Standards as Rules of Trade (START)
The START Policy and Research Network seeks to bring together a body of researchers from developed and developing countries who work in the area of agro-food standards and trade. It acts as a catalyst for exchanging research findings and contributing to the process of formulating policy options and trade negotiation positions for a range of actors in developing countries, including governments, firms and labour organisations. The network attempts to address a range of questions related to standard-setting and implementation; the consequence of standards for trade/trade organisation; and the distributional implications of standards.
The network is based on four ‘hubs’ which have been extensively engaged in work on agro-food standards and are well networked with a range of policy actors:
, jointly managed by the Research Group on Trade and Development Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen (DIIS) and the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, Sokoine University of Agriculture – Tanzania- Contact persons: Stefano Ponte (DIIS) and Evelyne Lazaro (SUA)
‘UK hub’ at the Institute for Development Studies, University of Sussex (IDS) and the International Institute for the Environment and Development (IIED)- Contact persons: John Humphrey (IDS) and Bill Vorley (IIED)
‘Asia hub’ at the Research and Information System for the Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries (RIS), Delhi- Contact person: Sachin Chaturvedi
‘US hub’ at the Institute for Food and Agricultural Standards at Michigan State University- Contact persons: Larry Busch and Craig Harris
So far, six workshops on standards have been hosted (either through START or through its linked research programme SAFE) and an ad hoc panel at the Hong Kong Trade and Development Symposium: - Programme of the START Workshop 1, Copenhagen (pdf file, 357 KB) (December 2004)
- Programme of the panel on standards at the Hong Kong Trade and Development Symposium (December 2005)
- Programme of the START Workshop 2, IDS (pdf file, 15 KB) (October 2006)
- Programme of the START Workshop 3, IDS (pdf file, 8 KB) (December 2006)
- Programme of the SAFE Workshop 1, SUA (pdf file, 8 KB) (December 2006)
- Programme of the SAFE Workshop 2, Bagamoyo (pdf file, 8 KB) (January 2008)
Plans for 2008 and 2009 - The START Workhsop 4 is planned to take place at DIIS in late 2009
The SAFE Final Conference is planned to take place in Tanzania in early 2010
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