RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/R/32 
6 February 2004 
 (04-0458) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures  
   
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE SPS COMMITTEE 
ON THE OPERATION OF ENQUIRY POINTS 
HELD ON 31 OCTOBER 2003 
 
Note by the Secretariat
1 
 
 
I. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE..........................................................................................2  
II. ISSUES......................................................................................................................... ..............2  
A. NOTIFICATION ISSUES ....................................................................................................2  
B. ISSUES WITH SUBMITTING NOTIFICATIONS .....................................................................4  
C. ISSUES WITH OTHER COUNTRIES ' NOTIFICATIONS ..........................................................4  
III. RESOURCES ...................................................................................................................... ......5  
A. SETTING UP AN ENQUIRY POINT OR NOTIFICATION AUTHORITY ..................................5  
B. SKILLED STAFF AND TECHNICAL CAPACITY ...................................................................6  
C. INFRASTRUCTURE ...........................................................................................................7  
D. TRANSLATIONS ...............................................................................................................7  
IV. COORDINATION ................................................................................................................... .8 
A. COORDINATION BETWEEN AGENCIES .............................................................................8  
B. COORDINATION WITH STAKEHOLDERS ...........................................................................9  
C. COORDINATION WITH OTHER ENQUIRY POINTS ...........................................................10  
D. COORDINATION WITH WTO AND INTERNATIONAL STANDARD -SETTING BODIES ..........10  
V. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ................................................................................................12  
A. AGENCIES PROVIDING TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ...........................................................12  
B. EXAMPLES OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE OFFERED BY MEMBERS ..................................12  
C. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE ...........................................................................13  
D. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER TEC HNICAL ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES ..............................14  
VI. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... ..14 
 
                                                      
1This document has been prepared under the Secretar iat's own responsibility and is without prejudice to 
the positions of Members or to their rights or obligations under the WTO.  G/SPS/R/32 
Page 2  
 
 1. The Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary  Measures (the "SPS Committee") held a 
Special Meeting on the operation of SPS Enquiry Points on 31 October 2003.  Mr. Paul Martin 
(Canada) chaired the meeting.  The programme fo r the meeting and copies of the presentations made 
at the meeting are contained in documents G/SPS/ GEN/441, 450 and 458, and are available from the 
WTO website at:  http://www.wto.org/english/trat op_e/sps_e/spec_meet_oct03_e/programme_e.htm. 
I. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 
2. At its meeting in June 2003, the SPS Committee agreed to hold a special meeting on the 
operation of SPS enquiry points in conjunction with th e regular October meeting of the Committee.  A 
special meeting on the transparency provisions of  the SPS Agreement had previously been held in 
November 1999. 
3. The purpose of the enquiry point meeting was to bring together officials from Members' 
enquiry points and national notif ication authorities for an in-depth discussion of problems and 
concerns relating to their operation.  The speak ers and the panel discussions focussed on the problems 
Members' enquiry points were facing which constrai ned their effective functioning and on identifying 
possible solutions to overcome these constraints.  The WTO was able to sponsor, with assistance from 
the governments of France and the United States, sp eakers from Egypt, Sene gal and Jamaica and the 
participation of officials from Gabon, Cote d'Ivoi re, Uganda, Mauritania, Ne pal, Cuba and Zambia.
2  
4. In preparation for the meeting, Members were invited to identify specific constraints faced by 
their enquiry points.  A number of Members submitted specific issue papers.3  The Secretariat 
circulated a questionnaire on the operation of SPS en quiry points and national notification authorities 
(G/SPS/W/103/Rev.1).  Over 80 Members provided responses to the questionnaire.  The contact 
details of Members' enquiry points and national no tification authorities can be found in the up-dated 
lists of national enquiry points (G/SPS/ENQ/ 16) and notification authorities (G/SPS/NNA/6). 
5. This report provides a summary of the main points (written and oral) raised by Members' at 
the special meeting.  This report also includ es relevant information compiled from Members' 
responses to the questionnaire. 
II. ISSUES 
A. NOTIFICATION ISSUES  
6. The Secretariat recalled that the SPS Comm ittee had agreed on various formats for the 
submission of notifications and detailed recommend ed procedures for completing these formats and 
for ensuring compliance with the transparency provisions of the SPS Agreement (G/SPS/7/Rev.2 and 
Add.1).  Furthermore, the Secretariat had publis hed a Handbook on the Transparency Provisions of 
the SPS Agreement, which in addition to the re commended procedures included model letters and 
other suggestions to assist in the operation of nationa l enquiry points and notification authorities.  The 
recommended procedures and the Handbook are available from the WTO website 
(http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/sps_e/sps_e.htm ) and were included on the WTO's computer-
based training CD Rom on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.  
                                                      
2 Funds were provided by the Ministry of Agriculture of France and by the US Department of 
Agriculture. 
3 Argentina (G/SPS/GEN/425 an d corrigendum), Australia (G/S PS/GEN/429), Canada and 
New Zealand (G/SPS/GEN/430), China G/SPS/GE N/378, EEC (G/SPS/GEN/ 455, G/SPS/GEN/456 and 
corrigendum), Mauritania (G/SPS/GEN/ 457), Mexico (G/SPS/GEN/451), Pa kistan (G/SPS/GEN/436), Panama 
(G/SPS/GEN/438), Venezuela (G/SPS/GE N/442), and IICA (G/SPS/GEN/427).  G/SPS/R/32 
 Page 3 
 
 
7. As of 1 October 2003, over 3,600 SPS notifications had been submitted to the WTO since the 
entry into force of the Agreement in 1995 (Graph 1).  Over 650 of these notifications were submitted 
in the period 1 January through to 1 October 2003.  Several Members had commented on the 
difficulty of managing such a large volume of notifications.   
Graph 1 - Notifications circ ulated 1995 - 1 October 2003
0100200300400500600700800900
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
(until 1
October) 
 
8. Of the WTO's 148 Member, 83 Members or 56 pe r cent had notified an SPS measure.  The 
majority of these had submitted between five or less notifications (Graph 2 indicates the number of 
SPS notifications that Members submitted). 
Graph 2 - Number of Notifications per Member 
1995 to 1 October 2003
0510152025
1 2 to 5 6 to 10 11 to
20 21 to
30 31 to
100 101 to
200 201 to
300 301 to
850 
Number of NotificationsNumber of Members
 
 G/SPS/R/32 
Page 4  
 
9. Whereas virtually all developed country Member s had submitted notifications, and more than 
half of the developing country Members had also  notified SPS measures, over 80 per cent of least 
developed country Members had not  submitted any SPS notification by  1 October 2003 (see Graph 3).  
Graph 3 - Members Notif ying 
1995 until 1 October 2003
020406080100120140160
Developed
countriesDeveloping
countriesLeast Developed
CountriesTotalNumber of MembersNot Notified
Notified
 
B. ISSUES WITH SUBMITTING NOTIFICATIONS  
10. Several Members highlighted the difficulties they faced in submitting SPS notifications.  A 
number of Members indicated that they did not have sufficient administrative capability to submit 
notifications.  Other Members stated that they di d not know what measures to notify.  Some Members 
noted that their legislative systems did not make it possible to notify SPS regulations which were at 
the draft stage, so as to enable other Member s to provide comments before the regulation was 
finalized. 
11. One common problem identified by Members was when a governmental agency produced 
SPS-related legislation which had to  be notified to the WTO but the agency failed to inform the 
notification authority.  Some Members stressed that  the notification authority needed to coordinate 
with the regulatory agencies in order to keep itself ab reast of their activities, particularly those related 
to the formulation of SPS measures.  It was suggest ed that Members could include the submission of a 
copy of the draft legislation to the notification authority as part of the procedures for government 
officials to follow when preparing SPS legislation. 
C. ISSUES WITH OTHER COUNTRIES ' NOTIFICATIONS  
12. Several Members drew attention to the observa tions contained in China's analysis of SPS 
notifications submitted during 2002 (G/SPS/GEN/378).  One of the main conclusions of this study 
was that Members were not complying with all of the notification requirements.  
13. Annex B of the SPS Agreement states that co mments from other Members should be taken 
into account, and the recommended procedures adopted  by the SPS Committee indicate that a period 
of at least 60 days should be provided for the s ubmission of comments.  However, China's analysis 
indicated that the majority of Members who made  routine notifications during 2002 allowed for a  G/SPS/R/32 
 Page 5 
 
 
comment period of less than 60 days, or they did not specify a final date for receiving comments.  Furthermore, China found that some Members did no t provide an interval for considering comments.  
One Member recalled that a Member could always ask for an extension to a comment period, and such requests were supposed to be  given favourable consideration. 
14. During 2002, most notifying Members did not indicate the date of adoption or the date of 
entry into force of the SPS measure notified and of t hose Members that did, most indicated an interval 
that was less than 6 m onths from the date of publication.  Ho wever, Paragraph 2, Annex B of the 
SPS Agreement, states that, "Members shall allow a r easonable interval between the publication of an 
SPS regulation and its entry into for ce", and Article 3.2 of the Doha Ministerial Decision defined this 
"reasonable interval" as a period of not less than 6 months.   
15. China also noted that most Members notifying  did not clearly indicate whether a relevant 
international standard, guideline or recommendation (Codex, IPPC or OIE) existed nor did they 
identify how their proposed regulation deviated from the relevant standard. 
16. The representative of the European Communiti es suggested that the SPS Committee review 
the results of this analysis and evaluate Memb ers' compliance with the recommended transparency 
procedures (G/SPS/GEN/455). 
III. RESOURCES 
17. One conclusion arising from the interventions ma de at the special meeting was that for an 
enquiry point to function well, it must have analy tically and technically skilled staff and appropriate 
equipment.  Among the resource constraints identif ied by Members were problems with finding and 
keeping skilled staff, the lack of infrastructure, translation requirements, limited technical capacity as 
well as institutional capacity and financial constraints.   
A. S
ETTING UP AN ENQUIRY POINT OR NOTIFICATION AUTHORITY  
18. The Secretariat recalled that of the tota l membership of the WTO, 136 Members had 
identified their SPS enquiry point and 126 had identified a Notification Authority.   
19. Enquiry Points and national notification authoriti es were often housed in separate agencies.  
Of the Members that responded to the questionnaire,  52 per cent had enquiry points and notification 
authorities which were separate agencies.  Severa l Members which had combined the enquiry point 
and notification authority functions in the same agency  indicated that this helped ensure coordination, 
and could be especially useful if the enquiry point /notification authority was contained within an 
agency dealing with SPS-related measures.   
20. The SPS enquiry point and/or notification authority in some Members also served as the TBT 
enquiry point and/or notification authority, and could also be a designated contact point for the 
international standard-setting organi zations (eg., the national Codex, OIE or IPPC contact point).   
21. Some Members suggested that the enquiry point could function most effectively if it were 
attached to the agency responsible for national standard-setting.   
22. The representative of Brazil reported that hi s country had initially established its enquiry 
point and notification authority in a single agency.  However, this arrangement resulted in problems of 
coordination with other agencies.  Now Brazil ha d two enquiry points, one in the Ministry of 
Agriculture and Livestock, the another in the Minist ry of Health, while the notification authority was 
located in the Ministry of Trade, and coordination had improved. G/SPS/R/32 
Page 6  
 
23. To facilitate the effective establishment of an enquiry point and/or notification authority, it 
was suggested that Members identify an effective enquiry point/notification authority in another 
country and use its systems and procedures as a model.   
24. Several Members stressed the importance of c onvincing political leaders of the relevance of 
the SPS Agreement to secure the appropriate leve l of resources to establish and maintain an 
effectively operating enquiry point,.  Ministerial support was essential to secure funding for resources 
in the enquiry point, to finance participation in international meetings a nd to support coordination 
between different agencies in the context of a na tional SPS Committee.  One Member suggested that 
Ministers and Directors of SPS-related agencies s hould be encouraged to attend an SPS Committee 
meeting, to get a better understanding of the issues and of the process.  
25. The Secretariat recalled that it circulated an  updated list of the names, addresses, telephone 
numbers, fax numbers and e-mail addresses of all SPS enquiry points and notification authorities, 
before each Committee meeting.
4  However, many Members failed to inform the Secretariat of 
changes in the contact information for their enquiry points or notification authorities, making it difficult for other Members to contact the enquir y point or notification authority, and for these 
agencies to effectively fulfil their obligations unde r the SPS Agreement.  Failure of Members to keep 
the contact information up-to-date also meant that the enquiry point or notification authority might not receive pertinent information and technical assistance. 
B. S
KILLED STAFF AND TECHNICAL CAPACITY  
26. An enquiry point does not need to have a large number of staff if the staff has the necessary 
skills.  Among those Members that responded to the questionnaire, the average number of staff 
servicing the enquiry point was 3.1, and an average of 2.6 officials were responsible for the 
notification authority.  In many cases, the staff did  not work full-time as the enquiry point or notification authority, this function being combin ed with other professional responsibilities.  Some 
Members, however, recommended that staff should have only the responsibility of running the 
enquiry point 
27. Due to the large volume of SPS notifications being circulated, Members stated that it was 
important to have well-qualified, technically skille d and experienced staff to undertake a preliminary 
screening of notifications to determine the relative im portance of any notification to domestic traders.  
Members identified the need for continued training for the staff of their enquiry points to improve 
their technical capacity. 
28. Staff in the enquiry points of some Members had a scientific background which enabled them 
to directly answer questions of a technical natu re.  In 64 per cent of Members responding to the 
questionnaire, the enquiry points directly answer ed questions regarding control and inspection 
procedures, quarantine treatment, risk assessment , bilateral and multilateral agreements, etc.  
However, other Members noted that the enquiry point  did not necessarily need to have officials who 
could themselves answer all requests made by other countries;  the primary role of the enquiry point 
staff was to know who to contact for the requested  technical information.  A number of Members 
reported that the other main roles for the enqui ry points were coordination, organization and 
monitoring. 
29. Continuity of staff was considered by Member s as being extremely important for ensuring an 
effective functioning of an enquiry point.  Se veral Members noted that rapid staff turnover 
dramatically affected the quality of service provided by the enquiry point.  One solution, suggested by 
the representative of the European Communities, w as that officials from other SPS-related agencies 
                                                     
 
4 The most recent list of SPS Enqu iry Points is contained in document G/SPS/ENQ/16, and the most 
recent list of national Notificati on Authorities in G/SPS/GEN/NNA/6.  G/SPS/R/32 
 Page 7 
 
 
be trained at the enquiry point for several m onths.  Such training would not only enhance the 
understanding of the SPS Agreement and coordinati on between the agencies, but could facilitate 
eventual replacement of staff working at the enquiry point.   
30. Many Members identified the fact the lack of technical capacity to analyze risk assessments 
and other technical information available from the notifying Member, in order to prepare substantive 
comments within the short comment period provided as a serious constraint.  Requests were made for 
technical assistance by the standard-setting orga nizations and by developed country Members to 
enhance Members' technical capacities in this respect.  
C. INFRASTRUCTURE  
31. The majority of the enquiry points and notification authorities of Members who responded to 
the questionnaire had basic communication e quipment (telephones, fax machines) along with 
computers with internet access and email.  
32. Members recognized that an appropriate IT infr astructure greatly enhanced the effectiveness 
of the operation of SPS enquiry points by strengthening their co mmunication capability and 
documentation management systems.  Most of the functions of the enquiry point could be done by 
email, including the dissemination of documents. 
33. Many Members highlighted the need to receive assistance to equip their enquiry points with 
computers with email and internet access.  The Secretariat reminded Members that the WTO reference centres, established in all least deve loped and developing countries, had computers with 
internet access which are supposed to be made available for th e use of government officials working 
on trade-related matters.   
34. Several Members considered that it was essential for the enquiry point or notification 
authority to maintain an inventory of all nati onal SPS regulations.  However, 28 per cent of the 
enquiry points and notification authorities of the Me mbers that responded to the questionnaire did not 
keep copies of full texts of proposed and adopted SP S regulations, but noted that these were kept by 
the relevant technical agencies. 
35. Less than half of the enquiry points/notif ication authorities of respondents to the 
questionnaire had a database for storing records and managing information flow .  Senegal highlighted 
the establishment of a centralized database as one of its priorities (G/SPS/GEN/441).  The European 
Communities noted that it was not necessary to have a sophisticated database to manage SPS 
notifications and information from the standard se tting organizations, rather, it was necessary that 
staff knew how to search existing databases incl uding the WTO document dissemination web page, 
Codex, IPPC, FAO, OIE, and the EC database, to access notifications and legislation 
(G/SPS/GEN/455). 
D. T
RANSLATIONS  
36. Several Members drew attention to the additi onal costs of translation incurred by enquiry 
points and notification authorities in Members where the working language was not one of the official 
languages of the WTO (English, French and Spanish).  Many Members faced constraints in 
strengthening the capacity of their staff to communicate in the WTO official languages.   
37. Paragraph 8 of Annex B of the SPS Agreemen t provides that developed country Members 
shall, if requested, provide copies of the documents or summaries of relevant  documents covered by a 
specific notification in English, French or Sp anish.  The recommended notification procedures 
encourages Members to indicate, on the notification, if a translation is available, and, recommends 
Members to send it along with any requested document.  However, among the respondents to the G/SPS/R/32 
Page 8  
 
questionnaire whose language was not one of the WT O working languages, 10 per cent indicated that 
they were unable to provide translations or summa ries of SPS regulations in one of the official WTO 
languages. 
38. Members highlighted the difficulty of commen ting on notified SPS measures when the full 
text of a regulation was available only in a non- WTO language.  The representative of the Philippines 
suggested that the WTO Secretariat should organize the translation of full-texts into one of the WTO 
official languages.  The Secretariat responded th at this would be impossible due to resource 
constraints.  Some Members noted that delays in the translation of notifications by the WTO reduced 
the time available for them to submit comments.  The representative of New Zealand suggested that a 
translation function freely available on the internet (http://world.altavista.com/)  could be used to get 
an initial understanding of the content of a notific ation that was not yet available in the working 
language preferred by the enquiry point.  
39. The Secretariat suggested that, at the informal  meeting on transparency scheduled for March 
2004, the Committee might wish to discuss the 1999 US proposal on voluntary transparency (G/SPS/GEN/152).  This proposal suggested that Memb ers provide web links to any translations they 
may have of other Members' notified regulati ons, and to make public their comments on other 
Members' notifications.  In addition, the proposal encouraged Members to include web links for the 
full texts of their SPS regulations in their notifi cations, which many Members were now doing on a 
regular basis.   
IV. COORDINATION 
40. Coordination had been identified as a  major constraint for developed and developing 
countries alike, although coordination was considerably harder for count ries with limited IT resources 
and technical capacity.  The representative of the European Communities noted that it received very 
few comments from developing countries on its notif ied regulations.  The representative of the 
Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Coopera tion (IICA) identified the lack of effective 
communication amongst SPS-related institutions as a key factor contributing to a country's failure to 
notify, send comments and reply to questions (G/SPS/GEN/427).   
A. C
OORDINATION BETWEEN AGENCIES  
41. Among the respondents to the questionnaire, 91 per cent of the enquiry points and 87 per cent 
of the notification authorities reported that they ha d regular contact with officials in other relevant 
ministries and agencies.  Nonetheless, many identified coordination with all of the agencies responsible for SPS-related policy as a serious challenge.  Many Members agreed with the 
observation by Mauritius that Members should ha ve a legal framework underpinning a National SPS 
Committee which ensured that representatives from S PS-related agencies  attended coordination and 
other relevant meetings.   
42. Several Members cited examples of instances in  which an SPS-related agency did not share 
information on the development of regulations whic h should have been notified.  The representative 
of the European Communities noted that it had develo ped a legal technical manual so that all agencies 
could become familiar with the international ag reements and standards wh ich had to be followed 
when regulations were  being developed.  
43. Members noted that the low awareness of the SPS Agreement amongst government officials 
highlighted the importance of providing training .  Although most SPS measures were developed by 
governments at the national level, Members stressed the importance of  coordinating with sub-national 
level governments and the need to provide official s of sub-national level governments with training 
on the SPS Agreement.  G/SPS/R/32 
 Page 9 
 
 
44. The representative of South Africa noted that  harmonizing standard setting activities and 
legislation within a region could be useful, and i ndicated that this was being pursued by the South 
African Development Community (SADC).  The S ADC Protocol on Trade stated that SADC 
Members were to base their SPS measures on inte rnational standards so as to harmonize SPS 
measures.  Moreover, upon request, SADC Member s would enter into consultations to reach 
agreements on recognition of the equivalence of  SPS measures.  The SADC had an SPS Committee, 
as well as technical committees for livestock produc tion, animal health and GMOs.  However, 
SADC's SPS Committee needed strengthening as curren tly there were only three people coordinating 
SPS activities for the region.  Examples of cooperation in the SADC region included sharing laboratory resources and ensuring that the region was represented at meetings of the international 
standard-setting bodies.   
B. C
OORDINATION WITH STAKEHOLDERS  
45. Many Members stressed that involving the priv ate sector was essential to  enable Members to 
formulate comments on SPS measures notified by othe r Members.  Of the Members responding to the 
questionnaire, 19 per cent did not routinely provide information about other countries' import 
requirements to interested domestic producers and exporters, while 12 per cent of enquiry points did 
not provide information about their own nationa l import requirements to interested producers, 
importers and exporters.  A lack of IT infrastruct ure increased the difficulty of ensuring coordination 
with domestic stakeholders.   
46. Members highlighted the importance of coor dination through continued dialogue with 
stakeholders to ensure their awareness of the rele vance of the enquiry point to them and their full 
participation in its work.  Many Members indicat ed that they held regular national information 
workshops for stakeholders, including importers, exporters, government agency representatives and 
consumer groups, to inform them of the SPS Agre ement and the role of the enquiry point and 
international SPS standards.  
47. The main method used by Members to coordina te with stakeholders was to circulate SPS 
notifications to them.  The representative of Jam aica reported on a software provided by the US 
Department of Agriculture which generated a news letter with the titles of notifications and a brief 
description of their contents.  This newsletter coul d be sent to stakeholders via email or fax, and 
interested stakeholders could request a copy of the full text of a notification from the enquiry point.  
The representative of the European Communities hi ghlighted the importance of frequently updating 
email lists and periodically asking recipients if  they wished to remain on such mailing lists. 
48. The representative of Mexico provided information about its  new computer system for 
circulating notifications (NOTIFICANORM-D GN http://www.economia.gob.mx/?P=85) whereby 
stakeholders could identify their preferences, i.e.  specifying products, countries, languages and types 
of notifications (TBT or SPS) of interest to them.  The system then automatically emailed 
notifications meeting these preferences to subscribers.   Domestic stakeholders wishing to obtain a full 
text of the regulation or to provide comments on the measure could contact Mexico's Information 
Centre (G/SPS/GEN/451).   
49. Several Members suggested that consultation with  stakeholders could be more structured by 
including representatives from the private sector  in a country's national SPS committee.  The 
representative of Egypt reported that the notifications  it received were first analysed by the technical 
authorities and then the National Agriculture Comm odities Council held special meetings to discuss 
them with private sector importers and exporters.  At these meetings, the technical authorities 
informed the private sector of the scientific implica tions of the measures, giving the private sector an 
opportunity to provide comments.   G/SPS/R/32 
Page 10  
 
50. The representative of Argentina noted that it re ceived a very positive response from its private 
sector when they were informed that they could participate in the national SPS committee.  However, 
Argentina recommended clearly defining the te rms of private sector participation.   
C. C
OORDINATION WITH OTHER ENQUIRY POINTS  
51. Respondents to the questionnaire stated that on average it took 9 days to respond to questions 
addressed to their enquiry points.  51 per cent of  respondents reported regular contacts with other 
WTO Members' enquiry points.  In 85 per cent of the respondents, the enquiry point handled requests for full-texts of proposed regulations.  In 35 per cent of respondents, the notification authority also 
handled such requests. 
52. Members reported encountering difficulties in their interactions with other Members' enquiry 
points, including that the full-texts they requested from notifying Members were not always provided 
within the recommended five-day response time;  some requests went unanswered;  the notifying 
Member failed to acknowledge receipt of comments on the notification;  and the texts provided were 
not in one of the official languages of the WTO.   
53. The representative of Canada suggested that the Committee develop agreed service standards 
and establish acceptable time frames for an enquiry poi nt or notification authority to acknowledge and 
provide responses to requests (G/SPS/GEN/430).  Cana da further proposed additional clarification of 
the role of the notification authority with respect to Annex 5(d) regarding the obligation of Members 
to discuss comments upon request, and to take th e comments and results of the discussions into 
account.  The representative of the European Communities supported Canada's observations and 
suggested that the notification authority and enqui ry point should be relieve d from the responsibility 
of ensuring that a reply had been given to each request (G/SPS/GEN/455). 
54. The representative of the European Commun ities reported that the EC enquiry point 
automatically distributed the full texts of its SPS-rela ted regulations to registered interested parties 
and Members, to allow Members to benefit from the 60-day comment period provided.  Electronic 
versions of the full texts of EC draft regulations were available in English, French and Spanish.  
However, he emphasized the importance of updating email lists on a regular basis as it often received 
error messages for addresses;  this occurred less fre quently when the enquir y point and notification 
authority shared a single email address.   
55. The representative of Australia indicated that it had experienced a number of difficulties in 
coordinating with other Members' enquiry points.  For example, it was often difficult to locate the full text of a document as web addresse s were incorrect;  difficulties al so occurred with the downloading 
of information from the internet and with review ing large documents, and with communicating with 
enquiry points (G/SPS/GEN/429). 
56. To address these problems, the representative of Australia suggested that enquiry points send 
out CD Rom copies of the full-text of SPS measures to facilitate analysis.  When there were large 
documents on a web site, the enquiry point should in clude an executive summary of the regulation at 
the same site, thereby providing an initial summary for ease of refe rence.  In order to solve the 
problems of downloading large documents from the internet, Australia recommended breaking files 
into smaller documents.  To resolve problems w ith communicating with other enquiry points, 
Australia suggested that contact details be included on every notification.   
D. 
COORDINATION WITH WTO AND INTERNATIONAL STANDARD -SETTING BODIES  
57. The Secretariat reminded Members that the lis t of contact details for enquiry points and 
notification authorities were updated and circ ulated regularly, in the G/SPS/ENQ/# and 
G/SPS/NNA/# document series, respectively.  The Secr etariat stressed the responsibility of Members  G/SPS/R/32 
 Page 11 
 
 
to inform the Secretariat of any changes in their co ntact details;  this could be done via email, fax or 
letter.  Identifying a change in the contact details solely by providing the modified information on a 
notification was not sufficient, however, as the Secr etariat only assumed that this was an additional 
source for information about that specific notification.   
58. The Secretariat also indicated that links to SPS-related web pages of Members had been 
recently up-dated and were available at the WTO SPS web page 
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/s ps_e/spslinks_e.htm.  Members we re requested to likewise keep 
the Secretariat informed about any changes in these websites. 
59. Of the Members responding to the questionnaire,  90 per cent of enquiry points received other 
Members' SPS notifications, and 81 per cent also received copies of other SPS Committee documents 
and followed the work of the SPS Committee.  Enquiry points received other Members' SPS 
notifications via different, sometimes multiple mean s:  20 per cent used the WTO web page document 
dissemination service to obtain SPS notifications;  65 per cent subscribed to the Secretariat's email 
distribution list and received the notifications dire ctly;  35 per cent received paper copies of the 
notification by mail from the Secretariat;  14 per cent obtained notifications via their Geneva-based 
mission. 
60. Of concern were the enquiry points that were not receiving notifications and were not 
following the work of the SPS Committee.  The WTO Secretariat  mailed paper copies of all SPS-related documents, including notificat ions, directly to one address in each Member if so requested.  
Members were also reminded that the Secretariat had established a self-subscribing e-mail list, and all unrestricted SPS-related documents, including notificati ons, were sent directly to all subscribers twice 
each week (http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/sps _e/sps_mailing_list_e.htm).  Several Members 
again indicated that problems arose due to th e lack of appropriate IT resources to download 
documents or receive email communications.  The ability of Members to comment on notifications 
was  significantly reduced by delays in their receiving notifications.   
61. Members discussed the advantages of having the SPS enquiry point also serve as the contact 
point for one or all of the three international sta ndard-setting organizations (Codex, OIE and IPPC).  
Such a structure promoted centra lized coordination and awareness of  the work being undertaken in 
these organizations.  For 58 per cent of Members wh ich responded to the questionnaire, the enquiry 
point provided other services.  However, 38 per cent of enquiry points reporte d that they were not 
regularly informed of developments in the re levant international standard-setting bodies.  
62. A large number of respondents to the questionnair e indicated that they were unable to attend 
and participate in the SPS Committee or interna tional standard-setting forums and processes because 
of financial and technical constraints.  One solu tion suggested was for enhanced coordination at the 
regional or sub-regional level, to ensure that at l east one delegate could represent the region at such 
meetings.   
63. The representative of South Africa stated that there were too many meetings and that the 
meetings of the SPS Committee were not well coordina ted with those of the international standard- 
setting organisations to facilitate Members' attenda nce.  The Secretariat noted that it was making 
efforts to schedule SPS Committee back -to-back with relevant meetings  of the international standard- 
setting bodies, but to date this had not had the d esired effect of significantly increasing developing 
country participation in both fora.  It was noted  that the STDF web page (www.standardsfacility.org) 
contained a schedule of meetings for 2004 of the SPS Committee, Codex, IPPC and OIE.  G/SPS/R/32 
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V. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE 
64. Many developing countries stressed the need  for continued technical assistance, with 
seminars on implementation of the SPS Agreement he ld on a regular basis.  Risk assessment was 
highlighted as an area where many Members lacked know-how and laboratory equipment.   
A. 
AGENCIES PROVIDING TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE  
65. A number of Members reported that they had received SPS-related technical assistance from, 
inter alia , the  WTO;  FAO;  ITC (http://www.intracen.o rg/index.htm);  the Joint Integrated Technical 
Assistance Programme (JITAP, http://www.jitap. org/);  the Commonwealth Secretariat 
(http://www.thecommonwealth.org/);  the European Commission;  the Inter-American Institute for 
Agricultural Cooperation (IICA, http://www.iica.int/ home.asp);   the German Corporation for 
International Cooperation (GTZ, http://www.gtz.de /);  the Swedish International Development 
Corporation Agency (SIDA, http://www.sida.se/Si da/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=107);  the UK Department 
for International Development (DFID,  http://www.df id.gov.uk/);  the US Department of Agriculture 
(USDA, http://www.usda.gov/);  and the US Ag ency for International Development (USAID, 
http://www.usaid.gov/). 
66. Among the types of technical assistance Member s' reported having received were:  Jamaica 
received computers from FAO;  Ghana had received support from the JITAP to establish its enquiry point, and assistance from the GTZ for its participa tion at the SPS Committee meeting and the Special 
meeting;  Georgia had received assistance from USAID for participation in the SPS Committee meeting;  and a joint initiative of USDA and IIC A had enabled 32 countries from Latin America and 
the Caribbean to send two capital-based experts to  three consecutive meetings of the SPS Committee 
(G/SPS/GEN/427 and 431), including to the Special meeting.   
67. In addition, the representative of Mauritius dr ew attention to the usefulness of SPS capacity 
assessments.  Mauritius  had benefited from such  an evaluation conducted by the Commonwealth 
Secretariat in collaboration with the ITC.  SPS capacity assessments for one country could assist in evaluating the capacity of other countries in a regi on, and such evaluations could also be done by 
countries within the region.  Mauritius, for example,  had evaluated the SPS capacity and needs of the 
Ivory Coast. 
68. More information on SPS-related technical assi stance was available from the Standards and 
Trade Development Facility (STDF) Database (G/SPS/GEN/423).  The STDF database provided 
information on SPS-related technical assistance and capacity building projects, including national as 
well as regional projects, from 2001 to 2003.  Data w as available from the five partner institutions 
(FAO, OIE, World Bank, WHO and WTO), multilateral agencies, regional and bilateral donors.  This 
data was an SPS-related subset of that ava ilable on the WTO/OECD Trade-Related Technical 
Assistance and Capacity Building database.  A search of the STDF database could be performed 
under one of four categories:  food safety, plant hea lth, animal health and a general category, or by 
beneficiary country, donor country or agency.  
B. 
EXAMPLES OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE OFFERED BY MEMBERS  
69. In response to the questionnaire, many Members indicated their willingness to provide 
technical assistance to enquiry points and notification authorities in least developed countries and developing countries.  The types of technical assi stance which Members indicated they could provide 
included: 
• assistance with the establishm ent of  enquiry points; 
• advice on coordinating with other departments;  
• training on dealing with notifications;  G/SPS/R/32 
 Page 13 
 
 
• sharing experiences in a workshop or seminar; 
• training courses for staff of enquiry points; 
• internships in an enquiry point; 
• advice on the impact of SPS measures on export and import policies; 
• developing training resources for countries; 
• sharing procedural manuals;  
• mentoring other enquiry points; 
• developing SPS databases. 
 70. Various Members identified particular technical  assistance needs in their responses to the 
questionnaire.  Nepal noted that it needed assistance in the establishment of both its enquiry point and 
notification authority.  Angola, Malawi and Senega l specifically identified the need for appropriate 
equipment, including telephone, fax and internet facilities, for the operation of the enquiry point 
and/or notification authority.  Belarus identified th e need for training of staff, to ensure proper 
administration of the work.  Indonesia requested assi stance to improve its ope rations, and particularly 
to address difficulties with regular coordination among the various institutions involved and with other stakeholders. Senegal also requested assistan ce with the creation of an effective and well-
informed national SPS Committee.   
71. Sri Lanka requested practical training on SPS appl ications and in the conduct of pest risk 
analysis.  They identified a need for SPS-related so ftware on the application of pest risk analysis.  
Furthermore, Sri Lanka, sought assistance with reviewi ng regulations to ensure their consistency with 
SPS and Codex requirements.  A ngola and Senegal also identified a need for information on 
international rules and for subscriptions to t echnical reviews regarding Codex, OIE and IPPC. 
C. 
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE  
72. Several delegates noted that an abundance of SPS-related training material was readily 
available.  The representative of Mauritius emphasi zed the importance of officials responsible for the 
enquiry point and the notification authority studying the training material and then using it to inform 
colleagues and higher level officials.   
73. Training materials from the partner agencies of the STDF were also freely available on the 
STDF web site (http://www.standardsfacility.org/training.htm).   
74. The WTO Handbook on transparency was ava ilable for free on the WTO SPS web site 
(http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/sps _e/sps_e.htm).  Almost 40 per cent of the respondents to the 
questionnaire indicated that they did not have a copy of the Handbook.5  
75. It was recalled that Members could receive elec tronic versions of notifications automatically 
from the WTO by subscribing at http://www.wto.org/ english/tratop_e/sps_e /sps_mailing_list_e.htm 
76. WTO Members could request technical assistan ce, including with the establishment and 
operation of the enquiry point and notification au thority, through the Questionnaire on Technical 
Assistance (G/SPS/W/113).  
77. The representative of GTZ indicated that G TZ could provide funding and training to SPS 
enquiry points when the notification authority and enquiry point had already been established and the 
political commitment from the SPS-related agencies to support the programme was present.  More 
detailed information was available from http:// www.gtz.de/themen/economic-development/english/ . 
                                                      
5 The Secretariat has subsequently sent copies of the handbook directly to the enquiry points and 
notification authorities of these Members.  G/SPS/R/32 
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D. 
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER TEC HNICAL ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES  
78. Several suggestions were made for further t echnical assistance activities that would benefit 
the operation of the enquiry point and notification authority, including: 
• Sponsorship of an enquiry point or notification authority post as part of a technical aid 
programme.  This would provide greater continuity compared to the training of one official to 
perform the duties, where a high turnover of  trained officials could be anticipated;  
• Mentoring or "twinning" arrangements, whic h would permit Members to learn from the 
enquiry point or notification authority of other Members;  
• Training in risk assessment and the development of technical capacity to analyze the scientific 
justifications given by other Members when a notified measure deviated from the relevant 
international standard;   
• Assistance to participate in the work of the SPS Committee and of the standard-setting 
organizations;  and  
• The development of best practice models for enquiry points, to be tested in developing 
country Members.  
VI. CONCLUSION 
79. The Special Meeting provided for a discussion on the many constraints that inhibit the 
effective operation of enquiry points.  Members also raised some concrete and specific suggestions to 
overcome these constraints and offered to provide fu rther technical assistance.  Informal meetings on 
transparency and special and differential treatment held prior to the SPS Committee could be used to 
further develop ideas raised by Members.  Many Members indicated that the special meeting on the 
operation of enquiry points had pr ovided a good opportunity for them to network with staff from other 
enquiry points and establish personal contacts.  The Secretariat was encouraged to organize special 
meetings on the operation of enquiry points and notification authorities at least once every three years.  
_____________