Food Safety Law: Internationalization Of Chinese Food Safety Standards

The aim of this thesis is to prove that the People's Republic of China,as the third-largest food exporter in the world and as an active part of the international food safety law regime,has an obligation to provide healthy and safe food.The obligations imposed on China arise from the human rights regime and the World Trade Organization regime.The thesis argues,that to achieve the goal,which is safe food worldwide,the unification of regulation with international standards must be achieved.This study analyzes the Chinese food safety legal system history in the light of the EU food safety system,as an example to follow.Despite the legal reforms and transformation that China has undergone over the last years with an acceleration of the reform and modernization,there is still room for improvement.Analyzing the food safety instruments introduced by China and those introduced by the EU legal regime,we can understand that,despite the fact that both legal regimes introduces the system of monitoring of food products ‘from farm to fork',the EU has brought the supervision system into a new level.Introducing the traceability system established at all stages of food production,consumer can be sure that his right to have the safe and adequate food provided is fulfilled.On the other hand,Chinese fragmented system and enormous number of small farmers makes it difficult to track the product all the way before it lands on the people's tables.Furthermore,fragmentation also affects the enforcement of imposed standards,as they are not compatible with other regulations.Therefore,a well-functioning system of mechanisms put in place by the EU,seems wise to follow for China to be bold in its move towards convergence.Third part of the thesis uses the concept of the right to adequate food,which is based on the observation,that incidents threatening the life and health of people around the world and violate their right to adequate food,are mostly related to food and they appear due to poor management and lack of appropriate food safety law regulations.The right to adequate food,therefore,means,that everybody has an access to sufficient,safe,and nutritious food to live a dignified life,what can be achieved due to high food safety standards.The right to adequate food ensures that people's basic subsistence needs are met,but also proves that the State can engage in the supervision and management of the food sector.It can enable international institutions to implement policies reflected in law to unify food requirements.As China provides agricultural products to customers all around the world,there are obligations on it to meet the requirements of governments and consumers of the importing countries.Following work aims to use the right to adequate food as an instrument to justify unification of domestic food safety law with international law,is a proper tool to fulfill the international obligations to provide safe and adequate food.Chapter 4 will take the international food safety law regime as an instrument to improve and unify Chinese food safety regulations in terms of developing unified food safety regime and standard-setting.During the last decade,Chinese food safety regulation has been internationalized and influenced by the international regimes.Here,the coercive,modeling-behaviors and normative influences will be given as an example in the process of internationalization of Chinese food safety regime.The closing Chapter will introduce conclusions and recommendations that China can adapt in the further development of its food safety legal regime,considering the influence and expectations of the global forces in terms of legal transfer and policy learning from the international legal networks.This will be attributed to the aim of the Chinese government to safeguard the reputation and position of the products ‘Made in China' under the context of internationalization of regulation.