WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/GEN/382
1 April 2003
(03-1834)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  Spanish
SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES
TECHNICAL COOPERATION PROGRAMME
Proposal by Mexico
I. BACKGROUND
1. As part of the activities of the WTO's Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, it
was decided to develop a cooperation and technical assistance programme designed to meet specific
priorities, more particularly of the developing country Members.
2. As a first step in achieving this objective, the Committee's Secretariat asked for the
experience or the comments of Member countries, so as to supplement the analysis and guide actions
in this field, to secure higher calibre technical assistance and training and to make efficient use both of
human and of financial resources.
3. In this connection, Mexico wishes to cooperate with the Committee and presents its
experience, along with a number of proposals on this important topic.
II. MEXICO'S EXPERIENCE
4. Mexico has some degree of experience in technical assistance, since it has shared technical
know-how both in animal health and plant health and in matters pertaining to the implementation of
the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement), and has
also benefited from technical assistance provided by other countries and international or regional
organizations.  This has enabled it to observe and closely experience the problems that mainlyconfront the developing countries in endeavouring to effectively apply the provisions of the SPS
Agreement.
5. An initial analysis, based on Mexico's experience, shows that, in order of importance, the
causes preventing many countries from properly implementing the SPS Agreement are:
(a) Lack of competent or trained human resources;
(b) lack of legislation, material resources and technical infrastructure;  and
(c) lack of participation by the sectors concerned.
6. It is important to note that, traditionally, the developing countries express the need to obtain
technical assistance in the form of seminars, internships, workshops, visits, and so forth, all of which
are traditional human resources training activities.  Nevertheless, so far practically all developing
countries have received considerable tec hnical assistance in this traditional form , although the
impact has been minor, or at any rate not a lasting one , since countries continue to ask forG/SPS/GEN/382
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seminars or workshops that are frequently identical (in terms of subject-matter) to those already held
for them in the past.
7. Accordingly, Mexico is making the following pr oposal designed to promote the sustainability
of technical assistance in the SPS field by strength ening the institutions responsible for implementing
the SPS Agreement.
III. PROPOSAL BY MEXICO
A. SUSTAINABILITY OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
8. In Mexico's view, the most critical problem in terms of the effectiveness of technical
assistance in capacity-building (especially for human resources) has been the high turnover of staff
in departments responsible for implementing the SPS Agreement in the various developing
countries, which has led to a permanent shortage in those departments of technical capacity to
ensure effective implementation of the Agreement.
9. Indeed, the tasks of preparing and implementing sanitary and phytosanitary measures in both
the technical and the trade fields, have always requ ired highly specialized staff with knowledge and
skills normally found only in government departments responsible for implementing the SPS
Agreement.  As is so often the case, government officials who have received technical assistance from
the various donor countries or organizations become attractive to and are usually enticed into joiningthe private sector, because of the economic advantages it can offer.
10. Hence, technical assistance to developing countries in the form of seminars, workshops, etc.,
has had the obvious disadvantage of enhancing solely human resources capability, without
permanently strengthening the technical capacity of  the institutions responsible for applying the
SPS Agreement , while the experience and knowledge acquire d follow the officials who move away,
and hardly any trace is left in those institutions.
11. Mexico considers that one alternative for cutting down the impact of the high turnover of staff
lies in systematizing and documenting the various responsibilities of government offices, so as to
properly implement the rights and obligations set out in the SPS Agreement.  In this way, the
characteristics, and the procedures and principles to be observed stay with the institutions, regardlessof the staff applying them.
12. Mexico therefore proposes that one of the components of the SPS technical assistance
programme  and specifically in regard to human resources training, is that assistance to developing
countries be directed at advising them on the cr eation of a quality assurance system (based on
the relevant international standards)
1 for government departments in charge of applying the
SPS Agreement.
13. This will enable developing countries to document their procedures and, as part of that
process, clearly specify the rights and obligations under the SPS Agreement for the direct benefit of
the institutions concerned, regardless of how long these staff members remain.  By certifying such
systems it would be possible, moreover, to check periodically on the degree of implementation of the
SPS Agreement in developing countries, thereby facilitating an objective assessment of related
problems and possibilities for improvement.
                                                     
1 It would be appropriate in this connection to  consider whether the SPS Committee might recommend
that the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) develop a standard relating to quality management
in government departments.G/SPS/GEN/382
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14. In Mexico's opinion, this proposal, if accepted, could be implemented in the following stages:
(i) Exchange of information with the departments in charge of implementing the SPS
Agreement in the various Members that have certified quality assurance systems;
(ii) preparation of guides or guidelines for the adoption of quality assurance systems in
government departments of developing co untries (for which ISO assistance might be
useful);
(iii) financing of advisory services for departments responsible for implementing the SPS
Agreement in developing countries in order to help them document their procedures
and prepare for certification in due course;
(iv) financing of the certification of quality management systems.
15. Mexico takes the view that this proposal offers the following advantages over traditional
forms of technical assistance directed at human resources training:
• It promotes the strengthening of institutions (permanent benefit), in addition to
providing staff training (temporary benefit);
• it optimises resources by establishing a common objective (one type of advisory
service instead of a whole series of seminars on the same topic);
• it makes it easier to benefit from experience gained in documenting quality
management systems, by enabling the countries involved to exchange manuals,
instructions and so forth;  and
• it facilitates evaluation of the effectiveness of the technical assistance supplied, by
means of a certification procedure that encourages continuing improvement.
B. PRIORITIZATION AND PERMEABILITY OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
16. In addition, in requesting technical assistance many countries present a very extensive list of
items, which reflects a lack of prioritization and makes it difficult for the donor country to select the
ones that might have the greatest impact for the development of the sanitary and phytosanitary
systems of the applicant countries.
17. Valuable contributions have been made for the purpose of improving technical assistance.  It
is for this reason that Mexico joins in the proposals submitted by the Inter-American Institute for
Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) on this matter.  But, apart from the institution capacity-building
mentioned earlier, we would like to make the important suggestion that all technical or training
assistance received must actually have a multiplier effect;  in other words, the officials or experts
should, in their field of competence, transmit the knowledge acquired, through internal trainingprogrammes, which will entail strengthening the institutional bodies.  It should be emphasized that
this supplementary activity will not require additional financial resources or new applications for
technical assistance to other countries or reference international organizations.  If this proposal was
put into practice, we would move ahead more efficiently and effectively on a matter that is of such
importance to our countries.
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