WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/W/227 
23 June 2008 
 (08-2988) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
ARTICLE 12.2 - CONSULTATIONS 
 
Proposal by the United States
 
  
 The following communication, received on 23 June 2008, is being circulated at the request of 
the Delegation of the United States
. 
 
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BACKGROUND 
 
1. Article 12.2 of the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures 
(SPS Agreement) states that the SPS Committee (the Committee): 
"... shall encourage and facilitate ad hoc  consultations or ne gotiations among Members 
on specific sanitary or phytosanitary issues.   The Committee shall encourage the use of 
international standards, guidelines or reco mmendations by all Members and, in this 
regard, shall sponsor technical consultati on and study with the objective of increasing 
coordination and integration between international and na tional systems and approaches 
for approving the use of food additives or for establishing tolerances for contaminants in 
foods, beverages or feedstuffs." 
2. In this regard, the Working Proce dures of the Committee provide that: 
"With respect to any matter which has been raised under the Agreement, the 
Chairperson may, at the request of the Members directly concerned, assist them in dealing with the matter in question.  Th e Chairperson shall normally report to the 
Committee on the general outcome with respect to the matter in question."
1 
3. As has been noted, the Members have made u se of consultations under Article 12.2 on three 
prior occasions.2 
4. The WTO Secretariat has invited the Committee to "consider whether more explicit guidance 
of the use of "Good Offices" would be helpful to Members, or whether other mechanisms for ad hoc 
consultations shoul d be developed".3 
5. The United States believes that the Committee meeting process, coupled with bilateral 
discussions, remains the best  forum for Members to raise concerns regarding the measures and related 
technical issues of other Members and encourages th e Members to continue to  participate in these 
meetings and discussions.   
                                                      
1 G/SPS/1, para. 6. 
2 G/SPS/1, para. 6; Communication from Argentina, G/SPS/W/219, footnote 3 (17 March 2008). 
3 JOB(07)/14, para. 30. G/SPS/W/227 
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  6. However, SPS measures, their scientific bases, and related technical issues are often complex 
and Members may gain a better understanding of thei r concerns if they have the opportunity to 
consult with one another within the context of  a formal procedure under Article 12.2.  Such 
consultations may involve discussions on the technical aspects of the measure(s) and scientific support, as well as explore other related technica l issues, including the possibility of technical 
exchanges or special and differen tial treatment, where available. 
7. With these goals in mind, the United States consid ers that the elaboration of guidelines for the 
use of the consultations referred to in Article 12.2 would encourage and facilitate their use.  
Accordingly, the United States propo ses the following guidelines.   
GUIDELINES 
 
8. Any Member may at any time request consulta tions regarding any SPS measure(s) or related 
technical issue(s). 
9. Member participation in consultations is voluntary. 
10. The decision of whether to participate in cons ultations, and all positi ons taken by Members 
during such consultations, will be without prejudice to the rights or obligations of a Member under the 
WTO Agreements. 
11. The consulting Members will treat as confiden tial the information submitted and positions 
taken during consultations, unless consen ted to by the consulting Members. 
12. A Member (the "requesting Member") must requ est consultations with another Member (the 
"responding Member") in writing.  The request will refe r to the measure(s) or technical issue(s) to be 
consulted on and state any preliminary questions an d concerns regarding the measure(s) or technical 
issue(s).  In addition to sending the request to the responding Member, the requesting Member will 
send the request to the Secretariat on the same day as the request is made. 
13. The responding Member will notify the requesti ng Member in writing whether it accepts or 
rejects the request within 14 days of receiving the request.  The responding Member will also send the 
response to the Secretariat on the same day as the response is made. 
14. Where the responding Member has accepted th e consultations request, the consulting 
Members will confer at a mutually acceptable time to discuss the parameters of the consultations, including, but not be limited to: whether the Chairper son (or a designee thereof) will have a role in the 
consultations, and, if so, whether that role will be  limited to providing logistical and administrative 
assistance or whether the Chairperson (or designee th ereof) will participate in the consultations to 
facilitate a better understanding of the concern(s) at  issue; whether the production of written responses 
and supplementary questions are desirable; and whether a mutually acceptable schedule for such 
submissions and for further meetings, if necessary, can be determined.   
15. Consulting Members will endeavour to schedule fa ce-to-face consultations that take place in 
Geneva and that coincide with a scheduled meeting of the Committee.   
16. Where a consulting Member identifies a standard , guideline, or recommendation of any of the 
three relevant standard setting bodies (Codex, OIE,  and IPPC), the consulting Members may jointly 
request the participation of the secretariat of the organization whose standard, guideline, or 
recommendation has been invoked to explain the scope  or content of that standard, guideline, or 
recommendation.  G/SPS/W/227 
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  17. The consulting Members will endeavour to comp lete the consultations within a reasonable 
period of time. 
18. Either consulting Member may conclude th e consultations at any time with written 
notification to the other Member.  The Member th at concludes the consultations will report to the 
Secretariat and the Chairperson (or designee ther eof), if the Chairperson is involved in the 
consultations pursuant to paragraph 14, th at the consultations  have concluded. 
19. At the conclusion of the consultations, and wit hout prejudice to the confidential nature of the 
consultations,4 the Chairperson will report the general out come of the consultations to the Committee 
in accordance with the established wo rking procedures of the Committee.5 
20. At no time may the Chairperson, or any desi gnee thereof, opine on a measure or technical 
issue’s consistency with any WTO ag reement, including the SPS Agreement. 
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4 See supra , para. 11. 
5 G/SPS/1, para. 6.