International Agricultural Law and
Organizations: An Overview
Background
International law is such a broad subject that it is commonly divided into three categories: public international law, private international law, and national law. Public international law guides the interactions of national governments, and is derived from international agreements, customary international law, general legal principles, and expert scholarship. Private international law is the law that regulates disputes between persons when the laws of multiple countries are implicated. Usually this is addressed as a conflict of laws question that decides what set of national laws to apply to the dispute. National law is the domestic law of each country that regulates the activities of foreign persons within the borders of that particular country. As international agricultural trade increases, international law grows in importance to agriculture. Note also that there is considerable overlap between the areas of International Agricultural Law and International Agricultural Trade. For a discussion of the issues surrounding trade, please visit the International Agricultural Trade Reading Room. This overview focuses on international law and organizations applicable to agriculture.
Public International Law
- International Agreements
There are a multitude of international agreements relevant to agriculture. These agreements attempt to regulate how governments relate to each other on a host of issues. Trade agreements are among the most common types of international agreements that contribute to international agricultural law.
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was an international agreement covering the sale of goods, including agricultural products. However, exemptions and exceptions for agriculture limited its effects. In 1994, as a part of negotiations that produced the World Trade Organization (WTO), an Agreement on Agriculture was reached that defined the trading rules that would apply to international agricultural trade. The Agreement also set goals for the liberalization of international agricultural trade.
Other agreements produced under GATT and the WTO impact international agricultural law, including the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. Other trade agreements that contribute to international agricultural law include regional free trade agreements, bilateral free trade agreements, and issue-specific trade agreements. Any agreement between multiple countries that regulates an issue regarding agricultural trade provides a further source for international agricultural law.
Other types of agreements that do not directly implicate trade, but do impact international agriculture include agreements on endangered species and environmental protection.
- Customary International Law
Customary international law is created by the customs of a particular country through repeated actions by the country, acceptance over time, and the belief that adherence to that particular action is required. When countries follow legal principles consistently out of a sense of obligation, the legal principles eventually are treated as binding customary international law.
A common form of customary international law that impacts agriculture is the use of resources that cross national boundaries, such as disputes over water rights or the amount of irrigation water that can be removed from a river by an upstream state. Over time the upstream state might limit the amount of water its citizens could remove, creating a minimum water flow to the downstream state. After enough time had elapsed, the upstream state may begin to view this minimum water flow as an obligation to be maintained. These circumstances would give rise to customary international law.
- General Legal Principles
The general legal principles that are found in the major legal systems of the world can be used to provide a source of international law when agreements and customary law do not resolve the legal issue. This source of international law is based upon the idea that if a principle is found in multiple legal systems and is generally accepted, then it is likely appropriate to guide the conduct of nations.
- Scholarship
Scholarship in the form of judicial opinions, scholarly works, and evidence of state practices and their obligations is often used as persuasive international law. The scholarship is used to demonstrate that a particular custom should be recognized as customary law or that a particular legal principal is widely accepted and should be applied to a question of international law.
Private International Law
Private international law regulates disputes between persons when the laws of multiple countries are implicated. Typically this is addressed as a conflict of laws question.
Conflict of laws analysis is not clearly defined and many different methods for resolution based on many different factors have been proposed by commentators and used by courts. Regardless of the factors used, the courts must resolve what laws to apply to the case, what jurisdiction is the proper situs for the legal action, and whether foreign judgments will be recognized by a nation.
National Law
National law is a facet of international law because a sovereign nation can regulate the activities of international parties within its own borders. These types of domestic laws can regulate foreign agriculture within a country's borders. This is most easily seen in areas of trade.
Domestic standards may regulate what types of agricultural products may be sold within a country. These laws affect international parties wishing to sell their goods inside the borders of that country. Other domestic laws such as tariffs or trade embargos also affect foreign agriculture interests by impacting trade.
Biotechnology provides further examples of domestic laws that may impact international agriculture. Intellectual property rights are important to companies that wish to protect their investment in agriculture goods that incorporate biotechnology. Although international agreements have been reached to address this issue, each country's own system to protect intellectual property rights or the level of enforcement affects the ability to obtain access to certain technology. Some countries also restrict the use or importation of agricultural products containing biotechnology and thus impact international agriculture. For a complete discussion of issues surrounding biotechnology, please visit the Biotechnology Reading Room.
International Organizations
Multiple international organizations that are either created by an international agreement or have a membership that consists mainly of nations affect agriculture.
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is the branch of the United Nations (UN) that promotes international efforts to fight hunger. It is governed by the Conference of Member Nations, which is comprised of 187 member countries and the European Community. The Conference of Member Nations meets every two years to set broad policy directives for the FAO. The interim administrative duties are handled by the FAO Council of 49 Member Nations and the FAO Director-General, both elected by the FAO Conference.
The FAO provides assistance to developing countries to modernize and improve agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. The FAO works through disseminating information, providing countries with a negotiating forum, and implementing improvement projects in the field.
As part of its mission to disseminate information, the FAO helps countries develop national and foreign agriculture policy by assisting in the planning and drafting of legislation to meet its mandated goal of achieving food security for all.
- World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international body composed of the majority of the trading nations of the world. It administers a set of international agreements that have established the rules for a multilateral trading system. The WTO also provides a place for member nations to negotiate trade policy generally working to liberalize trade between all members and a forum for member countries to resolve trade disputes.
Because international trade has become such an important part of agriculture, the WTO has a strong impact on agriculture world wide.
- World Bank
The World Bank is the popular name of the United Nations' specialized agency that consists of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Development Association, the International Finance Corporation, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. The World Bank provides low-interest loans, interest-free credit, and grants to developing countries. Many of these loan programs are used to develop infrastructure and export market capabilities for agriculture in developing countries.