. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/W/141
27 October 2003
(03-5686)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English
ELABORATION OF THE PROPOSAL TO ENHANCE TRANSPARENCY
OF SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT IN FAVOUR
OF DEVELOPING COUNTRY MEMBERS
Proposal by the United States
1. In October 2002, Canada submitted a proposal to enhance the transparency of special and
differential treatment under the implementation of the SPS Agreement (G/SPS/W/127).  At its
meeting of 2-3 April 2003, the SPS Committee adopted in principle the Canadian proposal, subject to
further elaboration of the procedures.  This document proposes such further elaboration and revisessteps 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of procedures presented in G/SPS/W/132/Rev.1.
2. The United States has carefully considered these revisions in order to make these procedures
meaningful to identify opportunities for consideration of special and differential treatment by
members and to be consistent with domestic statutory requirements under which US regulatory
agencies must operate.  These requirements provide specific points in the regulatory developmentprocess when comments can be received and proposals can be discussed, and other points in this
process when the implementing regulatory agency cannot receive or discuss the proposals it has under
consideration.  The clear delineation of timeframes when comments can be submitted and proposals
discussed and the specification of other timeframes when regulatory agencies are prohibited from
discussing proposals is to provide for fair and equal consideration all substantive comments received
prior to the development of final regulations.
3. The United States proposes that, following one year of the adoption of this procedure, the
Committee review the proposed notification process to evaluate its implementation, whether changes
are required and/or its continuance warranted.
4. This procedure is without prejudice to the rights and obligations of Members under
Article 10.1 of the SPS Agreement.
5. Specific changes to the steps presented in G/SPS/W/132/Rev.1 are as follows:
Step 1. No change
Step 2.  No change
Step 3. If a Member with an interest in exporting the products affected by the notification
identifies a concern with the content of the notification, the exporting Member should contact the
notifying Member, within the comment period, to seek additional information with respect to the
notified measure and to identify their concerns.  If the exporting Member requests an extension of the
comment period, and provides justification for the request for extension, the notifying Member shouldconsider granting an extension of thirty days, in particular with regard to notifications relating
TOproducts of interest to developing country Members.G/SPS/W/141
Page 2
Step 4. The notifying Member receiving a written request for an extension of the comment
period should review the request at the earliest possible date and, if an extension is granted, notify
Members through an addendum to the original notification of its decision.  To the extent practicable, a
notifying Member should place written comments received on public display, in order that all
Members have access to comments on the proposed measures.  The notifying Member should explain
how it has taken substantive comments into account in the publication of its final measure.
Step 5. During the comment period, if an exportin g Member identifies significant difficulties
its exports might face in complying with the proposed new measure, that Member should submit
written comments and may request an opportunity to discuss the potential difficulty with the notifying
Member.  These discussions may lead an exporting developing country Member to request technicalassistance or special and differential treatment,  and may lead the notifying Member to examine
whether and how the identified problem could best be addressed to take into account the special needs
of the interested exporting developing country Member.  The request should be made in writing to the
appropriate officials.
Step 6. If, following entry into force of a new regulation, an exporting Member identifies
significant difficulties which its exports face in complying with the new regulation, it may request an
opportunity to discuss its difficulties with the importing Member to attempt to resolve the issue of
concern, especially where no time, or an insufficient period of time, has been provided for comments.
These discussions may lead an exporting developing country Member to request special anddifferential treatment or technical assistance to enab le it to more readily satisfy the requirements of
the measure.  The discussions also may lead the importing Member to examine whether and how the
problem could best be addressed, possibly through specifically-directed technical assistance to take
into account the special needs of the interested exporting developing country Member.
Step 7. When a decision is taken on whether and how special and differential treatment may
be provided for a final measure and in response to specific requests as discussed in steps 5 and 6, the
notifying Member should submit to the WTO SPS Secretariat an Addendum to its original
notification.  The Addendum shall indicate (1) the name(s) of Member(s) that requested special and
differential treatment;  (2) if special and differential treatment was provided, the form of such
treatment;  (3) if not provided, the Addendum shall indicate why special and differential treatment
was not provided and whether technical assistan ce or any other solution was found to address the
identified concern.  A proposed format for the Addendum is contained in Annex 1.
Step 8. The Addendum to the notification shall be circulated by the WTO SPS Secretariat in
the same manner as the notification.
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