G/SPS/W/297  
 
22 May 2018  
(18-3024) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
STRENGTHENING NATION AL SPS COMMITTEES TO  ENHANCE COORDINATION  AT THE 
NATIONAL, REGIONAL A ND INTERNATIONAL LEV ELS 
 
RECOMMENDATION FOR A  WORKSHOP OR THEMATIC  SESSION  
SUBMISSION BY BENIN,  BURKINA FASO, BURUND I, THE GAMBIA, GHANA , 
KENYA, MADAGASCAR, M OROCCO, NIGERIA, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AN D ZAMBIA  
The following submission, dated 18 May 2018, is being circulated at the request of Benin, Burkina 
Faso, Burundi, the Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Nigeria, the United States of 
America and Zambi a. 
 
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1.  Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, the Gambia, Ghana, Kenya,  Madagascar, Morocco, Nigeria,  the 
United States and Zambia note the importance of National SPS Committees (NSCs) in ensuring 
effective implementation and operation of the SPS Agr eement across agencies responsible for SPS 
matters at the national level. NSCs are also a vital forum for Members to develop and advance 
national SPS strategies to prevent and resolve trade barriers to their exports, as well as to 
improve human, animal and  plant health. The success of such SPS strategies depends largely on 
effective coordination and engagement of the NSCs across multiple regional and international 
organizations, including regional trade arrangements such as the East African Community,  
Econo mic Community of West African States , the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, 
the African Union, etc., as well as international bodies such as Codex, IPPC, the OIE, and, of 
course, the WTO SPS Committee. Such coordination and engagement can be c hallenging, 
particularly for Members with constrained resources and capacity.  
2.  We believe that the efficient organization and functioning of NSCs is essential in enabling 
greater and more productive coordination at all levels of engagement in order to achie ve the goals 
of food security, increased trade and income growth. We understand that most Members have 
established NSCs, and many of these NSCs are instrumental in developing positions prior to WTO 
SPS Committee meetings. We also note some of these positio ns are building blocks in reaching 
consensus at the regional level, as well as building strategies for engagement at the regional and 
international levels. The proposed workshop or thematic session could be used for Members to 
share the following:  
 The mech anism for establishment and composition of NSCs : Are NSCs established in 
more formal mechanisms such as legislation or regulations, or are they established 
through non –legislative approaches, such as inter -ministerial memorandum of 
understandings or inter -ministerial consensus terms of references? What are the 
advantages and disadvantages of these mechanisms? How are the roles and 
responsibilities distributed across agencies and what are frequencies of meetings? How are 
agendas of the NSCs meetings develope d? 
 
 The role of the private sector in advising or providing input to NSCs : Do NSCs rely 
on formal and informal procedures or mechanisms for advice and input into the 
development and implementation of national SPS policies, strategies and positions? If so, 
what are these mechanisms and procedures and how do they work?  
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   The procedures for developing national SPS strategies and positions in regional 
and international organizations: What are the procedures for developing consensus on 
national SPS policies, stra tegies and positions?  How does the NSC engage effectively and 
consistently on those strategies and positions across regional and international 
organizations?  
 
 Use of established information exchange mechanisms : The WTO has established 
online mechanisms , as well as participates in the SPS and TBT notification platform e-ping. 
How do Members make use  of such mechanisms to share and get comments? What about 
mechanisms by standard setting bodies  – do Members make use of these as well ? Can the 
Members provide  practical solutions on how to better use established mechanisms ? Are 
there possible improvements?  
 
 Role of NSCs in advocacy : Do NSCs have a role in communication and/or advocacy at 
the national level? Do Members see any role of NSCs in addressing threats including 
invasive pest species and food biological hazards?  
 
3.  We propose that the SPS Committee examine these matters, as well as others of interest to 
Members, through an exchange of experiences in a thematic session or workshop to be held in late 
2018 or early 2019. Following the Committee's examination of these matters, we would welcome 
other Members' views as to whether a "good practices" document would be useful to Members. In 
our view, a collection of good practices could assist developing countries, r ecently acceded 
Members and countries seeking to accede to the WTO. We are interested in others' views.  
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