G/SPS/W/259/Rev.6  
 
10 June 2013  
(13-3019)  Page: 1/4  
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures    
 
PROPOSED RECOMMENDED PROCEDURE 
RELATING TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 12.21 
Revision 
INTRODUCTION 
Article 12.2 of the Agreement on the Application 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 
The Committee has recognized the usefulness of Articl e 12.2, and in particular of the good offices 
of the Chairperson, as a means of facilitating the resolution of trade problems.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. 
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, working towards compromises in five areas. The resulting fifth revision 
was discussed in March 2013 by the eWG and in an informal meeting of the Committee. 
After the March 2013 meeting of the Committee, the stewards considered all comments received 
and revised their proposed compromise texts. These were compiled, and circulated for further 
rounds of comments from the stewards themselves and subsequently from the eWG. Comments 
were received from eleven Members of the e-Working Group. In light of the diverse comments, it is clear that not every comment could be taken on board. The present revision of the text takes into consideration these comments, and proposes modified text, with a view to bridging the 
different positions expressed by Members. 
 
                                               
1 This document has been prepared under the Chairp erson's and the Secretariat's 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/SP S/W/248; G/SPS/W/243/Rev.4; and JOB/SPS/1. G/SPS/W/259/Rev.6 
 
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  RECOMMENDED PROCEDURE TO ENCOURAGE AND FACILITATE 
THE RESOLUTION OF SPECIFIC SANITARY OR PHYTOSANITARY ISSUES AMONG 
MEMBERS IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARTICLE 12.2 
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 the resolution of specific sanitary or phytosanitary 
issues among Members, 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, foreseen in Article 12.2 of the Agreement and in 
the Working Procedures of the Committee, offers 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 
1.1.  This procedure is intended to encourage and facilitate the resolution of specific sanitary or 
phytosanitary issues among Members, 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] 
1.2.  This procedure is without prejudice to the existing rights and obligations of Members under 
the SPS Agreement or any other WTO agreement. This procedure is not intended to prejudice in any way the process or outcome of the work of other WTO bodies. 
1.3.  Any Member(s) may at any time request co nsultations with another Member(s) 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 2.1.  A Member (hereinafter the "requesting Member") requests consultations with another 
Member (the "responding Member"), in writing, in a WTO working language. The request will 
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 
provision(s) of the Agreement and relevant international standards, guidelines or recommendations adopted by the pertinent international organizations as referred to in the 
Agreement. 
                                               
[1] By voluntary participation, it is understood that a Member that has received a request for 
consultation is free to accept  or reject that request. G/SPS/W/259/Rev.6 
 
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  2.2.  In addition to sending the request to th e responding Member, the requesting Member sends 
at the same time a copy of the request to the Chairperson of the Committee and the Secretariat. If the requesting Member wishes, a copy of the re quest or a summary thereof will also be made 
available to the Committee as a WTO document. The request will initially be held for up to 30 
days, to be circulated together with the response if the responding Member wishes. If no response 
is received within the deadline, or if the responding Member does not wish to circulate its response, the request will be circulated on its own when the 30-day period is over. 
2.2  Response to a Request 
2.3.  Unless otherwise mutually agreed, the responding Member will provide a written response 
within 30 days in a WTO language, accepting or rejecting the request for consultations. To the extent possible, a negative response will address the concerns and issues raised in the request.   
2.4.  In addition to sending the response to th e requesting Member, the responding Member sends 
at the same time a copy of the response to th e Chairperson of the Committee and the Secretariat. 
If the responding Member wishes, a copy of the response or a summary thereof will also be made 
available to the Committee as a WTO document. 
2.5.  At the subsequent meeting of the Committ ee, the Chairperson will inform the Committee of 
any request for consultations made under this procedure since the last meeting of the Committee 
and the corresponding answer to that request (i.e., whether the request was accepted, rejected) 
and of all ongoing consultations under a separate agenda item.  
2.6.  Any information considered confidential by any of the consulting Members will not be shared 
with the Committee without their agreement.  
2.3  Consultation Procedure 
2.7.  When the responding Member has accepted the consultation request, the consulting Members 
will agree on a Facilitator. The Chairperson of the Committee will normally serve as the Facilitator, 
unless the consulting Members decide otherwise.   
2.8.  The role of the Facilitator is to encourage and facilitate an exchange between the consulting 
Members on specific SPS issues raised in the consul tations with a view to resolving the issue. With 
the agreement of the consulting Members, the Facilitator may suggest one or more possible ways 
forward in an attempt to resolve the concerns.  
2.9.  At the start of consultations, the Facilitator and the consulting Members should agree on a 
schedule, format and place of meetings, and determine under what terms and conditions the input 
of technical expertise and third party participation is desirable. 
2.10.  The Facilitator shall communicate about the SPS issue in question only with the consulting 
Members and, in the event there are any, also with third party participating Members. Such 
communication shall be consistent with the terms agreed to in paragraph 2.11. 
2.11.  All communications (whether in oral or written form) in the course of the consultation 
between the Facilitator and consulting Members, and, where relevant, other participating third 
parties, shall be confidential. All documents generated by a Facilitator or a consulting or 
participating Member shall be confidential, unless otherwise agreed by the consulting Members, and without prejudice to the rights and obligation s of a Member under the WTO Agreement, or any 
other international agreement to which it is a party. 
2.12.  The consulting Members shall complete the co nsultations within a reasonable period of time 
that shall be mutually agreed, and should not su rpass 180 days, unless they agree on a different 
timeframe.  Any of the consulting Members may decide to end the consultations at any time, and 
should do so through written notification to the other consulting Member(s). The Member or 
Members (if acting jointly) will promptly and simultaneously provide written notification to the Facilitator, the Chair and the Secretariat that the consultations have ended. G/SPS/W/259/Rev.6 
 
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  2.13.  The Facilitator shall prepare and issue a written factual report on the consultations to the 
consulting Members. Prior to issuing this report, the Facilitator will provide consulting Members with a draft report. Consulting Members shall normally be given 30 days to comment. After considering these comments, the Facilitator shall issue a final, factual report to the consulting 
Members. Unless otherwise agreed by the consulting Members, the Facilitator’s report will be 
confidential and will not be shared with the Committee or any other Members. 
2.14.  The Chair will report the general outc ome of the consultations to the Committee in 
accordance with the established Working Procedures of the Committee.
2 If agreed by all consulting 
Members, the Facilitator will make available the final factual report, or a summary thereof, to the Committee as a WTO document. The report will not contain confidential information unless all consulting Members consent to the inclusion of such information. 
3  TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE 
3.1.  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 4.1.  The Secretariat will report once a year on the use of this procedure to the Committee. 
5  REVIEW AND DURATION 
5.1.  The Committee shall review the implementation of this procedure, in light of the experiences 
of Members, as an integral part of its periodic Review of the Operation and Implementation of the 
Agreement under Article 12.7. The next such revi ew is to be completed in 2014, and every four 
years subsequently. The Committee may decide to modify, suspend or terminate this procedure at 
any time, in light of the experiences of Members in its implementation and relevant developments 
in other WTO bodies. 
 
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2 G/SPS/1, paragraph 6.