. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/L/485
4 October 2001
(01-4796)
REPORT (2001) ON TH E ACTIVITIES OF THE
COMMITTEE ON SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES
The present report is being circulated by the Chairman of the Committee on Sanitary and
Phytosanitary Measures on his own responsibility.  This report provides a summary of the activities
and decisions of the Committee through September 2001.
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1. The Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the "SPS Committee") held two
regular meetings in 2001:  on 14-15 March and 10-11 July.  A third regular meeting is scheduled for
31 October-1 November 2001.1  At the March meeting, Mr. William Ehlers (Uruguay) was appointed
Chairman for the period 2001/2002.
2. As part of its regular work programme, as well as in response to a request from the General
Council, the Committee examined the implementation of Article 4.  Informal meetings on equivalence
were held prior to the March and July Committee meetings.2  On 18-19 September 2001, a special
Committee meeting was held on equivalence and the Committee examined a decision on how to make
Article 4 more operational, in particular for developing countries.  Although a decision was reachedad referendum, this was not subsequently confirmed.  The proposed decision was based on
contributions by Members and by the relevant international standard-setting organizations.
3
3. At its regular meetings, the SPS Committee considered a wide range of specific tradeconcerns, including many related to individual notifications.  The issues discussed included, inter alia ,
measures taken in response to foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks, BSE, maximum levels for certain
food contaminants (notably 3-MCPD and aflatoxins), and measures taken by Members affecting trade
in pork, poultry, fishmeal, prawn products, bovine semen, fresh fruit, milled rice, table grapes,gelatine and bananas.  The Secretariat revised its document summarizing all specific trade concerns
raised in the Committee.
4
4. Members informed the SPS Committee about the recognition of disease-free areas and abouttheir use of international standards.  The Secretariat circulated updated lists of National Enquiry
Points and National Notification Authorities.
5  Over 610 notifications were submitted in accordance
with the SPS Agreement in the period 1 January through 30 September 2001, bringing the total
number of SPS notifications submitted since the entry into force of the Agreement to 2,471.
5. The SPS Committee continued its examination of the SPS Agreement and the concerns of
developing countries.  In the context of the General Council's examination of implementation, the
                                                     
1 The report of the March meeting is contained in G/SPS/R/21, and that of the June meeting in
G/SPS/R/22.  The report of the October meeting will be circulated as G/SPS/R/23.
2 Reported in G/L/423, G/L/445 and G/L/455.
3 Document G/SPS/W/111 contains a summary of many of the submissions, see also G/SPS/GEN/268
and G/SPS/GEN/261.
4 G/SPS/GEN/204/Rev.1
5 G/SPS/GEN/ENQ/12 and G/SPS/NNA/2, respectively.G/L/485
Page 2
Director-General invited the secretariats of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, OIE and IPPC to
discuss how to further facilitate the participation of developing countries in the international standard-
setting process, and SPS-related technical assistance issues.  On 7 February 2001, the Deputy
Director-General hosted a high-level meeting with these organizations on these issues.  One
immediate outcome of this meeting was a workshop on developing country participation ininternational standard-setting organizations held prior to the March Committee meeting.  The greatest
constraint to effective participation by developing countries in standard-setting bodies was identified
as a lack of effective infrastructure at national level.
6  The SPS Committee continued its examination
of the SPS Agreement and developing countries.
6. An informal meeting on technical assistance preceded the July Committee meeting.  In order
to develop a framework to focus technical assistance activities, the Secretariat presented a paper
setting out a typology of technical assistance and Members and observer organizations related theirexperience.
7  A questionnaire, seeking information on technical assistance needs and activities, first
circulated in July 1999, will be revised to solicit further information from Members.8
7. The SPS Committee continued to monitor the use of international standards, following theprovisional procedure adopted in October 1997.
9  At its meeting in July, the Committee agreed to
extend the provisional procedure for a further two years.10  A review of the operation of the
provisional procedure will take place by July 2003, with a view to deciding whether to continue with
the same procedure, amend it or develop another one.  The Third Annual Report on the Procedure to
Monitor the Process of International Harmonization was adopted at the July Committee meeting.11
8. An informal meeting on criteria to formalize the observer status of international organizationspreceded the March Committee meeting.  The SPS Committee continued to grant ad hoc observerstatus on a meeting-by-meeting basis to the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the Latin
American Economic System (SELA), the Inter-Amer ican Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture
(IICA), the Regional International Agricultural Hea lth Organization (OIRSA), the ACP Group and the
OECD.  Consideration continued of requests for obs erver status from the Office international de la
vigne et du vin (OIV) and the Asian Pacific Coconut Community (APCC).
9. The SPS Committee maintained its close working relationships with the IPPC, the OIE and
Codex.  The Committee received regular updates on activities from the IPPC, OIE and Codex
 .12  The
OIE provided written guidance on international standards on BSE and foot-and-mouth disease to the
Committee.13  Information on coordination between international standard-setting bodies in technical
assistance activities was welcomed by the Committee.14  At the March Committee meeting, the WHO
presented an outline of recent activities in the area of food safety.15
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6 Codex Alimentarius (G/SPS/GEN/236) and IPPC (G/SPS/GEN/227).
7 G/SPS/GEN/206, and United States (G/SPS/GEN/181/Add.1), Gabon (G/SPS/GEN/257), European
Communities (G/SPS/GEN/244) and IICA (G/SPS/GEN/255).
8 G/SPS/W/101.
9 G/SPS/11.
10 G/SPS/17.
11 G/SPS/18.
12 G/SPS/GEN/266.
13 BSE (G/SPS/GEN/230) and foot-and-mouth disease (G/SPS/GEN/240).
14 G/SPS/GEN/259.
15 G/SPS/GEN/237.