labels and food safety standards (both private and public) and their effects on food and agricultural trade. It argues that perceptions and empirical evidence around the impacts of standards have shifted from principally negative to more mixed results. Accordi...

This paper analyses the impacts of food safety standards on processed food exports in developing countries using a cross-sectional econometric analysis. The empirical analysis shows that strict food safety standards in importing developed countries tend to be trade reducing for developing countries ...

This paper examines the importance of standards in influencing whether firms in developing countries export opportunities agricultural and food products. Overall, the authors demonstrate that more stringent SPS standards in importing markets have a negative effect on developing country firm expor...

Over the last several decades, voluntary certification programs have become a key approach to promote sustainable supply chains for agricultural commodities. These programs provide premiums and other benefits to producers for adhering to environmental and labor practices established by the certifyin...

While much of the focus of the economics literature has been on the role of public food safety and quality standards both as policy instruments and as non-tariff barriers to trade, it is evident that private standards are playing an increasing role in the governance of agricultural and food supply c...

According to advocates, eco-certification is a win–win solution to the problem of environmental degradation caused bydeveloping country agriculture, improving both the environmental and the economic performance of farmers. However, these notionalbenefits can be undercut by the tendency of relatively w...

Private sustainability standards are spreading rapidly in global value chains, especially in the coffee sector, and commonly aim at promoting environmental, economic and social sustainability. The social sustainability component is often overlooked in studies on the impact of private standards. In t...

There is a growing body of literature that analyses the implications of private food standards for developing countries. Most of this literature has focused on the trade effects of standards and on the effects on exporters and producers. Very few studies have looked at the effect of standards for wo...

In this paper we consider the social impact of ethical trade schemes, particularly the kinds of benefits ethical trade provides for smallholder farmers and their livelihoods and for sustainable forestry. We focus on two cases, which are linked to the fair trade movement: brazil nuts collected from f...

We analyse the impact of fair trade (FT) affiliation on monetary and non-monetary measures of well-being in a sample of Kenyan farmers. Our descriptive and econometric findings document significant differences in terms of varieties of products sold, price satisfaction, monthly household food consump...

Worker welfare and employment conditions in the agri-food-producing and processing sectors in the global south have become an increasing concern for consumers. Sustainability standards, such as Fairtrade, play an important role in agri-food markets of horticultural produce and may be a tool to addre...

Sustainability standards are gaining in importance in global markets for high-value foods. While previous research has shown that participating farmers in developing countries may benefit through income gains, nutrition impacts have hardly been analysed. We use survey data from smallholder coffee fa...

Fair Trade certification may have important social effects on small-scale producers but empirical evidence is limited. We conducted logistic regressions using data from a 2009 survey of Rwandan coffee farmers to estimate the link between Fair Trade and social capital—measured as farmer trust and par...

Voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) are stakeholder-derived principles with measurable and enforceable criteria to promote sustainable production outcomes. While institutional commitments to use VSS to meet sustainable procurement policies have grown rapidly over the past decade, we still have ...

Over the last several decades, voluntary certification programs have become a key approach to promote sustainable supply chains for agricultural commodities. These programs provide premiums and other benefits to producers for adhering to environmental and labor practices established by the certifyin...

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The book provides information, and guidance for policymakers, the development community, and others in the critical area of "behind the border" barriers to trade. With a view to promoting efforts to strengthen Africa's capacity to meet trade standards, and comply with technical regulations, the book...

Voluntary sustainability standards have increased in uptake over the last decade; here, we explore their potential contribution to biodiversity conservation and other aspects of agricultural sustainability. We reviewed the content of 12 major crop standards and quantified their global coverage. A...