G/SPS/W/280/Corr.1  
 
4 July 2014  
(14-3866)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures    
 
 REVIEW OF THE OPERATION AND IMPLEMENTATION 
OF THE SPS AGREEMENT 
DRAFT REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE1 
Corrigendum* 
Please note that the chart numbers have been corrected in the following paragraphs: 
 
6.11.  As can be seen in Chart 1, the share of notifications submitted by developing country 
Members (excluding LDCs) reaches 51% while the share of those submitted by developed country Members is 48%, reflecting the steady increase in notifications from developing country Members over the years. A very small share comes from LDCs. 
6.12.  Looking at the geographic regions from whic h the notifications originate, Chart 2 shows that 
the majority of notifications come from North America, followed by Asia, and then South and Central America and the Caribbean.
33 
10.2.  Altogether, 368 specific trade concerns  were raised between 1995 and the end of 2013.53 
Chart 3 shows the number of new concerns raised each year; about 20 new concerns have been 
raised annually since 2010. Chart 4 categorizes the trade concerns raised since 2010 into food 
safety, animal or plant health issues. It is important to keep in mind, however, that some issues 
may relate to more than one of these categories. Concerns relating to zoonoses, for example, may 
relate to measures taken with both animal health  and food safety objectives. For the purposes of 
these graphs, a single objective has been designated as the principal concern, however all relevant 
keywords have been assigned for purposes of electronic searches of the data on specific trade 
concerns. Since 2010, 45% of trade concerns raised relate to food safety, 17% relate to plant health, and 6% concern other issues such as certification requirements or translation. 32% of 
concerns raised relate to animal health and zoonoses. The animal health and zoonoses category is 
further divided into foot-and-mouth disease (FMD ), transmissible spongiform encephalopathies 
(TSEs), avian influenza (AI) and other animal health concerns (OAH). Chart 5 shows that TSEs 
account for 24% of animal health concerns raised since 2010, and issues related to FMD also 
account for 24%. The remaining 52% relate to OAH concerns and AI. 
10.4  Developing country Members have been participating actively under this agenda item in the 
SPS Committee meetings. Chart 6 indicates that over the last four years, developing country 
Members have raised 56 trade concerns (on many occasions more than one Member has raised, 
supported or maintained an issue) compared to 28 raised by developed country Members and one raised by a least-developed country Member. A developing country Member has supported another 
Member raising an issue in 54 cases, compared to 34 for developed country Members and two for 
                                               
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. 
* In English only. 
33 The geographical groupings used rely on WTO work ing definitions as identi fied in the Integrated 
Database (IDB) for analytical purposes. The same gr oupings are used in the WTO Annual Reports. North 
America (NA) here, as well as in Chart 2, in cludes Canada, Mexico and the United States. 
53 Information relevant to this se ction, but which precedes the period under review, can be found in 
former revisions of do cument G/SPS/GEN/204. 
54 As any individual trade concern can potentially be raised by more than one Member, this explains the 
apparent double-counting shown in Charts 6 and 7 comp ared with the overall count of the 78 specific trade 
concerns raised since 2010. G/SPS/W/280/Corr.1 
 
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  least-developed country Members. In 35 cases, the measure at issue was maintained by a 
developed country Member, and in 40 cases it wa s maintained by a developing country Member. 
Only one trade concern regarding measures maintained by least-developed country Members has been raised. Chart 7 shows the number of new issues raised since 2010 by each category of 
Member.
54 
10.5.  Members are regularly invited to report on resolved issues without delay. Chart 8 indicates 
that 141 trade concerns have been reported as resolved out of the 368 trade concerns raised over 
the 18 years. 62 issues were reported as reso lved between 2010 and 2013, 40 of these in 2013 
alone. 13 trade concerns were reported as partia lly solved during the period under review. In 
these instances, trade may have been allowed for selected products or by some of the importing Members maintaining the measure in question. No solutions have been reported for the remaining 
196 trade concerns. It is also likely that other concerns have been resolved without the Committee 
being made aware of these developments. 
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