G/SPS/GEN/1950  
 
6 September 2021 
(21-6611) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
PROPOSED PROGRAMME FOR THEMATIC SESSION ON PROCEDURE  TO 
MONITOR THE PROCESS OF INTERNATIONAL HARMONIZATION  
TUESDAY, 2 NOVEMBER  2021 
WTO, CENTRE WILLIAM RAPPARD, GENEVA  
COMMUNIC ATION  FROM NEW ZEALAND  
The following document , received on 22 August 2021, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of New Zealand . 
 
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PROPOSED PROGRAMME  
The thematic session will provide an opportunity for Members of the WTO to exchange views and 
review progress with international harmoni zation. The WTO SPS Agreement places considerable 
importance on international harmoni zation by encouraging Members to harmoni ze their measures , 
to the maximum extent possible , with the standards, guidelines and recommendations establis hed 
by the relevant international standard -setting  bodies. Article 3.2 of the SPS Agreement provides 
a significant impetus to international harmoni zation by stating that that "sanitary and phytosanitary 
measures which conform to international standards, gu idelines or recommendations shall be deemed 
to be necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health... ". There is also renewed interest 
among the relevant international standard -setting  bodies to have a better understanding of 
the extent to which their standards and related texts  are used . Further , and in terms of Article 3.5, 
the SPS Committee has an important role in monitoring the process of international harmoni zation 
in close collaboration with the relevant international standard -setting bodie s. 
This thematic session will focus on three broad areas:  
1. The provisions of Article 3 of the SPS Agreement with respect to international harmoni zation, 
including  a particular focus on Article 3.5 and the actions taken thus far to monitor 
the process of international harmoni zation; 
2. The actions and initiatives that Codex, OIE and the IPPC have taken to monitor the impact 
and use of their standards, guidelines and re commendations , and consideration of 
opportunities for coordination between the se standard -setting bodies and the 
SPS Committee as envisaged under Article 3.5; and  
3. Member countries ' approaches, experiences and challenges with the use of international 
standa rds at the national and regional levels , and consideration of actions and initiatives to 
support uptake and use of international standards . 
1  RELEVANT PROVISIONS OF THE SPS AGREEMENT AND WORK OF THE SPS COMMITTEE  
Speaker : WTO Secretariat  
Followed by Q&A session and discussion  G/SPS/GEN/1950  
 
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  2  OVERVIEW: INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS AND HARMONIZATION  
International standard -setting bodie s - their priorities and interest , and their own initiatives to 
monitor the uptake and use of their standards, guidelines and recommendations.  
Speakers:  
▪ Codex Alimentarius  
▪ OIE  
▪ IPPC  
Followed by Q&A session and discussion  
3  SHARING OF NATIONAL EXPERIENCES  
Member countries - share their thoughts on their approach and experience with regard to use of 
international standards covering any particular issues or challenges that they might face in respect 
of implementation and harmoni zation.  
Speakers : TBC 
Followed by Q&A session and discussion  
4  INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL INITIATIVES  
Regional/cross border cooperation and action by possible organi zations – such as STDF, regional 
economic communities under the African Union - which are currently pursuing harmonization of 
standards, and countries who are utilizing the Codex Trust Fund. A few at various levels of 
engagement are Ghana, Senegal, C ôte d'Ivoire, Honduras, and Bolivia, as well as groups of countries 
(Kenya/Tanzania/South  Sudan/Uganda/Burundi and El  Salvador/Guatemala) . Other p ossible 
speakers  include:  OIRSA, FAO and OECD.  
Speake rs: TBC 
Followed by Q&A session and discussion  
5  CLOSING REMARKS  
 
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