G/SPS/W/274  
 
19 February 2014  
(14-1024)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
FOURTH REVIEW OF THE OPERATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AGREEMENT 
ON THE APPLICATION OF SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES1 
THE TRANSPARENCY OBLIGATIONS OF THE SPS AGREEMENT (ARTICLE 7 AND ANNEX B) 
Submission by the European Union 
The following communication, received on 16 December 2013, is being circulated at the request of 
the Delegation of the European Union. 
 
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1  INTRODUCTION 
1.1.  As part of the Fourth Review of the Oper ation and Implementation of the Agreement on the 
Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Meas ures (the SPS Agreemen t), pursuant to the 
provisions of Article 12.7 of the Agreement, the Se cretariat has invited Members to identify issues 
they wish to be considered in the Review by 17 December 2013. 
1.2.  The European Union has identified transparen cy as an issue that merits the attention of the 
SPS Committee. 
1.3.  Transparency is one of the fundamental prin ciples of the WTO agreements. It aims to achieve 
a greater degree of clarity, predictability and relia bility of information between trading partners by 
making Members' trade policies more widely known. By implementing actions to enhance 
transparency, trading partners are alerted to, and may influence, measures that other Members 
plan to introduce to bring their trade policies to life. 
1.4.  The principle of transparency can be upheld in a number of ways. 
1.5.  For the purposes of the 4
th Review of the SPS Agreement, the European Union would like to 
emphasise the principle of transparency with re gard to notifications: the practice whereby 
WTO Members are informed about new or modified "regulations" or "measures" (laws, decrees, 
ordinances etc.) applied to protect human, animal or plant life or health. This is particularly 
important in those cases where such regulations are expected to have a signif icant effect on trade. 
1.6.  Since 1995, there have been a total of around 16,000 notifications submitted under the 
SPS Agreement. An upward trend in these figures has been seen in recent years. It goes without 
saying, that the quality and completeness of these notifications are crucial to ensure full 
transparency. 
1.7.  A close examination of the notifications su bmitted to date reveals that while the number of 
notifications (quantity) is on the increase, the content of these same notifications in terms of the 
information provided, the comment period allowed, the availability of notified legal texts and other quality parameters has not improved to the same degree. 
                                               
1 This document was first circulated under G/SPS/GEN/1293 on 17 December 2013. G/SPS/W/274 
 
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  1.8.  A related area that merits closer examination is the availability, at any given time, of all 
regulations or measures adopted by WTO Members. Insufficient access to such information poses a major obstacle to trade, particularly for developing countries. 
1.9.  Transparency provisions in relation to the WTO SPS Agreement have already been discussed 
on previous occasions. They were revisited during the 2
nd Review of the Agreement in 2005 with a 
number of recommendations being adopted at that time. 
1.10.  On 30 May 2008, the Committee also adopted revised "Recommended Procedures for 
Implementing the Transparency Obligations of the SPS Agreement" which took effect as of 
1 December 2008 and can be found under G/SPS/7/Rev.3. 
1.11.  These procedures, while not creating legal obligations, are meant to facilitate the 
implementation of transparency provisions. They  have become the reference of best practice 
among Members and in principle, are followed by a vast majority. 
1.12.  Given the importance of transparency and the usefulness of having more Members follow 
these recommended procedures, it is considered to be useful, five years after their entry into 
force, to look at these procedures again, to assess how effective they really are and whether areas 
for improvement exist in the implementa tion of the transparency provisions. 
2  PROPOSAL 
2.1.  The Committee should review the implementa tion of the transparency provisions of the 
SPS Agreement (Article 7 and Annex B), including - where necessary - further developing the above mentioned "Recommended Procedures for Im plementing the Transparency Obligations of 
the SPS Agreement". 
 
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