WORLD TRADE G/SPS/11
22October 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-4606)
Committee onSanitary andPhytosanitary Measures
PROCEDURE TOMONITOR THE PROCESS
OFINTERNATIONAL HARMONIZATION
Decision oftheCommittee
Atitsmeetingof15-16October1997,theCommitteeadoptedthefollowingprovisionalprocedure
tomonitor theuseofinternational standards.
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Introduction
1. Articles 3.5and12.4oftheSPSAgreement require theCommittee todevelop aprocedure
tomonitor theprocess ofinternational harmonization andtheuseofinternational standards, guidelines
orrecommendations. Withtheaimofencouraging Members touseinternational standards, guidelines
andrecommendations, theunderlying purpose ofthisprocedure istoidentify where there isamajor
impact ontrade resulting from thenon-use ofthose international standards, guidelines or
recommendations andtodetermine thereasons forthenon-use ofthestandard, guideline or
recommendation concerned. Moreover, itshould alsohelptoidentify, forthebenefit oftherelevant
international organizations, where astandard, guideline orrecommendation wasneeded orwasnot
appropriate foritspurpose anduse. Thisrequires (a)identification oftheinternational standards,
guidelines orrecommendations ofconcern oranidentification ofthecases where aninternational
standard, guideline orrecommendation wasrequired; and(b)information from Members ontheir
useornon-use oftheidentified standards, guidelines orrecommendations, andthereasons therefor.
InthelightofMembers 'reasons fornon-use, theSPSCommittee might wanttoinvite therelevant
international standard-setting body toconsider reviewing theexisting standard, guideline or
recommendation.
2. Thedevelopment ofamonitoring procedure wasdiscussed atevery formal meeting oftheSPS
Committee. Three submissions from Members suggested possible approaches: G/SPS/W/51 from
theEuropean Communities (March 1996), G/SPS/W/76 from theUnited States (October 1996) and
G/SPS/W/81 fromtheUnited States (March 1997). During thediscussion ofthesevarious submissions
participants made itclearthattheydidnotwantaburdensome procedure, thatduplication ofthework
undertaken bytherelevant standard-setting bodies mustbeavoided, andthatthemonitoring procedure
should focus onthose standards, guidelines orrecommendations thathaveamajor impact ontrade.
Onthebasis ofthese concerns, andtoavoid further delays, inJuly1977 thechairman proposed a
provisional procedure (G/SPS/W/82) andrequested comments onthis(reflected inG/SPS/W/82/Rev.1
andG/SPS/W/85).G/SPS/11
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3. Atitsmeeting of15-16 October 1997, theCommittee agreed toimplement thefollowing
monitoring procedure onaprovisional basis. Theproposal isdrawn from thesubmissions bythe
Members mentioned above, aswellasfrom thediscussion intheCommittee onthese submissions.
TheCommittee alsoagreed toreview theoperation oftheprovisional monitoring procedure 18months
afteritsimplementation, withaview todeciding atthattimewhether tocontinue withthesame
procedure, amend itordevelop another one.
Monitoring Procedure
4. Intheinitialstages,thescopeofthemonitoringsystemwillbelimitedtothestandards,guidelines
orrecommendationsdevelopedbytheinternationalorganizationsspecificallycitedintheSPSAgreement.1
TheCommittee may, atasubsequent stage andiftheneedarises, consider standards, guidelines or
recommendations produced byother relevant international organizations.
5. Theinternational standards, guidelines orrecommendations proposed byaMember tobe
monitored (seeparagraph 6),onthebasis ofthelistsavailable totheCommittee2,should belimited
tothose which haveamajor trade impact. Thetrade impact ofaninternational standard, guideline
orrecommendation should bedetermined primarily onthebasis oftheextent towhich Members use
thestandard (apply ittoimports) andthefrequency orseverity ofproblems experienced inthetrade
ofthegoods covered bythestandard.
6. Members should submit, atleast30daysinadvance ofeachregular meeting oftheCommittee,
concrete examples ofwhattheyconsider tobeproblems withasignificant trade impact which they
believe arerelated totheuseornon-use ofrelevant international standards, guidelines or
recommendations. Intheirsubmissions, Members should describe thenature ofeachofthese trade
problems andnotewhether itistheresult of:
(a) thenon-use ofanappropriate existing international standard, guideline or
recommendation; or
(b) thenon-existence orinappropriateness ofanexisting international standard, guideline
orrecommendation, i.e.thatitisout-dated, technically flawed, etc.
7. Aprovisional listofthestandards, guidelines orrecommendations identified byMembers as
above willbecompiled bytheSecretariat. TheSecretariat should circulate theprovisional listand
thesubmissions ithasreceived toallMembers, asmuch inadvance oftheCommittee 'smeeting as
possible,andnotlaterthan15daysbeforethemeeting,inordertoprovideMemberswiththeopportunity
toprepare comments ontheiruseornon-use ofthestandards, guidelines orrecommendations andthe
reasons therefor. Should anyMember sorequest, theSecretariat willnotinclude initsannual report
onthismonitoring procedure (seeparagraph 10)anyspecific issue raised inthese submissions until
Members havehadtheopportunity toprovide further comments andtodiscuss those comments inone
additional Committee meeting subsequent tothemeeting inwhich theissue isfirstraised.
8. Based ontheinformation provided byMembers, andinthelightofdiscussion intheCommittee,
alistofstandards, guidelines orrecommendations which haveamajor impact oninternational trade
1Codex, OIEandIPPC.
2G/SPS/GEN/29 (Codex), G/SPS/GEN/30 (OIE) andG/SPS/GEN/31 (IPPC)G/SPS/11
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shallbeestablished bytheCommittee. Thislistshallbereviewed ateachmeeting oftheCommittee.
Membersshouldprovideinformation,foreachofthestandards,guidelinesorrecommendationsidentified,
ofanyrelevant tradeimpact, andontheiruseornon-use ofthestandard, guideline orrecommendation
andthereasons therefor. TheCommittee mayinvite therelevant international standard-setting body
toconsider reviewing theexisting standard, guideline orrecommendation.
9. TheCommittee mayinvite therelevant standard-setting body toprovide information, either
inwriting orthrough presentations attherelevant regular meeting oftheCommittee, onanystandard,
guideline orrecommendation under consideration, including withregard toanychanges oron-going
revisions.
10. TheSecretariat should prepare anannual report totheCommittee onthelistofstandards,
guidelines orrecommendations established under paragraph 8,themajor trade impacts identified by
Members andtheircomments regarding theuseornonuseoftheidentified international standards,
guidelines orrecommendations andofthose cases identified where therewasnointernational standard,
guideline orrecommendation, andanyconclusions drawn bytheCommittee. TheCommittee will
transmit thisreport totheinternational organizations responsible fordeveloping therelevant sanitary
andphytosanitary standards, guidelines orrecommendations. Itisexpected thatMembers willtake
thisinformation intoaccount, through their participation inthese international organizations, in
establishing those organizations 'work priorities.
Further Action
11. Following thereview noted inparagraph 3oftheoperation ofthisprovisional monitoring
procedure, theCommittee maywantatalaterstagetoconsider theneedforamore focused monitoring
procedure. Inparticular, theCommittee maywishtoconsider developing standard formats forthe
supply ofinformation under paragraphs 6-8,andusing those standards, guidelines orrecommendations
which havebeenidentified ashaving amajor impact oninternational tradeandareofwidespread concern
toMembers (paragraph 8refers) asthebasis forapilotproject toobtain additional information as
tohowMembers aredealing withthestandards, guidelines orrecommendations ofconcern.