RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/SPS/W/86/Rev.1
13March 1998
ORGANIZATION(98-1071)
Committee onSanitary andPhytosanitary Measures
CLARIFICATION OFREFERENCES TOCODEX TEXTS
Draft Response totheCodex Alimentarius Commission
Note bytheChairman
Revision
Atitsmeeting of15-16 October 1997, theCommittee discussed aletter (G/SPS/W/84) sent
totheChairman bytheSecretariat oftheCodex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) concerning arequest
forclarification bytheCommittee on(a)howitwould differentiate standards, guidelines or
recommendations and(b)thestatus itwould assign toCodex regional standards andrelated textsin
relation totheimplementation oftheSPSAgreement. Asagreed, thefollowing draftresponse, based
onthesuggestions made byMembers during informal consultations onthesubject, iscirculated for
consideration bytheCommittee atitsMarch meeting.
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1. Yourletterof29September1997wasdiscussedbytheCommitteeonSanitaryandPhytosanitary
Measures ("the Committee") atitsmeetings ofOctober 1997 andMarch 1998. The Committee
instructed metoforward toyouthefollowing response.
2. Bywayofbackground,itmustbeclearlyunderstoodthattheCommitteecannotformallyinterpret
theprovisions oftheSPSAgreement. Thiscanbedone onlybytheWTO Ministerial Conference
orGeneral Council, orindirectly through thedispute settlement process withregard toparticular cases.
Nonetheless, theCommittee isrequired tocarryoutthefunctions necessary toimplement theAgreement
andthefurtherance ofitsobjectives andthusmayexpress views, where appropriate, onthemeaning
ofparticular terms andprovisions oftheAgreement.
3. With respect toyourfirstquestion on"how theCommittee would differentiate standards,
guidelines orrecommendations inrelation totheimplementation oftheSPSAgreement", Annex A
oftheSPSAgreement defines international standards, guidelines andrecommendations asfollows:
"(a) forfoodsafety, thestandards, guidelines andrecommendations established
bytheCodex Alimentarius Commission relating tofoodadditives, veterinary
drugandpesticide residues, contaminants, methods ofanalysis andsampling,
andcodes andguidelines ofhygienic practice; ..."
./.G/SPS/W/86/Rev.1
Page2
Thisdefinition makes nodistinction between standards, guidelines andrecommendations. TheSPS
Agreement does notprovide specific definitions fortheterms "standards", "guidelines" or
"recommendations".
4. Throughout thetextoftheSPSAgreement, theterms "international standards, guidelines or
recommendations" always appear together. Article 3.1oftheSPSAgreement states that"[t]oharmonize
sanitary andphytosanitary measures onaswideabasisaspossible, Members shallbasetheirsanitary
orphytosanitary measures oninternational standards, guidelines orrecommendations ...".Article 3.2
indicates thatsanitary measures which "...conform tointernational standards, guidelines or
recommendations shallbedeemed tobenecessary toprotect human, animal orplant lifeorhealth,
andpresumed tobeconsistent withtherelevant provisions ofthisAgreement ...".Article 3.3provides
that"Members mayintroduce ormaintain sanitary orphytosanitary measures which result inahigher
levelofsanitary orphytosanitary protection thanwould beachieved bymeasures based ontherelevant
international standards, guidelines orrecommendations, ifthere isascientific justification ...". In
nocasedothese provisions differentiate between thethree terms "standards", "guidelines" or
"recommendations".
5. TheCommittee noted thatthere isnolegalobligation onMembers toapply Codex standards,
guidelines andrecommendations and,inaccordance withtheterms ofArticle 3oftheSPSAgreement,
Members maychoose toapply themornot.TheCommittee observed thathowaCodex textwasapplied
depended onitssubstantive content rather thanthecategory ofthattext(eg.,commodity standards,
MRLs, codes ofpractice, guidelines). Thismight havesome bearing onhowaMember could show
thatitsmeasure isbased onaninternational standard, guideline orrecommendation inthecontext of
Article 3oftheSPSAgreement. Forexample, aCodex standard, suchasanMRL which represented
aspecific numeric value, mayprovide ahigher degree ofprecision thanmuch ofthecontent ofa
guideline orother Codex text. Ontheother hand, theCommittee considered thatguidelines and
recommendations areintended toallow greater discretion astothechoice ofmeasures which canbe
regarded asbeing based ontheguideline orrecommendation. However, theCommittee wasofthe
viewthatCodex work should notbeconstrained bythisquestion. TheCommittee considers ittobe
aninternal decision oftheCodex Alimentarius Commission regarding thetypeandcontent ofthetexts
itdevelops toaddress issues before it.
6. With respect toyoursecond question on"thestatus theCommittee would assign toCodex
regional standards andrelated texts", initsdiscussions Members noted thatregional standards arenot
included inthedefinition ofinternational standards provided byAnnex AoftheSPSAgreement, cited
above.TheCommitteerecognizedthat,eveniftheywerebasedonscientificevidence,regionalstandards
were meant toapply onlywithin aparticular geographic region. However, Members dorecognize
thatsuchscientifically-soundregionalstandardscouldbecomethefoundationforthecreationandadoption
ofinternational standards.
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