WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/W/132/Rev.2 
19 March 2004 
 (04-1233) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures  
  
 
 
ELABORATION OF THE PROPOSAL TO ENHANCE TRANSPARENCY  
OF SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT IN FAVOUR  
OF DEVELOPING COUNTRY MEMBERS 
 
Based on discussions of the Informal Meeting of the SPS Committee on 15 March 2004 
 
Note by the Secretariat
1 
 
Revision  
 
 
In October 2002, Canada submitted a proposal to  enhance the transparency of special and 
differential treatment within the SPS Agreemen t (G/SPS/W/127).  This proposal builds upon a 
proposal by Egypt for enhanced transparency through modification of the notification formats (G/SPS/GEN/358).  At its meeting of 2-3 April 200 3, the SPS Committee adopted, in principle, the 
Canadian proposal as one step for immediate implementation by Members, subject to further 
elaboration of the procedures to be  followed.  This document propo ses such further elaboration.   
The proposed procedure essentially follow s the relevant current practices and 
recommendations regarding the submission and handling of notifications as described in 
G/SPS/7/Rev.2 , with new actions included as Steps 5, 6 and 7.   
Following one year of the adoption of this procedure, the Committee should review the 
proposed notification process to evaluate its im plementation, and determine whether changes are 
required and/or its continuance is warranted . 
This procedure is without prejudice to th e rights and obligations of Members under 
Article 10.1 of the SPS Agreement. 
Step 1.  A Member preparing a new or a revision to an existing SPS regulation shall submit a 
notification to the WTO Secretariat, following the guidance provided in G/SPS/7/Rev.2.  The 
notification should be made when a draft with th e complete text of the proposed regulation is 
available, and when amendments can still be introduced and comments taken into account.  The 
notifying Member should provide in Box 3 of the notification format a clear description of the products covered, including tariff item numbers where possible.  The notifying Member should also 
complete Box 4, identifying the geographical regions or countries likely to be affected by the notified 
regulation to the extent relevant or practicable.  The notifying Member should identify in Box 12 the 
final date for receiving comments and the agency responsible for handling comments.  The Member 
shall normally allow a period of at least 60 days  for comment, except for proposed measures which 
facilitate trade.  Any Member which is able to prov ide a time-limit beyond 60 days is encouraged to 
do so. 
                                                     
 
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/132/Rev.2 
Page 2  
 
 Step 2.  The Secretariat will circulate the notification with the minimal delay possible.  The 
Secretariat will provide paper copies of the notif ication to the permanent missions of all WTO 
Members, and mail paper copies to one other designated address if so requested by a Member.  The notification will be posted on both  the "Members' Only" and the public web sites of the WTO, and 
will be electronically sent within one week of ci rculation to all addresses on the SPS self-subscribing 
electronic mailing list (in the language received by th e Secretariat).  The notification will be included 
in the monthly summary of SPS notifications circulated by the Secretariat.  If a developing country Member has difficulties in receiving and distributi ng notifications after receipt, the Member should 
inform the Secretariat thereof and propose how the national enquiry point could be improved. 
Step 3.  If a Member with an interest in e xporting the products affected by the notification 
identifies a concern with the content of the notification, the exporting Member should contact the 
notifying Member, within the comment period, to seek additional information with respect to the 
notified measure and to identify their concerns.  If  the exporting Member requests an extension of the 
comment period, the notifying Member should grant requests for extension of the comment period 
wherever practicable, in particular with regard to  notifications relating to  products of particular 
interest to developing country Members, where there have been delays in receiving and translating the 
relevant documents or where there is a need for fu rther clarification of the measure notified.  A 30-
day extension should normally be provided.  
Step 4.  The notifying Member should acknowledge  receipt of the request for an extension of 
the comment period, or for additional information, and explain within a reasonable period of time, and 
at the earliest possible date  before the adoption of the measure,  to any Member from which it has 
received comments, how it will  take these commen ts into account and, where appropriate, provide 
additional relevant informati on on the proposed sanitary or  phytosanitary regulations.  
 Step 5.  If [in its comments] [during the comment period
], an exporting Member identifies 
significant difficulties its exports might face in complying with the proposed measure, that Member 
[should submit written comments and] may  request an opportunity to discuss the potential difficulty 
with the notifying Member.  The notifying Member  will contact the appropriate officials of  the 
exporting Member and enter into bila teral discussions to attempt to resolve the issue of concern.  
These discussions may lead an exporting develo ping country Member to request special and 
differential treatment and/or technical assistance , and the notifying Member to examine whether and 
how the identified problem could best be addresse d to take into account the special needs of the 
interested exporting developing country Member .  The request should be made in writing.  
 Step 6.   If, following the entry into force of a new regulation (including an emergency measure), an exporting Member identifies significant difficulties which its exports face in complying with the new regulation, it may request an opportunity to discuss its difficulties with the importing 
Member to attempt to resolve the issue of concern, especially where no time, or an insufficient period 
of time, has been provided for comments.  Th ese discussions may lead an exporting developing 
country Member to request special and differential tr eatment and/or technical assistance to enable it to 
more readily satisfy the requirements of the measure.  The discussions also may lead  the importing 
Member to examine whether and  how the identified problem could best be addressed  to take into 
account the special needs of the interested exporting developing country Member. 
 
Step 7.  When a decision is taken on whethe r and how special and differential treatment may 
be provided for a final measure in response to sp ecific requests, the notifying Member should submit 
to the WTO Secretariat an Addendum to its original notification.2  The Addendum shall indicate:  
(1) if special and differential treatment was request ed;  (2) the name(s) of Member(s) that requested 
                                                      
2 The Committee recognizes that, for some develo ping country Members, resource constraints may 
make it difficult to provide addenda to notifications.  G/SPS/W/132/Rev.2 
 Page 3 
 
 
 special and differential treatment;  (3) if special a nd differential treatment was provided, the form of 
such treatment;  (4) if not provided, the Adde ndum shall indicate why special and differential 
treatment was not provided and whether technical  assistance or any other solution was found to 
address the identified concern.  A proposed format  for the Addendum is contained in Annex 1. 
 
Step 8.  The Addendum to the notification shall be circulated by the WTO Secretariat in the 
same manner as the notification.    
 G/SPS/W/132/Rev.2 
Page 4  
 
 ANNEX 1 
 
 
 
WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/COUNTRY/#/Add.#  
date of distribution 
 (##-####) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:    
 
 
NOTIFICATION  
 
Addendum  
 
  The following communication, dated DD/ MM/YY has been received from [Member]. 
_______________  
 
 
Title outlining what the SPS measure or product is
 
  [Text describing any modification to the notified measure.] 
 
 
 
Special and Differential Treatment  
 
 Text  (1) indicating if special and differen tial treatment was requested;  (2) providing the 
name(s) of the Member(s) that requested special and differential treatment;  (3) if special and differential treatment was provided, describing how  such treatment was provided, including what 
form it took;  (4) if special and differential treat ment was not provided, indicating why it was not 
provided and whether technical assistance or any other solution was found to address the identified concern.   Where the notified document can be obtained from – include contact name, agency, full 
address, telephone, facsimile, and e-mail as appropriate. 
 
__________