122 << Bridging Regional Trade Agreements in the Americas
FIGURE 2.15 ď Ž Coverage of Selected Competition Policy Provisions in RTAs in the Americas (Percent of RTAs with the Provision) Adopting, maintaining, applying competition measures General cooperation Notification Exchange of information Consultations Anticompetitive agreements Abuse of dominance/ monopolization State aid/subsidies Anticompetitive mergers State enterprises/monopolies Competition-specific provision for nondiscrimination Competition-specific provision for due process Competition-specific provision for transparency Exclusion or elimination of antidumping Exclusion of RTA-specific dispute settlement Consultation mechanism Arbitration 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Source: IDB calculations.
example: the agreement includes a specific set of customs procedures in the textiles chapter, fashioned in good part to preempt transshipment of nonmember (such as Asian-country) textiles through Central America to the United States. Sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures are laws, rules, standards, and procedures that governments employ to protect humans, other animals, and plants from diseases, pests, toxins, and other contaminants. Examples of SPS measures include meat and poultry processing standards to reduce pathogens, residue limits for pesticides in foods, and regulation of agricultural biotechnology. Most RTAs in the Americas include provisions on the multilateral WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreementâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s core principles (harmo-