G/SPS/GEN/1454  
 
6 October 2015  
(15-5183)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
 UPDATE ON RECENT ACTIVITIES BY THE OECD OF INTEREST TO THE SPS COMMITTEE 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE OECD 
The following communication, received on 5 October 2015, is being circulated at the request of the 
OECD. 
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1  INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY COOPERATION 
1.  The OECD is continuing its horizontal work on international regulatory co-operation, which 
entails close collaboration among the trade, agricu lture and regulatory divisions. The trade aspect 
of the project contains three parts, namely a Th eoretical Framework, case studies on existing 
regulatory cooperation initiatives and a practical tool (the IRC Diagnostic Tool), all of which relate to and build on each other. The Diagnostic Tool will rely on the principles developed by the 
theoretical framework and the practices highlighted from the case studies. 
2.  The Theoretical Framework addresses the questi on on how to increase welfare through reduced 
regulatory heterogeneity. It uses game theoretical concepts to analyse how to strike the balance 
between the domestic effects of regulation and economic losses arising from regulatory 
heterogeneity. Work on the Theoretical Framewor k has advanced and a first draft, focusing on 
product and production requirements from regula tions, is being discussed at the relevant OECD 
Working Parties. Future work on the Theoretica l Framework will focus on conformity assessment 
and certification costs, costs related to the desi gn and implementation of (changed) regulations, 
the differentiation between fixed and variable trade costs as well as options for addressing heterogeneity-related trade costs with out regulatory changes (e.g., MRAs). 
3.  The case studies cover a wide array of sectors such as energy efficiency in household 
appliances, vehicle safety, organic products, and wine. SPS issues are currently covered to some extent in the case study on the wine sector. The project will also include an additional SPS-specific 
case study, probably focusing on pesticide resi dues. The wine case study will examine different 
initiatives carried out by the World Wine Trad e Group (e.g., Memorandum of understanding on 
Certification Requirements), the Wine Regulatory Forum within APEC (e.g., Alignment of export certificates) and the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) (e.g., activities of the 
Subcommittee on Methods of analyses). The SPS-specific case would investigate the cooperation 
undertaken by the North American Free Trade Agreement Technical Working Group and the 
Canada-US Regulatory Cooperation Council. Collecting the data for the case studies has started 
and a questionnaire will be sent to experts of ea ch country involved in the regulatory cooperation 
initiatives. The case studies target regulatory cooperation mechanisms known in the SPS context, for example harmonization or mutual recognition. While the analysis focuses on the process of 
regulatory cooperation by examining the conditions and factors that have influenced the 
collaboration and the outcome, the core analytical direction is set on trade costs resulting from the 
regulatory diversity in each case and the trade implications which collaboration achieved. 
4.  Drawing on the theoretical framework and the analysis of the case studies, the practical IRC 
Diagnostic Tool will suggest a step-by-step approach to achieve a balance between reaching 
regulatory objectives and facilitating trade. It is a tool that will help countries to identify and select the most favourable international regulatory co-operation mechanisms. More extensive work on G/SPS/GEN/1454 
 
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  the Diagnostic Tool will commence once the Theoretical Framework and the case studies have 
sufficiently advanced to build on them. 
5.  The OECD will be happy to provide a new update on this work for the next meeting of the 
SPS Committee. 
 
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