Moreover, we find the EC claim that the SPS Agreement does not impose "substantive"obligations additional to those already contained in Article XX(b) of GATT not to be persuasive. It is clear that some provisions of the SPS Agreement elaborate on provisions already contained in GATT, in particular Article XX(b). The final preambular paragraph of the SPS Agreement provides, indeed, that the Members desired "to elaborate rules for the application of the provisions of GATT 1994 which relate to the use of sanitary or phytosanitary measures, in particular the provisions of Article XX(b)". Examples of such rules are, arguably, some of the obligations contained in Article 2 of theSPS Agreement. However, on this basis alone we cannot conclude that the SPS Agreement only applies, as Article XX(b) of GATT does, if, and only if, a prior violation of a GATT provision has been established. Many provisions of the SPS Agreement impose "substantive" obligations which go significantly beyond and are additional to the requirements for invocation of Article XX(b). These obligations are, inter alia, imposed to "further the use of harmonized sanitary and phytosanitary measures between Members" and to "improve the human health, animal health and phytosanitary situation in all Members". They are not imposed, as is the case of the obligations imposed by Article XX(b) of GATT, to justify a violation of another GATT obligation (such as a violation of the non-discrimination obligations of Articles I or III).
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