RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/W/134
10 June 2003
(03-2993)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
REVIEW OF THE PROVISIONAL PROCEDURE TO MONITOR
THE PROCESS OF INTERNATIONAL HARMONIZATION
Note by the Secretariat1
1. At its meeting of 15-16 October 1997, the Committee adopted a provisional procedure to
monitor the use of international standards (G/SPS/11).  This provisional procedure has been extended
twice, by decisions of the Committee in July 1999 (G/SPS/14) and in July 2001 (G/SPS/17).  In
making the July 2001 decision, the Committee also agreed to review the operation of the provisionalprocedure by July 2003, with a view to deciding then whether to continue with the same procedure,
amend it or develop another one.
2. Since the adoption of the monitoring procedure in October 1997, Members have used the
procedure to bring a total of eleven standards-related issues to the attention of the Committee.  Nine
of these issues were raised in the first full year of operation of the monitoring procedure;  noadditional issues were identified during the follow ing two years, and one new issue was identified in
each of the past two years.  The attention of the relevant standard-setting organizations was drawn to
the issues raised by Members.  In all cases, the standard-setting organizations have addressed these
concerns in their respective competent bodies, and have regularly reported on their actions to the SPS
Committee.  The information provided by the standard-setting organizations has been summarized in
each annual report (G/SPS/16, G/SPS/18, G/SPS/21) a nd the draft fifth annual report (G/SPS/W/133).
3. In contrast to the sparse use of this procedure in recent years, the number of specific trade
concerns raised by Members has been growing rapidly.  Furthermore, a number of Members have
raised concerns regarding their difficulty in effe ctively participating in the work of the standard-
setting organizations and have questioned whether the international standards appropriately address
their particular needs.  However, Members have failed to make use of the monitoring procedure to
bring their concerns regarding specific standards, or the need for standards, to the attention of the SPS
Committee and of the relevant standard-setting organizations.
4. Those issues which have been raised have been brought to the attention of the SPS Committee
by both developing and developed country Members, and the issues raised have dealt with matters
within the competence of all three relevant standard-setting organizations.  It would thus appear that
the provisional procedure is not difficult to use.
5. It might, nonetheless, be possible to facilitate the use of the provisional procedure if the
deadline for identifying issues for consideration were  modified.  According to the current procedure, a
Member wishing to raise any standard-setting issue must give notice at least one month in advance of
each Committee meeting.  In contrast, the deadline for identifying specific trade concerns or
notifications which Members wish to address durin g a meeting is only 10 days.  Although the 30-day
                                                     
1 This document has been prepared under the Secret ariat's own responsibility and is without prejudice
to the positions of Members or to their rights or obligations under the WTO.G/SPS/W/134
Page 2
advance notice is desirable in order to permit other Members and the relevant standard-setting
organizations to better prepare their comments, it may have the effect of reducing the use of this
procedure.
6. Because of this, the Committee may wish to modify the provisional procedure, in particular
the time periods specified in paragraphs 6 and 7 of the procedure.  The deadline for a Member tosubmit concrete examples of what they consider to be standards related problems could be reduced to
10 days prior to each regular meeting.  This would make impossible the advance circulation of a
provisional list of issues and submissions to all Members as foreseen in paragraph 7, but would permit
such issues to be specifically identified on the dr aft agenda circulated 10 days prior to the meeting.
Members could then prepare comments regarding their use or non-use of the standards within the
same delays in which they prepare their comments regarding specific trade concerns or notifications
identified in the proposed agenda.
7. Members may wish to suggest other possible modifications to the provisional procedure,
based on their experience and any difficulties they have experienced with the current procedure.
8. The Committee is invited to adopt the attached draft decision to modify the time periods for
the identification of issues, to extend the provisional procedure for a further 36 months, and to
encourage Members to make greater use of this mechanism for addressing their standards relatedconcerns.G/SPS/W/134
Page 3
__________DRAFT
DECISION TO MODIFY AND EXTEND THE PROVISIONAL PROCEDURE TO
MONITOR THE PROCESS OF INTERNATIONAL HARMONIZATION
The Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures,
Having regard to  Articles 3.5 and 12.4 of the SPS Agreement;
Taking into account  the provisional procedure to monitor the use of international standards adopted
by the Committee at its meeting of 15-16 October 1997 (G/SPS/11); the Committee's decisions of
July 1999 and of July 2001 to extend this provisional procedure, and to decide by July 2003 whether
to continue with the same procedure, am end it or develop another one (G/SPS/17);
Considering  that in reviewing the operation of the provisional procedure, it has noted that the
procedure provided an effective mechanism for Memb ers to raise specific standards-related issues;
Considering  that certain changes could improve recourse by Members to this procedure;
Considering the discussion at its meeting of 24-25 June 2003;
Decides as follows:
1. In the first sentence of paragraph 6 of the provisional procedure, the words "at least 30 days"
are replaced by the words "at least 10 days".
2. Paragraph 7 of the provisional procedure is replaced by the following:
The Secretariat should include on the proposed agenda of the meeting
all of the standards, guidelines or recommendations identified by
Members as foreseen in paragraph 6.  The Secretariat should
circulate the submissions it has received to all Members, as much in
advance of the Committee's meeting as possible, and not later than 10days before the meeting, in order to provide Members with the
opportunity to prepare comments on their use or non-use of the
standards, guidelines or recommendations and the reasons therefore.
Should any Member so request, the Secretariat will not include in its
annual report on this monitoring procedure (see paragraph 10) any
specific issue raised in these submissions until Members have had the
opportunity to provide further comments and to discuss thosecomments in one additional Committee meeting subsequent to the
meeting in which the issue is first raised.
3. The provisional procedure to monitor the use of international standards, as modified, is
extended for a further 36 months.
4. The Committee will review the operation of the provisional procedure by July 2006, with a
view to deciding then whether to continue with the same procedure, amend it or develop another one.
5. The Committee encourages Members to make use of this procedure to address their concerns
regarding specific international standards or the need for such standards.