G/SPS/W/259/Rev.5  
 
12 March 2013  
(13-1368)  Page: 1/4  
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures    
 
 PROPOSED RECOMMENDED PROCEDURE 
RELATING TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 12.21 
Revision 
INTRODUCTION 
1.  Article 12.2 of the Agreement on the Applicat ion of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the 
SPS Agreement) states that: "The Committee shall encourage and facilitate ad hoc consultations or 
negotiations among Members on specific sanitary or phytosanitary issues". The Working 
Procedures of the Committee, adopted by the Committee in March 1995, provide that: 
"With respect to any matter which has been raised under the Agreement, the 
Chairperson may, at the request of the Members directly concerned, assist them in 
dealing with the matter in question. The Chairperson shall normally report to the 
Committee on the general outcome with respect to the matter in question."2 
2.  The Committee has recognized the usefulness of Article 12.2, and in particular of the good 
offices of the Chairperson, as a means of fa cilitating the resolution of trade problems.3 
3.  Several Members have submitted proposals for a procedure to facilitate the use of ad hoc 
consultations and negotiations among Members.4 The draft procedure presented in the first version 
of this document sought to combine the proposals made, to facilitate the identification and 
consideration of those areas where there are su bstantive differences among the proposals. The 
document was subsequently revised four times to reflect comments received from Members and discussions at informal meetings of the Committee.  Document RD/SPS/1 contains a compilation of 
Members' comments on the last revision of the document. 
4.  At its meeting in October 2012, the Committee established an electronic Working Group (eWG) 
to attempt to make progress between Committee meetings. Individual delegates offered to act as 
stewards or co-stewards and took the leadership in developing a compromise proposal to address 
one of five outstanding issues. The stewards/co- stewards consulted the eWG in their development 
of compromise texts. The Secretariat, in consultation with the Chairperson, assembled the various 
texts provided by the stewards into one consolidated proposal, which was again circulated to the 
eWG for comments. Comments which required a substantive change of the compromise text and/or reiterated previously held positions have  not been reflected in the present document. The 
present text reflects the compromise proposals developed by the stewards, in consultation with the 
eWG.
                                               
1 This document has been prepared under the Secret ariat's own responsibility and is without prejudice 
to the positions of Members or to their rights or obligations under the WTO. 
2 G/SPS/1, paragraph 5. 
3 G/SPS/12, paragraph 24; G/SPS/36, paragraphs 87-88; G/SPS/53, paragraphs 116-126. 
4 G/SPS/W/219; G/SPS/W/227; G/SPS/W/233; G/SPS/ W/248; G/SPS/W/243/Rev.4; and JOB/SPS/1. G/SPS/W/259/Rev.5 
 
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  RECOMMENDED PROCEDURE TO ENCOURAGE AND FACILITATE 
AD HOC CONSULTATIONS [OR NEGOTIATIONS] AMONG MEMBERS 
ON SPECIFIC SANITARY OR PHYTOSANITARY ISSUES 
PROPOSED DECISION BY THE COMMITTEE 
The Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures ("the Committee"), 
 Having regard  to paragraph 1 of Article 12 of the Agr eement on the Application of Sanitary and 
Phytosanitary Measures ("the Agreement"); 
 Seeking  to further encourage and facilitate ad hoc consultations [or negotiations] among Members 
on specific sanitary and phytosanitary issues, in accordance with the provisions of Article 12.2 of 
the Agreement; 
 Recalling  that the Working Procedures of the Committee permit the Chairperson of the Committee 
to assist Members to deal with any matter which has been raised under the Agreement, upon a 
request by the Members directly concerned;  
Noting that the ad hoc consultation mechanism, fore seen in Article 12.2 of the SPS Agreement and 
in the Working Procedures of the Committee, offe rs Members an additional route for dialogue and 
exchange of information on sanitary and phytosanitary concerns;  
Recalling  that during the reviews of the operation an d implementation of the Agreement, Members 
recognized the usefulness of application of Ar ticle 12.2, and encouraged the use of ad hoc 
consultations, including through the good offices of the Chairperson of the Committee; 
 
Decides as follows: 
 
 
1  GENERAL PROVISIONS 
1.  This procedure is intended to encourage and facilitate ad hoc consultations [or negotiations] 
(hereinafter referred to as "consultations") among Members on specific sanitary or phytosanitary 
issues, with a view to assist Members to reach mutually satisfactory solutions, according to 
Article 12.2 of the Agreement. Member participation in this procedure is voluntary.
[1] 
[1.bis.  All consulting Members should comp ly with the procedure described hereafter.] 
2.  This procedure is without prejudice to the ex isting rights and obligations of Members under the 
SPS Agreement nor any other WTO Agreement. 
3.  This procedure is not intended to prejudice in any way the process or outcome of the work of 
other WTO bodies, including in relation to the Doha Development Agenda. 
4.  Any Member may at any time request consultations regarding any sanitary and phytosanitary 
measure(s) or related technical issue(s) falling under the scope of the Agreement. 
2  PROCEDURE FOR ADDRESSING CONCERNS REGARDING SPS ISSUES 
2.1  Request for Consultations 
5.  A Member (hereinafter the "requesting Member") should request consultations with another 
Member (the "responding Member") in writing, in a WTO working language. The request should 
identify the measure(s) or technical issue(s) to be consulted on, describe the reasons for 
requesting consultations, and provide a description of the requesting Member's concern regarding the possible effects on trade. Further, the re quest may provide any preliminary questions and 
concerns regarding the measure(s) or technical issue(s), and may identify any relevant 
                                               
[1] By voluntary participation, it is understood that a Member that has received a request for 
consultation is free to accept or reject the consultation procedure. G/SPS/W/259/Rev.5 
 
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  provision(s) of the Agreement and relevant international standards, guidelines or 
recommendations adopted by the pertinent international organizations as referred to in the Agreement. 
6.  In addition to sending the request to the re sponding Member, the requesting Member will at 
the same time send a copy of the request to the Chairperson of the SPS Committee and the 
Secretariat. If the requesting Member wishes, a copy of the request or a summary thereof can also be made available to the SPS Committee as a WTO document. 
2.2  Response to a Request 
7.  The responding Member should, unless it is otherwise mutually agreed, provide a response 
within 30 days, accepting or rejecting the request for consultations, in writing in a WTO language, with a copy to the Chairperson of the SPS Committee and the Secretariat. The response should 
normally address the concerns and issues raised in the request. Provided that the responding 
Member submits a response within the deadline es tablished under this procedure and wishes to 
make the response or a summary thereof available to the SPS Committee as a WTO document, the 
request and its response will be made available to the SPS Committee simultaneously. 
8.  At the subsequent meeting of the Committee, the Chairperson will inform the Committee of any 
request for consultations made under this procedure since the last meeting of the Committee and 
its corresponding response (i.e., whether the requ est was accepted, rejected) and of all ongoing 
consultations under a separate agenda item. If a Member so requests, the Chairperson shall provide an opportunity for an exchange of vi ews during a meeting of the Committee on any 
request for consultation made under this procedure, or on ongoing consultations. 
9.  Unless otherwise agreed by the  consulting Members, information designated as confidential will 
not be shared with the Committee. The confidential ity designation shall not be extended to factual 
information already existing in the public domain. 
2.3  Consultation Procedure 
10.  The consulting Members may request the Chairperson of the Committee, or any other person 
designated by the consulting Members, to serve as the Facilitator. The Facilitator will be 
independent of, and not be affiliated with any consulting Members. 
11.  The role of the Facilitator is to encourage and facilitate an exchange between the Members on 
specific SPS issues raised in the consultations with a view to resolving the issue. With the agreement of the consulting Members, the Facilitator may recommend one or more possible ways 
to resolve the concerns. 
12.  At the start of consultations, the Facilitator and the consulting Members should agree on a 
schedule, format and place of meetings and determine whether, and under what terms and 
conditions, third party participation is desirable. 
13.  The Facilitator shall communicate about the SPS issue in question only with the consulting 
Members and, consistent with the terms agreed to in paragraph 16, any participating third parties. 
14.  The Facilitator shall prepare and issue a wr itten report on the general outcome through the 
Chair on the matter only with the consent of the consulting Members. Unless otherwise agreed by the consulting Members, the Facilitator’s report is confidential and will not be shared with the Committee. 
15.  Prior to issuing a final report, the Facilitator will provide consulting Members with a draft 
report. Consulting Members shall be given 15 days to comment as well as indicate any confidential text that they would like deleted from the Facilitator’s draft report. After considering these 
comments and deleting the confidential text, the Facilitator shall issue a final, factual report to the 
consulting Members. 
16.  All communications (whether in oral or written form) in the course of the consultation 
between [and among] the Facilitator and consulting  Members, and other participating third parties, G/SPS/W/259/Rev.5 
 
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  if any, and all documents generated by a Facilitator or a consulting or participating Member for the 
Consultation shall be confidential, unless otherwise agreed by the consulting Members, and without prejudice to the rights and obligations of a Member under the WTO Agreement, or any 
other international agreement to which it is a party. 
17.  The consulting Members shall complete the consultations within a reasonable period of time 
that shall be mutually agreed, and should ende avour to not surpass 180 days, unless they agree 
on a different timeframe. Any of the consulting Members may decide to conclude the consultations 
at any time, and should do so through written notification to the other consulting Member. The 
Member or Members (if acting jointly) will promptly provide written notification to the Facilitator, the Chair and the Secretariat that the consultations have concluded. 
18.  At the conclusion of the consultations, th e Chair will report the general outcome of the 
consultations to the Committee in accordance with the established Working Procedures of the 
Committee.
2 Further details regarding the outcome of the consultations will be provided only if so 
agreed by the consulting Members. The report will not contain confidential information unless both 
consulting Members consent to the inclusion of such information. 
3  TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE 19.  Developing country Members, and in particular least-developed country Members, may 
request assistance from the WTO Secretariat to promote their understanding of the use and 
functioning of these procedures. 
4  MONITORING 20.  The Secretariat will monitor the use of this pr ocedure, and will ensure that the conclusions of 
these procedures are reflected in the summary of Specific Trade Concerns (G/SPS/GEN/204). 
5  REVIEW AND DURATION 21.  This procedure will be reviewed periodically and revised as necessary by the Committee in 
light of experience gained through its application. Initially, this procedure shall apply for a period 
of [five] years from the adoption of the Decision by the Committee. Before the end of this period, 
the Committee shall decide on whether to continue, modify, or terminate this procedure in light of 
its experience and outcomes of the other proposals under discussion in the WTO Negotiating 
Groups or Committees. 
 
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2 G/SPS/1, paragraph 6.