Legislating for Risk and Precaution: Bridging the Divide between Science and Law for Biosecurity [Hardcover]

The book aims to demystify the law for scientists and instructing officials by exploring the science and legal concepts of risk and precaution for national legislation to facilitate safe trade in agricultural products (in compliance with international trade rules).

Robert Black, MA, LLM, PhD, FHEA

After forty five years as an academic and public servant (UK, Belize) Rob retired from the post of Associate Professor of Agricultural and Environmental Regulation at the Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, UK, having formerly been Reader in Law at the universitys law school. His career started in mycology, bacteriology and plant health involving several years residence overseas and then frequent advisory visits to the Caribbean, mainland Africa and Indian Ocean, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia to help develop plant health services. His membership of professional societies includes the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel, Statute Law Society, International Association of Legislation and British Society for Plant Pathology.

His regulatory experience in plant health and pesticides prompted him to take legal qualifications just at the start of the WTO era, by which time his government clients had also been asking him to advise on legislation in these sectors. Consequently, providing formal legal advice on sanitary and phytosanitary measures/biosecurity began to be combined with technical aspects of academic work and consultancy and eventually became the dominant theme in his profile, with legislative review and drafting of primary and secondary legislation in those continents or regions, commissioned by many international development partners including UKs ODA, EU, FAO and the Asian Development Bank. Rob continued to consult in this way for the Asian Development Bank in Central Asia after academic retirement.

He was also Senil“T