The Last Frontier: Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards and Technical Regulations as Non-Tariff Barriers in Intra-African Trade

The main objective of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was the facilitation of trade among members through the reduction of tariffs. Between January 1948, when it became applicable, and January 1995, when it was supplanted by the World Trade Organization (WTO), the GATT managed, through successive negotiating rounds, to reduce tariffs on industrial products from over 40 per cent, on average, to less than 4 per cent, on average. As tariffs decreased with each negotiating round, so did their importance as barriers to trade. Instead, focus shifted to non-tariff barriers to trade. It was during the Kennedy