RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/ACC/TON/9/Rev.1 
28 October 2005 
 (05-5010) 
Working Party on the  
Accession of Tonga Original:   English 
 
 
  
ACCESSION OF TONGA 
 
Submission from the Kingdom of Tonga
 
Revision  
 
Notification: Implementation and Admi nistration of the Agreement on the 
 Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures 
 The following submission, dated 26 September 2005, is being circulated at the request of  the 
Delegation of the Kingdom of Tonga. 
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The following submission provides information on the way that Tonga will implement the 
transparency provisions of the SPS Agreement, which relate to: notifications to inform other Members 
about new or changed regulations that affect thei r trading partners; answering reasonable questions; 
and publishing relevant regulations.  
1. Under the SPS Agreement, countries are required to designate a Notification Authority and an 
Enquiry Point.  In order to minimize the im pact on financial and physical resources and to 
build up trade policy expertise in this area in  a dedicated unit, Tonga has decided that the 
same body will operate both its Notifica tion Authority and its Enquiry Point. 
 Name of institution:  
 Ministry of Agriculture and Food 
 National SPS Notification Authority and Enquiry Point  Address: P.O. Box 14, Nuku’alofa, Kingdom of Tonga  Phone: +(676) 23038 / 23402  Fax: +(676) 23093 / 24271 / 24922  Email: hfaanunu@maf.gov.to
, maf-qqmd@kalianet.to  
 The Ministry of Agriculture and Food will be  responsible for making notifications to the 
WTO and ensuring transparency obligations ar e met on an ongoing basis.  As stated on 
previous occasions, the Notification Authority a nd Enquiry Point is already operational.  The 
Director, Ministry of Agriculture and Food is the officer responsible. It is staffed by one 
official and five working committee members.  The five committee members are technical 
advisors and administrative supporting staff fro m the relevant MAF divisions: Quarantine & 
Quality Management Division; Food Division; Livestock Division; Research & Extension Division; and Corporate Services Division (Policy). WT/ACC/TON/9/Rev.1 
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 2. The Notification Authority is responsible fo r: ensuring proposed regulations are published 
with sufficient time to allow for comments;  notifying other countries through the WTO 
Secretariat of SPS regulations using the appropriate notification forms for routine and emergency notifications; providing copies of proposed regulations on request; and ensuring 
that comments are handled correctly.   
 The responsibilities of the SPS enquiry point are: answering all reasonable questions from 
interested Members and providing relevant  documents regarding: any sanitary or 
phytosanitary regulations adopted or proposed  within Tonga; any control and inspection 
procedures, production and quarantine treatme nt, pesticide tolera nce and food additive 
approval procedures, which are operated within the country; risk assessment procedures, 
factors taken into consideration, as well as th e determination of the appropriate level of 
sanitary or phytosanitary protection; the memb ership and participation of Tonga, or of 
relevant bodies within its territory, in intern ational and regional sanitary and phytosanitary 
organizations and systems; the membership a nd participation of Tonga in bilateral and 
multilateral agreements and arrangements with in the scope of the SPS Agreement; and the 
texts of any such agreements and arrangements. 
 The resources at the disposal of the Notifica tion Authority / Enquiry Point are adequate for 
these purposes: it uses existing office infrast ructure and services and has word-processing 
capability (typewriter or computer), a photocopi er, and access to postal facilities, telephones, 
fax, electronic mail and Internet.  
 When applying the transparency provisions of the SPS Agreement, the staff of the 
Notification Authority / Enquiry Point will be guided by the WTO Secretariat Handbook: how 
to apply the transparency provisions of the SPS Agreement of September 2002.  All notifications will be made in English.  T onga will only charge the same cost for the 
documents as it would for its own nationals pl us the cost of delivering the documents. 
3. Tonga is a member of the Food Agriculture  Organization (FAO) and Codex Alimentarius 
Commission but not yet a Contracting party to the International Office of Epizootics (OIE) 
and the International Plant Protection Conventio n (IPPC).  Tonga is also a member of the 
Asia Pacific Plant Protection Commission (APPPC) and Pacific Plant Protection Organization (PPPO).  Tonga conforms to the standards set by FAO and other Standard Setting Bodies 
where possible. 
4. Given Tonga's free pest and disease status fo r both animals and plants and because Tonga has 
very limited resources to combat an inclusion of a serious animal or plant disease a negligible 
level of risk would be appropriate. 
5. Tonga confirms that it has the technical infr astructure in place required to implement the SPS 
Agreement.  Prior to Tonga’s accession to th e WTO, responsible government officials will 
receive additional training to ensure that, as from the date of accession, they are fully 
conversant with the requirements of the SPS Ag reement, including: the definition of SPS 
measures and the distinction between SPS me asures and TBT measures, the procedures for 
prior notification to the WTO Central Registry of Notifications of new sanitary and phytosanitary regulations or modifications to ex isting regulations, the steps to be taken when 
other countries make comments on a notified SPS measure.  
6. Tonga agrees to all articles in the Agre ement on the Application of Sanitary and 
Phytosanitary Measures and the Annexes appe nded, and will apply the Agreement from the 
date of its accession without any transitional pe riod.  Within this timeframe Tonga would seek  WT/ACC/TON/9/Rev.1 
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 technical assistance where necessary, to ensu re it had the capacity to implement the SPS 
Agreement correctly.   
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