WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/SPS/GEN/1156 
25 June 2012 
 (12-3352) 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures   
  
 
DRAFT PROGRAMME FOR WORKSHOP ON TRANSPARENCY 
 
Note by the Secretariat
1 
 
 
1. The Secretariat of the World Trade Organization is organizing a special workshop on the 
transparency provisions of the Agreement on the A pplication of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures 
(SPS Agreement), to be held in Geneva, Switz erland, on Monday, 15 October 2012 and in the 
morning of Tuesday, 16 October 2012.  The workshop will be followed by informal and formal meetings of the SPS Committee, lasting until Frid ay, 19 October 2012.  Representatives of Members, 
Observers and Observer Organizations are all invite d to participate in the transparency workshop as 
well as the subsequent meeting of the Committee. 
2. Document G/SPS/GEN/997/Rev.2 contains detailed information on the workshop, the link to 
the application form as well as the requirements a nd the deadline for submission of applications.  
More than 130 applications were received by th e deadline of 15 June 2012.  The WTO, with the 
financial assistance of the Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund (DDAGTF), will sponsor 
the participation of approximately 50 government  officials from developing country Members and 
Observers.  The Secretariat will select participants  to be sponsored from applications received from 
capital-based officials holding direct responsibilities in the work of either the SPS enquiry point or the 
national notification authority.  Exceptions will be made for candidates from WTO Members that have not yet designated their SPS e nquiry point and/or the national no tification authority, as well as 
for WTO Observers, on the basis of evidence that the candidate has, or will have, responsibilities 
related to SPS notifications.      
3. The workshop is intended to be  a highly interactive, "hands -on" training event focussing in 
particular on the use of the SPS Information Mana gement System (SPS-IMS) and on the system for 
the on-line submission of SPS notifications (SPS-NSS). 
4. The following is the proposed programme of the workshop.  Delegations wishing to provide 
any specific comments regarding this programme should submit them to the WTO (email: 
javier.ocampo@wto.org) by 23 July 2012.  For fu rther enquiries about the workshop, please contact 
Mr. Javier Ocampo (tel:  +41 22 739 5763;  fax:  +41 22 739-5760,  e-mail:  javier.ocampo@wto.org).  
                                                      
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. G/SPS/GEN/1156 
Page 2  
 
  WORKSHOP ON TRANSPARENCY 
 
DRAFT PROGRAMME  
 
 
Monday, 15 October 2012 (Council Room) 
 
 
10.00 – 10.15    Opening remarks by Maria Albarec e, Chair of the SPS Committee  
 
10.15 – 10.45  Session I:  Introduction  
 
Speakers:  Gretchen Stanton, Javier Ocampo, WTO Secretariat 
 Overview of transparency provisions in the SPS Agreement and of 
relevant Committee/Ministerial Decisions  
 How does the SPS IMS work?(presentation)  
 
11.00 – 13.00  Session II:  Practical session on the use of the SPS IMS  
  Participants will break into three gr oups (i) English speakers, (ii) French 
speakers and (iii) Spanish speakers.  
 Who could/should track incoming notifications? 
 How could notifications of interest  be identified and shared with 
stakeholders? 
 How could comments on incoming notifications be collected and shared 
with notifying Member? 
 The SPS IMS and resolving trade concerns 
 How does the SPS IMS work?(presentation and exercise) 
 
13.00 – 15.00 Lunch break  
15.00 – 17.00  Session III:  Codex, OIE and IPPC online tools  
 
15.00 – 15.30  TBC - (Codex)  
15.30 – 16.00  TBC - (OIE)  
16.00 – 16.30  TBC - (IPPC)  
  Speaker:  Codex, OIE and IPPC representatives 
16.30 – 17.00 Q&A 
 17.00 – 17.30  Session IV:  The integrated Trade Intelligence Portal (I-TIP)   
  What is I-TIP and its relationship with the SPS IMS 
  Speaker:  TBC, WTO Secretariat 
 
17.30 – 18.00  Wrap up session  first day 
      G/SPS/GEN/1156 
 Page 3 
 
 
      Tuesday, 16 October 2012 (Council Room) 
  10.00 – 10.15 Session V:  Overview of the SPS NSS 
 Presentation of Members' level of implementation of transparency 
provisions and decisions (G/SPS/GEN/804/Rev.5) 
 How does the on-line submission facility work? 
 10.30 – 12.00 Session VI:  Practical session on how to prepare notifications (SPS NSS) 
  Participants will break into three gr oups (i) English speakers, (ii) French 
speakers and (iii) Spanish speakers.  
 What should be notified and when? 
 Who should notify? 
 What format should be used? 
 Who could be consulted with questions during preparations? 
 To whom should notifications be sent? 
 SPS NSS hands-on exercise 
 
12.00 – 12.30 Session VII:  Sharing of nati onal experiences in the use of WTO online 
tools  
  Speakers:  TBC (one representative from Africa and one from Latin America)   
 
12.30 – 12.45 Session VIII:  Identification of follow-up actions and evaluation of 
workshop 
  Facilitators:  Gretchen Stanton, Javier Ocampo, WTO Secretariat 
 
12.45 – 13.00    Closing remarks by Maria Albarece, Chair of the SPS Committee  
  
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