WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONTN/CTD/W/171
8 November 2002
(02-6170)
Committee on Trade and Development
Special SessionOriginal:  English/
French
ENHANCING TRANSPARENCY OF SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL (S&D)
TREATMENT WITHIN THE SPS AGREEMENT
Submission by Canada
During the informal discussion on transparency at the June 2002 meeting of the WTO Sanitary and
Phytosanitary (SPS) Committee, Canada verbally presented a proposal for enhancing the transparency
of special and differential (S&D) treatment under the SPS Agreement.  The Canadian proposal wasbased on an Egyptian proposal that was tabled at the March 2002 SPS Committee meeting.  The Chair
requested that Canada submit to the Committee at its next meeting a written proposal concerning
S&D treatment, taking into account points raised by Members during the June discussion.
At its March 2002 meeting, the SPS Committee discussed both informally and formally the document
entitled Recommended Notification Procedures  (G/SPS/7/Rev.1).  During those discussions Egypt
proposed that the notification format should capture S&D treatment accorded to developing country
Members in relation to Article 10.1 (S&D Treatment) of the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary
and Phytosanitary Measures (the SPS Agreement).  Specifically, Egypt proposed that a new box be
added to the notification format.  Within this box the notifying Member would indicate the S&D
treatment component of the proposed or adopted sanitary or phytosanitary measure with respect to
exports from developing country Members, as well as indicate the developing country Members that
could be affected by the measure, and the ways that these Members could be assisted to comply withthe measure.
While there was broad agreement with the objective of being more transparent about the operation of
the S&D treatment provisions of the SPS Agreement contained in the Egyptian proposal, some
Members expressed concerns with respect to certain aspects of the proposal.  First, it would be
difficult for the Member notifying its measure to identify ex ante  the specific exporting Members that
may require S&D treatment in order to adapt to the measure, as well as the specific type of S&D
treatment that each particular exporting Member may require.  Second, some Members noted that
identifying ex ante  specific S&D treatment for exporting Members would more naturally be the
responsibility of the exporting Member.  These Members were of the opinion that transferring the
exporting Member's responsibility to importing Members would be inappropriate. As a result of theseconcerns, some Members feared that there would not be many occasions in which S&D treatment
could be identified on an ex ante  basis.
Building upon the Egyptian proposal for recognizing S&D treatment in the transparency provisions of
the SPS Agreement, while addressing some of the concerns raised by Members with respect to the
Egyptian proposal, at the June 2002 SPS Committee meeting, Canada proposed that informationregarding S&D treatment be added to the information now required in an Addendum form rather than
                                                     
1 This document has also been issued as G/SPS/W/127.TN/CTD/W/17
Page 2
being included in the Notification form.  The Committee agreed that Canada should submit this
proposal in writing for the November, 2002 Committee meeting.
Summary of Canadian proposal
The Canadian proposal comprises two components.  As under the current WTO SPS notification
process, the first component is bilateral.  A Member that may be affected by the notified measure
would contact the notifying Member to request further information concerning the measure.  These
two Members may then enter into bilateral discussions in an attempt to address the issues of concern
while maintaining the importing Member's appropriate level of protection.  The result of these
discussions could be specific S&D treatment with respect to the notified measure or other
mutually-acceptable solutions.
The second component is multilateral, where, in order to ensure transparency, the result of these
bilateral discussions are reported in an Addendum by the importing Member.  The Member that has
proposed the measure issues an Addendum format, providing Members with information on the
bilateral S&D treatment discussions.  Specifically, a Member would issue an Addendum with respect
to a notified SPS measure and would indicate the following:  (1) if S&D treatment was requested;  (2)
which Member(s) requested S&D treatment;  (3) if S&D treatment was provided, how it wasprovided;  (4) if S&D treatment was not provided, why it was not provided and whether any other
solution was found to address the identified concern (see Appendix I for proposed revised Addendum
format).  As Addenda are linked to the original SPS notification by a unique notification number and
can be issued at any time, providing informa tion to Members about S&D treatment through the
addendum format allows for updates by importing Members when a S&D treatment request has beenaddressed.  Canada proposes that this information be incorporated into paragraph 28 of
G/SPS/7/Rev.2, as a new paragraph 28(g).
Ex post  vs. ex ante
Providing information on S&D treatment ex post  rather than ex ante  offers more opportunities to
exporting Members to identify those measures (or elements thereof) for which they wish to seek S&D
treatment, while ensuring importing Members are tran sparent with respect to their response to the
request for S&D treatment.  As well, providing this information ex post  recognizes that S&D
treatment must be tailored to each Member's need  and, therefore, cannot be reported until the two
Members have discussed which aspects of the measure the exporting Member would require
assistance in meeting.  Finally, providing information on S&D treatment ex post  may allow for more
frequent and accurate reporting by importing Members.  This may encourage more Members torequest and secure S&D treatment.
Determining export interests
Through the use of the Addendum format, this proposal recognizes the difficulty for an importing
Member to anticipate the export interests of all Members and the particular S&D treatment pertinentto any particular measure.  Under the Canadian proposal, it is the responsibility of the exporting
Member to identify its export interests, while it is the responsibility of the importing Member to
respond constructively to a request from an exporting Member.TN/CTD/W/17
Page 3
S&D treatment with respect to SPS measures
The use of the Addendum recognizes that S&D treatment for SPS measures is situation-specific (e.g.
product, country, nature of risk, etc.).  Utilizing the Addendum format allows for transparency
through reporting on the results of the bilateral discussions.
How the Canadian proposal would work:
• A country would notify a draft or proposed SPS measure.  This Notification should indicate
the products covered by the measure (Annex B.5b;  Notification format, Box 6) as well as the
regions or countries likely to be affected (Notification format, Box 4).
• To help ensure that developing country Members are aware of notifications that may affect
them, the Secretariat is responsible for promptly circulating notifications to all Members and
to "draw the attention of developing country Members to any notifications relating to
products of particular interest to them" (Annex B.9).
• If a Member with an interest in exporting to  the notifying country identifies a concern with
the content of the notification, that Member would contact the notifying country, within the
comment period, to seek additional information with respect to the notified measure.
• The notifying country and the developing count ry Member with an export interest would
enter into bilateral discussions to attempt to resolve the issue of concern.  These discussionscould lead to a request for S&D treatment by the exporting Member and a response by the
notifying country as to whether and how the implementation of the notified measure could be
adjusted to take into account the special needs of the interested developing country.
• When the bilateral discussions conclude and a decision is taken on whether and, if so, how to
provide S&D treatment, the notifying count ry would complete the Addendum format
indicating the modifications to the measure that  will come into force.  This Addendum will
also indicate (1) if S&D treatment was requested;  (2) name(s) of Member(s) that requested
S&D treatment;  (3) if S&D treatment was prov ided;  how S&D treatment was provided;  (4)
if not provided, indicate why it was not provided and whether any other solution was found to
address the identified concern.
• A request for S&D treatment could be made after the normal comment period has expired.
However, once the measure is already in force, the opportunities for the importing Member to
consider S&D treatment will be much more limited.  In the unlikely event that S&D treatment
is possible after the measure has already come into force, its provision would be reported in
an Addendum.
25 October 2002TN/CTD/W/17
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Appendix 1
Proposed Treatment of S&D in Addendum
The following format for the Addendum was agreed to by the SPS Committee at its meeting
in March 2002 (see G/SPS/7/Rev.2).  Canada proposes that information on S&D treatment that has
been requested by a developing country be added to the addendum format.
Addendum
The following communication, dated # Month Year has been received from [Member].
_______________
Title outlining what the SPS measure or product is
[Text]
[Where the notified document can be obtained from – include contact name, agency, full
address, telephone, facsimile, and email as appropriate].
_______________
Proposed new text
Special and Differential Treatment (S&D)
[To indicate (1) if S&D treatment was requested;  (2) name(s) of Member(s) that requested S&D
treatment;  (3) if S&D treatment was provided;  how S&D treatment was provided;  (4) if not
provided, indicate why it was not provided and whether any other solution was found to address theidentified concern.]
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