99-0995 MOREPRESS RELEASE
PRESS/124
11 March 1999
WTO COMMITTEE COMPLETES REVIEW OF HEALTH-RELATED AGREEMENT
Says almost four years of ‘SPS’ implementation has clarified trade issues
The WTO agreement on food safety and animal and plant health issues has helped to defuse
potential disputes, to improve trading relations be tween countries, and to help countries be better
informed about each others’ food safety concerns, a WTO committee concluded today.
In a report on the agreement’s implementation, the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS)
Measures Committee emphasized that the agreement is still a new framework for dealing withregulations and actions related to food safety and animal and plant health.
Although some of the WTO’s 134 member governments remain concerned about some
aspects of its implementation, the agreement’s contri bution to improved trading relations includes the
resolution of several issues through discussions in the committee, the report says.
The report is the outcome of a review of the first three and half years of the WTO Agreement
on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. It was approved at today’s meeting of the SPS Committee.
Sanitary measures deal with animal health and food safety issues. Phytosanitary measures do the same
for plants.
The SPS Agreement came into being on 1 January 1995 with the creation of the WTO. It was
an innovation of the 1986–94 Uruguay Round of trade negotiations.
The agreement strikes a balance between consumer protection and avoiding the use of food
safety and animal and plant health as disguised trade protectionism.
It says governments’ measures should be based on science and should not discriminate among
foreign sources of supply. It encourages the use of international standards.
A few SPS issues have become high-profile disputes in the WTO. But the report points out
that formal disputes have been avoided in several other cases because of discussions under the
agreement.PRESS/124
Page 2/3
MORE“Extensive discussions on particular implementation problems at its formal meetings had
helped to draw attention to specific trade concerns and related issues and to avoid potential trade
conflict,” it says.
The report does not go into details, but among recent subjects the committee has discussed are
new EU limits for aflatoxin (a cancer-causing poison associated with a fungus) in a number ofproducts, a US restriction on certain solid wood pack aging materials designed to combat infestation of
Asian longhorn beetles, and various countries’ measures in response to bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE, or “mad cow disease”).
In some cases, the measures have been modified after countries discussed them in the SPS
Committee and through other channels.
Transparency
Among the most important achievements is the way governments are keeping each other
better informed about the application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures, the report said.
The report’s assessment of improved transparency is based on work that is an unglamorous,
nuts-and-bolts activity in many WTO committees — notification and review. In the SPS Committee,
members have to inform each other about new measures related to food safety that they have
introduced or are proposing to introduce.
This helps countries be informed about new regulations that could affect their exports. They
have an opportunity to discuss the measures.
The report observed that WTO member governments were increasingly “and in a more
comprehensive manner” fulfilling their obligations to notify fellow-members. This, it said, “had
significantly improved transparency in the application of sanitary or phytosanitary measures”.
It also welcomed the progress governments had made in setting up specific points of contact
which fellow-members can use to enquire about SPS measures, and in clarifying which of their
authorities are responsible for submitting notifications to the WTO.
“As of 11 March 1999, over 1,100 notifications had been submitted by 59 members; 91
members had established National Notification Authorities; and 100 members had established
National Enquiry Points to respond to requests for information,” the report said.
The increased transparency and other opportunities for discussing SPS measures has helped
countries avoid trade conflict in this area, the committee said. It “welcomed the fact that a substantial
number of SPS-related trade matters had been resolved following their discussion at formal meetingsof the committee or bilaterally”.
However, the committee recognized there is room  for improvement in transparency. It agreed
on a new format for increasing the relevant information supplied in notifications, and it urged member
governments to use the Internet to publish their regulations and improve transparency.
Developing countries, etc
Some of the concerns raised came, in particular, from developing countries. They said they
lack the money and the people to deal with the complex and scientific SPS issues such as adopting
international standards. They also have difficul ties in participating in the development of these
standards.PRESS/124
Page 4
Although the SPS Agreement says developing countries are to be given more time to adjust so
that they can continue to export, the committee said it had no information how this provision was
being implemented.
The committee also looked at some highly techni cal but important issues such as equivalence
(the possibility of accepting another country’s different measures as equivalent to one’s own) and riskassessment. It said that although considerable progress has been achieved, further work may be
needed.
Snapshot of a review
The review was conducted under Article 12.7 of the SPS Agreement which says a review has
to take place three years after the agreement came into force — 1 January 1995 — and after that when
necessary. The report approved today is a snapshot of discussions in the committee during the review.
Article 12.7 says the committee can recommend changes to the agreement, but no such
recommendation was made in this report.
FURTHER INFORMATION
From WTO Publications
♦ Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.  WTO Agreements Series.
♦ Trading into the Future.  An introduction to the WTO and its agreements.
On the WTO website: www.wto.org
♦ About the WTO: http://www.wto.org/wto/about/about.htm ,
and the page explaining SPS http://www.wto.org/wto/about/agmnts3.htm
♦ Website section on SPS: http://www.wto.org/wto/goods/sps.htm
END