The interface between international trade and investment agreements and food environment policymaking: A conceptual framework
Addressing the global challenge of malnutrition in all its forms will require policy measures to improve food environments, yet progress has been patchy and often slow, particularly for regulatory measures. International trade and investment agreements (TIAs) may limit governments' “policy spac...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Political Science |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2022.996017/full |
| _version_ | 1811177984370933760 |
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| author | Kelly Garton Boyd Swinburn Anne Marie Thow |
| author_facet | Kelly Garton Boyd Swinburn Anne Marie Thow |
| author_sort | Kelly Garton |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Addressing the global challenge of malnutrition in all its forms will require policy measures to improve food environments, yet progress has been patchy and often slow, particularly for regulatory measures. International trade and investment agreements (TIAs) may limit governments' “policy space” for public health regulation. Constraints have been particularly apparent for public health measures targeting unhealthy commodities, including ultra-processed foods. Challenges and disputes regarding food environment regulation under TIAs (even if successfully defended) can entail significant drain of human and financial resources, and political capital. Lack of awareness or understanding of the implication of TIAs on policy space for regulation can contribute to regulatory chill and policy inertia. Governments lacking capacity to interpret their “legally available” policy space may want to err on the side of caution when there is perceived risk of a formal dispute—even if such threats are unfounded. This paper draws on analysis of literature, trade and investment dispute documentation, and data from inter-disciplinary expert interviews (n = 22) to present a new conceptual framework for the potential impacts of TIAs on policy space for regulating food environments. The analysis that underpins the framework focusses on the key policy domains of fiscal policies, front-of-pack nutrition labeling, restrictions on marketing to children, nutrient limits, and product bans. Analysis indicates that regulatory context and stakeholder influence, policy design, and mechanisms associated with TIA rules and provisions intersect in ways contributing to policy space outcomes. This new framework can provide a basis for rapidly assessing policy coherence between TIAs and food environment regulations in these domains. It can also be used to identify areas where further legal analysis would strengthen the development and defense of regulatory proposals. The framework may be applied to nutrition regulation more broadly, given the common themes that emerged across the different domains due to common interests of stakeholders, notably the food industry. It thus provides a basis for analyzing the political economy of regulation to address the commercial determinants of health in relation to unhealthy food and beverages. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T06:11:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-43d0cea8be2b443886ad2f6e62354b7f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2673-3145 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T06:11:47Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Political Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-43d0cea8be2b443886ad2f6e62354b7f2022-12-22T04:41:14ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Political Science2673-31452022-12-01410.3389/fpos.2022.996017996017The interface between international trade and investment agreements and food environment policymaking: A conceptual frameworkKelly Garton0Boyd Swinburn1Anne Marie Thow2Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Population Health, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New ZealandDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Population Health, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New ZealandMenzies Centre for Health Policy, School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, AustraliaAddressing the global challenge of malnutrition in all its forms will require policy measures to improve food environments, yet progress has been patchy and often slow, particularly for regulatory measures. International trade and investment agreements (TIAs) may limit governments' “policy space” for public health regulation. Constraints have been particularly apparent for public health measures targeting unhealthy commodities, including ultra-processed foods. Challenges and disputes regarding food environment regulation under TIAs (even if successfully defended) can entail significant drain of human and financial resources, and political capital. Lack of awareness or understanding of the implication of TIAs on policy space for regulation can contribute to regulatory chill and policy inertia. Governments lacking capacity to interpret their “legally available” policy space may want to err on the side of caution when there is perceived risk of a formal dispute—even if such threats are unfounded. This paper draws on analysis of literature, trade and investment dispute documentation, and data from inter-disciplinary expert interviews (n = 22) to present a new conceptual framework for the potential impacts of TIAs on policy space for regulating food environments. The analysis that underpins the framework focusses on the key policy domains of fiscal policies, front-of-pack nutrition labeling, restrictions on marketing to children, nutrient limits, and product bans. Analysis indicates that regulatory context and stakeholder influence, policy design, and mechanisms associated with TIA rules and provisions intersect in ways contributing to policy space outcomes. This new framework can provide a basis for rapidly assessing policy coherence between TIAs and food environment regulations in these domains. It can also be used to identify areas where further legal analysis would strengthen the development and defense of regulatory proposals. The framework may be applied to nutrition regulation more broadly, given the common themes that emerged across the different domains due to common interests of stakeholders, notably the food industry. It thus provides a basis for analyzing the political economy of regulation to address the commercial determinants of health in relation to unhealthy food and beverages.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2022.996017/fullpolicy spacefood environment interventionstrade and investment agreementspolitical economypublic health |
| spellingShingle | Kelly Garton Boyd Swinburn Anne Marie Thow The interface between international trade and investment agreements and food environment policymaking: A conceptual framework Frontiers in Political Science policy space food environment interventions trade and investment agreements political economy public health |
| title | The interface between international trade and investment agreements and food environment policymaking: A conceptual framework |
| title_full | The interface between international trade and investment agreements and food environment policymaking: A conceptual framework |
| title_fullStr | The interface between international trade and investment agreements and food environment policymaking: A conceptual framework |
| title_full_unstemmed | The interface between international trade and investment agreements and food environment policymaking: A conceptual framework |
| title_short | The interface between international trade and investment agreements and food environment policymaking: A conceptual framework |
| title_sort | interface between international trade and investment agreements and food environment policymaking a conceptual framework |
| topic | policy space food environment interventions trade and investment agreements political economy public health |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2022.996017/full |
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