WORLD TRADE G/SPS/GEN/37
6October 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-4220)
Original: English Committee onSanitary andPhytosanitary Measures
IMPLEMENTATION OFTHE TRANSPARENCY AND NOTIFICATION
PROVISIONS OFTHE SPSAGREEMENT
Submission bytheUnited States atthemeeting of15-16 October 1997
Introduction
1. Since theentry intoforce oftheSPSAgreement on1January 1995, 50members havenotified
through theWTO Secretariat atotalofover630SPSmeasures. Thedesign oftheSPSAgreement ’s
notification procedures wasbased onthelimited experience withnotifications under thepre-existing
GATT agreement onTechnical Barriers toTrade .Members ’subsequent experience under theSPS
Agreement provides agood basis forreviewing theeffectiveness ofthese notification procedures.
Background
2. Article 7andAnnex Barekeyfunctional provisions oftheSPSAgreement. TheUnited States
believes thattransparent decision-making procedures andproper notification ofproposed SPSmeasures
contributes tomembers ’efforts tocomply withtheother requirements oftheAgreement. Theuse
ofsuchprocedures canalsohelptoavoid unnecessary trade problems andimprove theefficiency and
effectiveness ofpublic health andsafety protections.
3. Therecent progress inproviding members andthegeneral public direct access toSPS
notifications ontheWTO ’shome pageisanimportant accomplishment. UseoftheInternet greatly
facilitates theimplementation oftheSPSAgreement, andisconsistent withmembers ’broader interest
inbuilding anopenandintegrated global trading system.
4. Atthesame time, there appear tobecontinuing constraints withthecurrent SPSnotification
system which maywarrant theCommittee ’sconsideration. Areview ofthe51SPSnotifications posted
between 1July1997 and29September 1997, forexample, reveals difficulties inobtaining detailed
information onthemeasures being notified andintheability toprovide substantive responses tothose
notifications within theidentified comment period, where suchaperiod isprovided.
- Only26ofthese51notifications identified acomment period (Box11ofthenotification
form, attached ).
- Withrespect tothese26notifications, anaverage ofonly46daysremained forMembers
toobtain thenotifying Member ’sdraft text,haveittranslated, analyze substantive
information, andprepare possible comments tothenotifying Member.
- Forthe26SPSnotifications thatidentified thecomment period, theUnited States
immediately requested fulltextsofthemeasures being notified, which werereceived
withanaverage ofonly8daysremaining tocomment. Thisexperience points outG/SPS/GEN/37
Page2
thatmembers mustfrequently translate lengthy documents during thisveryshort time
before theyareabletocomment substantively.
- TheUnited States requested thefulltextforalloftheabove 51SPSnotifications,
buthasonlyreceived 36fulltextsinresponse.
. Itisencouraging, ontheother hand, thatwehavereceived thefulltextsin
allofthe26cases inwhich thenotification identified thecomment period.
- Outof51totalnotifications, theUnited States found itnecessary in24cases to
re-contact thenotifying members ’notification authority torequest thedraft text.
Because some ofthose stillremained outstanding, athirdrequest maybenecessary
insome cases.
5. Inaddition totheabove "process andtimeline"issues, thereappear tobeconsiderable variations
inother details ofthenotification process. Forexample, theUnited States notes thelevelofspecificity
inBox5ofthenotification form, Description ofContent ,varies widely. Theinformation inthisbox
enablesMemberstounderstandthenatureoftheproposedmeasure.Forsomelessvoluminousmeasures,
adequate description inBox5might reduce theneedforsome fulltextrequests.
Proposal
6. Toexplore means ofaddressing these issues, theUnited States proposes thatmembers hold
regional Transparency Workshops prior toMay1998. Theparticipants would berepresentatives of
members ’national notification authorities andnational inquiry points or,where suchbodies havenot
yetbeenestablished, representatives ofthegovernment offices inwhich theyaretobelocated. Members
which havenotyetestablished theirnotification authorities andinquiry points, orwhich havenotyet
notified measures, would beparticularly encouraged toparticipate.
7. Regionalworking-leveldiscussionswouldallowfortheexchangeofinformationandexperiences
among those whoareresponsible forthepractical, dailyfunctions ofthenotification andinquiry points.
TheCommittee maywishtoaskindividual members tovolunteer tohostthese regional workshops.
8. Each Workshop would issue areport, including possible recommendations forimproving
notification procedures, forconsideration intheCommittee ’sJuly1998meeting. Those reports would
facilitate theCommittee ’sreview oftheimplementation ofthetransparency andnotification provisions
oftheAgreement.G/SPS/GEN/37
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WORLD TRADE G/SPS/N/COUNTRY
Dateofdistribution
ORGANIZATION
(95-000)
Committee onSanitary andPhytosanitary Measures
NOTIFICATION
1. Member toAgreement notifying:
Ifapplicable, name oflocal government involved:
2. Agency responsible:
3. Products covered (tariff itemnumber(s) asspecified innational schedules
deposited withtheWTO. ICSnumbers maybeprovided inaddition, where
applicable):
4. Title andnumber ofpages ofthenotified document:
5. Description ofcontent:
6. Objective andrationale:
7. Aninternational standard, guideline orrecommendation doesnotexist[].
Ifaninternational standard, guideline orrecommendation exists, whenever
possible, identify deviations:
8. Relevant documents:
9. Proposed dateofadoption andentry intoforce:
10. Final dateforcomments:
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point []oraddress andtelefax number
ofother body: