WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/SPS/GEN/1156/Rev.1 
3 October 2012 
 (12-5350) 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures   
  
 
PROGRAMME FOR WORKSHOP ON TRANSPARENCY 
 
Note by the Secretariat
1 
 
Revision 
  
1. The Secretariat of the World Trade Organization is organizing a special workshop on the 
transparency provisions of the Agreement on the A pplication of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures 
(SPS Agreement), to be held in Geneva, Switz erland, on Monday, 15 October 2012 and in the 
morning of Tuesday, 16 October 2012.  The workshop will be followed by informal and formal 
meetings of the SPS Committee, lasting until Frid ay, 19 October 2012.  Representatives of Members, 
Observers and Observer Organizations are all invite d to participate in the transparency workshop as 
well as the subsequent meeting of the Committee. 
2. The workshop is intended to be  a highly interactive, "hands -on" training event focussing in 
particular on the use of the SPS Information Mana gement System (SPS-IMS) and on the system for 
the on-line submission of SPS notifications (SPS-NSS). 
3. Representatives from the Codex Alimentarius, the World Organization for Animal Health and 
the International Plant Protection Convention will pr ovide information on their online tools that can 
be helpful to Members.  The workshop will also benefit from the presentation by government officials 
from Morocco and Costa Rica on their national expe rience with regards to the submission of SPS 
notifications through the SPS NSS.  
4. The programme of the workshop is below. 
                                                      
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. G/SPS/GEN/1156/Rev.1 
Page 2  
 
  WORKSHOP ON TRANSPARENCY 
 
PROGRAMME  
 
Monday, 15 October 2012 (Council Room) 
 
 
10.00 – 10.15    Opening remarks  
 
10.15 – 10.45  Session I:  Introduction  
 
Speakers:  Gretchen Stanton, Javier Ocampo, WTO Secretariat 
 Overview of transparency provisions in the SPS Agreement and of 
relevant Committee/Ministerial Decisions  
 How does the SPS IMS work? (presentation)  
 
11.00 – 13.00  Session II:  Practical session on the use of the SPS IMS  
  Participants will break into three gr oups (i) English speakers, (ii) French 
speakers and (iii) Spanish speakers.  
 Who could/should track incoming notifications? 
 How could notifications of interest  be identified and shared with 
stakeholders? 
 How could comments on incoming notifications be collected and shared 
with notifying Member? 
 The SPS IMS and resolving trade concerns 
 SPS IMS exercises 
 13.00 – 15.00 Lunch break 
 
15.00 – 17.00  Session III:  Codex, OIE and IPPC online tools  
 
15.00 – 15.30  Access to current OIE standards, a nd supporting information available via 
WAHIS on the OIE website  
Speaker: Derek Belton, Head International Trade Department, OIE 
 
15.30 – 15.50  Access to current Codex standa rds and related information 
Speaker: Selman Doyran, Secretary, Codex  
15.50 – 16.30  Information available under the IPPC framework  
  Speaker:  Yukio Yokoi, Secretary, IPPC 
16.30 – 17.00 Q&A 
 17.00 – 17.30  Session IV:  The integrated Trade Intelligence Portal (I-TIP)   
  What is I-TIP and its relationship with the SPS IMS 
  Speaker:  Jurgen Richtering, WTO Secretariat 
17.30 – 18.00  Wrap up session  first day  G/SPS/GEN/1156/Rev.1 
 Page 3 
 
 
      Tuesday, 16 October 2012 (Council Room) 
  10.00 – 10.15 Session V:  Overview of the SPS NSS 
 Presentation of Members' level of implementation of transparency 
provisions and decisions (G/SPS/GEN/804/Rev.5) 
 How does the on-line submission facility work? 
 10.30 – 12.00 Session VI:  Practical session on how to prepare notifications (SPS NSS) 
  Participants will break into three gr oups (i) English speakers, (ii) French 
speakers and (iii) Spanish speakers.  
 What should be notified and when? 
 Who should notify? 
 What format should be used? 
 Who could be consulted with questions during preparations? 
 To whom should notifications be sent? 
 SPS NSS hands-on exercises 
 12.00 – 12.30 Session VII:  Sharing of nati onal experiences in the use of WTO online 
tools  
  Speakers:   
 Hamid Lachhab, Director, Regulator y and Standardization Division, 
National Office for Food Safety, Morocco 
 Virginia Salazar Losilla, Officer in charge of SPS Notifications, SPS 
NNA, Ministry of Agriculture and livestock, Costa Rica  
 
12.30 – 12.45 Session VIII:  Identification of follow-up actions and evaluation of 
workshop 
  Facilitators:  Gretchen Stanton, Javier Ocampo, WTO Secretariat 
 
12.45 – 13.00    Closing remarks  
 
 
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