RESTRICTED WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DU COMMERCE
ORGANIZACIÓN MUNDIAL DEL COMERCIOWT/ACC/CHN/44
2 July 2001
(01-3281)
Working Party on the
Accession of ChinaOriginal:  English/
anglais/
inglés
COMMUNICATION FROM CHINA
In preparation for the Working Party meetings on 28 June-4 July 2001, the Chinese delegation
has submitted the following Action Plan for the Implementation of the SPS Agreement in China.1
Groupe de travail de
l'accession de la Chine
COMMUNICATION DE LA CHINE
En vue des réunions du Groupe de travail qui auront lieu du 28 juin au 4 juillet 2001, la
délégation chinoise a communiqué le Plan d'action ci-après pour la mise en œuvre de l'Accord SPS enChine.
1
Grupo de Trabajo sobre la
Adhesión de China
COMUNICACIÓN DE CHINA
Para preparar las reuniones del Grupo de Trabajo que se celebrarán del 28 de junio al 4 de
julio de 2001, la delegación de China ha presentado el  siguiente Plan de Acción para la aplicación en
China del Acuerdo MSF.1
                                                     
1 In English only./En anglais seulement./En inglés solamente.WT/ACC/CHN/44
Page 2
Action Plan for the Implementation  of the SPS Agreement in China
28 June 2001
The Chinese Government committed that upon its accession to the WTO, it will implement all
the agreements of the WTO, including the SPS Agreement. It will fulfill on a comprehensive way all
the rights and obligations specified in the SPS Agreement. For this purpose, the action plan on the
implementation of the SPS Agreement in China is as follows:
1. China will set up a special agency for SPS affairs to effectively coordinate and monitor the
implementation of SPS Measures by relevant Chinese government authorities so as to ensure the
Chinese SPS measures comply with the principles of the SPS Agreement.
2. In order to ensure that China's SPS measures comply with the principles of the SPS
Agreement, China has begun and will continue to review or amend SPS-related laws and regulations.
3. China has been carrying out SPS work in accordance with the standards established and
recommended by relevant international organizations and has taken an active part in the drafting of
relevant international standards and guides on plant quarantine and food safety. After China's
accession to the WTO, it will continue to carry out SPS work in accordance with the relevant
international standards so as to ensure that newly-developed SPS measures comply as far as possible
with international standards, guidelines and recommendations. As a member of CAC, China willcontinue to actively participate in the activities to CAC, OIE and IPPC.
4. China recognized the importance of equivalence in trade liberalization trade facilitation. In
the past decade, China has signed more than 200 SPS-related agreements and protocols with more
than 40 countries. Recognizing that different measures comply with international standards can
achieve same level of protection, China has lifted bans on the importation of agricultural products
from many countries. After its accession to the WTO, China will continue to strengthen bilateral and
multilateral cooperation and exchanges in the SPS field in order to promote international trade.
5. The Chinese Government always attaches great importance to the application of risk analysis
in SPS field and takes it as the important scientific basis for China's SPS measures. China is among
the first group of countries to start risk analysis of plant quarantine and food safety and has activelyparticipated in the drafting of international standards. In 1995, working groups for animal risk
analysis and plant risk analysis were set up and different procedures of risk analysis were developed.
So far, more than 40 PRA reports have been completed. Based on the PRA results, China has
successively lifted bans on animal and plant products and foodstuff from the countries concerned.
6. To further strengthen the development of PRA in China, the Committee of Risk Analysis of
China will be established. The Committee will consist of three working groups covering animal
health, plant health and food safety. The Committee will improve PRA procedures and methods,
which will serve as the important scientific basis for developing and adjusting SPS measures.
7. China is now reviewing the existing SPS-related laws, regulations and standards as well as
trade-related standards and risk analysis procedures. These informations either have been made
available or will be available on publications and the Internet. The English version will be available
on the Internet in the near future.    Publications for publishing SPS-related laws, standards and risk
analysis procedures are as follows:
- Bulletin of the State Council
- MOFTEC Gazette
- China Inspection and Quarantine TimesWT/ACC/CHN/44
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Websites of relevant government authorities are as follows:
- State General Administration of the People's Republic of China for Quality
Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ):  http://www.ciq.gov.cn
- Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of the People's Republic of
China (MOFTEC): http://www.moftec.gov.cn
- Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of  China: http://www.agri.gov.cn
- Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China: http://www.moh.gov.cn
China has established the SPS Notification Authority at MOFTEC and the SPS Enquiry Point at
Research Center for International Regulations and Standards under AQSIQ (the former CIQ SA).
8. China has done a lot of work in trade liberalization, especially in the field of trade facilitation.
China will continue to standardize the inspecti on and quarantine procedures so as to improve
efficiency and provide quality service for the facilitation for foreign trade.
9. China attaches great importance to the study of the SPS Agreement in order to have a better
understanding of the Agreement. As a leading facilitator of ASEM in SPS field of Asia, China
actively participated in the First ASEM/SPS Seminar in Thailand. It hosted the Second Seminar inChina and played an important role in the Third Seminar held in Netherlands in 2000. Another similar
seminar was jointly held by Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao and a coordination mechanism
has been set up in order to strengthen the coordination on the SPS issues in the three regions. Experts
from OIE, Australia and the Netherlands were invited to give lectures or to attend the seminars. In
addition, Sino-US Seminar on Inspection and Quarantine will be held to have bilateral discussions onissues of mutual interests, including the implementation of the SPS Agreement and the TBT
Agreement.
10. China will strictly fulfill the obligations specified in SPS-related bilateral agreements
concluded with WTO Members during China's WTO accession negotiations.
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