WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/W/140/Rev.2 
18 June 2004 
 (04-2659) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   Spanish 
   
DRAFT DECISION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 6 OF THE 
AGREEMENT ON THE APPLICATION OF SANITARY AND 
PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES 
 
Proposal by Chile
 
 
Revision  
   The following communication, dated 16 June 2004,  is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Chile. 
 
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  The Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, 
 Reaffirming  the right and the obligation of Member s to establish sanitary and phytosanitary 
measures necessary to ensure the protection of huma n, animal and plant life or health and the 
protection of their territory from other damage cause d by the entry, establishment or spread of pests 
and diseases, in accordance with the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS 
Agreement);  
 Considering  that paragraph 1 of Article 12 of the SPS Agreement stipulates that the SPS 
Committee shall carry out the functions necessary to implement the provisions of  the Agreement and 
the furtherance of its objectives, in particular with  respect to harmonization, and that paragraph 3 of 
the same Article encourages the Committee to maintain  close contact with the relevant international 
organizations with the objective of securing th e best scientific and technical advice for the 
administration of the Agreement and in order to ensure that all unnecessary duplication of effort is 
avoided; 
 Recognizing  that Article 6 of the SPS Agreemen t (Adaptation to Regional Conditions) 
encourages Members to ensure that their sanitary  or phytosanitary measures are adapted to the 
sanitary or phytosanitary characteristics of the area  form which the product originated and to which 
the product is destined;  
 Desiring  to make operational the provisions of Article 6 of the SPS Agreement; 
 Taking into account  the specific concerns raised by  exporting Members regarding the 
difficulties involved in obtaining recognition by importing Members of their sanitary and 
phytosanitary status; 
 Recognizing  that transparency, exchange of inform ation, and promotion of confidence and 
credibility between importing and exporting countries are essential to the recognition of sanitary and 
phytosanitary status; G/SPS/W/140/Rev.2 
Page 2  
 
 Recognizing  that regionalization is an increasingly important factor in trade among all 
Members and that it can be applied regardless of  a country's size or level of development; 
 Recalling that: 
•  The harmonization of international standards is one of the  key provisions of the SPS 
Agreement; 
•  The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), the World Organization for Animal 
Health (OIE), and the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) are 
recognized as the international standard- setting bodies for sanitary and phytosanitary 
measures in the SPS Agreement;    
•  The OIE and IPPC are the appropriate bodi es to undertake the task of developing 
guidelines for reaching regionalization decisi ons.  The OIE does, upon request and in 
the context of OIE standards, evaluate members' status with respect to foot-and-mouth disease, rinderpest, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy.  The IPPC, 
however, does not conduct similar evaluati ons of phytosanitary status among its 
members. 
•  Participation of member countries in th e work of the OIE and IPPC and timely 
reporting of disease or pest outbreaks c ontribute significantly to building the 
credibility importing countries must rely upo n in making regionalization decisions; 
 Seeking  more effective implementation of the prin ciple of regionalization by strengthening 
the implementation of the recommendations of th e scientific reference organizations for the SPS 
Agreement:  
 Decides as follows: 
 
1. Adaptation of measures to regional conditions can be applied to smaller ecosystems, part of a 
country, all of a country, or all or parts of several countries. 
2. The exporting Member shall provide scientific and technical information to show in an 
objective manner its  sanitary or phytosanitary status , accompanied by an official declaration from the 
national regulatory body att esting that the area is a pest- or disease -free area or an area of low pest or 
disease prevalence. This information may include, inter alia,  reference to relevant international 
standards, or to the relevant risk assessment gua ranteeing or supporting the sanitary or phytosanitary 
status of the zone in question.  In addition, the exporting Member shall provide reasonable access, 
upon request, to the importing Member for inspecti ng, testing and other relevant procedures for 
recognition of regionalization. 
3. To facilitate the implementation of Article 6 of  the SPS Agreement on regionalization, at the 
request of the exporting Member the importing Member shall explain the requirements and stages 
involved in obtaining recognition of sanitary or phyto sanitary status with respect to a given pest or 
disease.   
4. In order to initiate the process of recognition of regionalization, the importing Member shall 
take account of the plant-pest- or animal-disease- free areas and areas of low plant pest or animal 
disease prevalence as established by the exporting Member's competent national institution and in 
accordance with the guidel ines of the international reference institutions. 
5. In keeping with the standards, guidelines or recommendations developed by the international 
reference organizations,  the importing Member shall take into consideration,  inter alia
, relevant risk  G/SPS/W/140/Rev.2 
 Page 3 
 
 
analyses, risk management processes, systems in  place to establish and maintain sanitary and 
phytosanitary measures, and surve illance and monitoring programmes. 
6. In the case of a first decision on regionalization, an evaluation by the importing Member of 
the administrative structure of the regulatory bodi es and the programmes they implement with a view 
to  prevention, control and eradication, as a pplicable, will be required where necessary and 
appropriate.   Any regionalization decision must cons ider the strength and credibility of the veterinary 
or phytosanitary infrastructure of the exporting regi on(s).  The veterinary or plant health authorities 
must demonstrate their ability to maintain freedom  from specified pests or diseases to create the 
necessary confidence on the part of the importing country .  A key element in this is credibility as well 
as timely, consistent and accurate disease and pest reporting, as called for by the OIE and the IPPC.  
7. Importing Members shall respond as quickly as possible to the request of an exporting 
Member for recognition of regionalization, and shall normally begin the examination of an application 
for recognition, for a given pest or disease, of the status of pest- or disease-free area or area of low pest or disease prevalence within a period not exceeding two months.   
8. The consideration by an importing Member of a request submitted by an exporting Member 
for the recognition of the status of pest- or di sease-free area or area of low pest or disease prevalence 
with respect to a given plant pest or animal disease in its territory shall not in itself be a sufficient 
reason to disrupt or suspend ongoing imports, in co mpliance with the requirements in force, with 
respect to related products from that Member. 
9. The importing Member, when considering a requ est for sanitary or phytosanitary recognition 
of an area, shall not impose demands in excess of tho se relating to the pest or disease in question, and 
shall analyse the science-based and technical info rmation provided by the exporting Member on its 
sanitary and phytosanitary measures with a view to determining whether those measures achieve the 
adequate level of protection agai nst the risk under consideration. 
10. Where its evaluation and verification of the information provided by the exporting country 
leads to a favourable conclusion, the importing Member shall launch its internal administrative 
procedures with a view to recognizing the requested  regionalization as rapidly as possible and no later 
than a deadline to be established, taking account of the complexity of the particular case, with the 
agreement of both the importing and exporting Me mber. The willingness of the exporting country to 
collect and share this information can significantly a ffect the time required. If it rejects the request for 
sanitary or phytosanitary recognition, the importing Member shall provide, in writing, technical grounds for its decision so that the exporting Member can modify and adapt its system with a view to 
seeking recognition once again. 
11. An expedited process for recognition of sanitary  status could be applied in the following 
situations: 
(a)  When there has been official recogniti on following verification by one of the SPS 
 Agreement's internationa l reference organizations; 
(b)  When there has been an outbreak in a previously recognized area which, once the 
problem was eliminated, was restored its former status; 
(c)  When the infrastructure and operation of the responsible veterinary or phytosanitary 
service are sufficiently familiar owing to san itary or phytosanitary recognition with 
respect to other pests or diseases, or to existing trade relations. 
 G/SPS/W/140/Rev.2 
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12. In accordance with Article 9 of the Agreement (Technical Assistance), a Member shall give 
full consideration to requests by other Member s, especially developing country Members, for 
appropriate technical assistance to facilitate the implementation of Article 6 (Adaptation to Regional 
Conditions). 
13. The SPS Committee recognizes the need for guide lines for the determination of pest or 
disease-free areas and areas of low pest or disease preval ence, and shall urge the OIE and the IPPC to 
continue, as appropriate, to draw up guidelines on animal and plant health respectively.  These 
organizations, together with the CAC, shall be i nvited to keep the SPS Committee regularly informed 
regarding their activities relating to the concept of adaptation to regional conditions or zoning. 
14. The SPS Committee shall encourage the OIE to  continue and expand its work on the 
verification of recognition of sanitary status with respect to different specific diseases.  It shall also 
encourage the IPPC and regional organizations under its supervision to begin working along the same 
lines. 
15. Members shall periodically provide the SPS Co mmittee with information on their experience 
regarding the implementation of Article 6 of the SPS Agreement.  In particul ar, Members are urged to 
notify the SPS Committee of ongoing negotiations for the recognition of regionalization and of any 
other agreement concerning the recognition of pest - or disease-free areas and areas of low pest or 
disease prevalence. 
16. As regards transparency, the Co mmittee shall examine the need to set up a formal mechanism 
in this respect. 
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