WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/L/794 
30 October 2006 
 (06-5206) 
  
  
 
 
REPORT (2006) ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE  
COMMITTEE ON SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES 
  
 
1. The present report is being circulated by the Chairperson of the Committee on Sanitary and 
Phytosanitary Measures on his own responsibility.  This report provides a summary of the activities 
and decisions of the Committee as of 26 October 2006. 
2. The Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary M easures (the "SPS Committee") has held four 
regular meetings in 2006:  a meeting co mmenced on 24 October 2005 was concluded on 1-
2 February;  29-30 March;  27- 28 June;  and 11-13 October.
1  At the March meeting, Mr. Juan 
Antonio Dorantes (Mexico) was appointed Chairperson for the period 2006/2007. 
3. The Committee began consideration of issues arising from the Second Review of the 
operation of the SPS Agreement at its February meeti ng.  At the March, June and October meetings, 
the Committee further discussed submissions from Memb ers at informal and regular meetings of the 
Committee.2  The Committee should determine what furthe r work may be appropriate on these issues. 
4. During 2006, the Committee also continued its ex amination of the implementation of the SPS 
Agreement and the concerns of developing count ries.  The proposals referred to the SPS Committee 
by the General Council were on the agenda of each  meeting of the Committee.  Although there were 
substantive discussions of some revisions informally  suggested by the African Group at the February, 
March and October meetings, the Committee was not able to reach a decision on any of the specific 
proposals as presented.3  However, with a view to fulfilling the Doha Development Mandate, several 
Members suggested approaches to advance the wo rk of the Committee to address the proposals as 
identified by Members including seeking clarification of the concerns underlying the proposals.  At its 
meeting in February, the Committee agreed to exte nd the Procedure to enhan ce the transparency of 
special and differential treatm ent adopted in October 20044, and Members were invited to share with 
the Committee their experiences under this procedure.   In June, the United States introduced a paper 
containing a compilation of ideas related to technical assistance and special and differential treatment
5, taking into account information provided by developing country Members at the 
Workshop on the Implementation of the Agreement, held on 31 March 2006.6  The Committee agreed 
that special and differential treatment would remain a standing agenda item. 
                                                      
1 The report of the February meeting is contained in G/SPS/R/39 and corrigenda 1 and 2, that of the 
March meeting in G/SPS/R/40 and corrigendum, that of the June meeting in G/SPS/R/42 and the report of the 
October meeting will be circulated as G/SPS/R/43. 
2 G/SPS/GEN/722. 
3 G/SPS/41. 
4 G/SPS/33 and G/SPS/33/Add.1. 
5 G/SPS/W/198. 
6 G/SPS/R/41. G/L/794 
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  5. At its regular meetings, the SPS Committee co nsidered a wide range of specific trade 
concerns, including many related to individual notifications.  The issues discussed included, inter alia , 
trade restrictions relating to general administrative SPS procedures;  concerns regarding maximum levels of pesticide residues in several products;  measures taken in response to avian influenza, bovine 
spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) , foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and Newcastle disease;  and 
various plant health concerns, including import rest rictions on longhorn beetles in wooden handicrafts 
from tolerance levels for soil content on potato tube rs, and import restrictions on Enoki mushrooms.  
A number of questions regarding the lack of r ecognition of animal disease-free and plant pest-free 
status and the implementation of the internationa l phytosanitary standard on wood packing material 
were also considered by the Committee.  In 2006, new specific trade concerns were raised, and five 
were reported to have been resolved.
7  Specific trade concerns raised in the Committee during 2006 
will be summarized in the seventh revision of G/SPS/GEN/204.  
6. In accordance with the transp arency provisions of the SPS Agreement, 997 notifications 
(including addenda, corrigenda and revisions) we re submitted in the period 1 January to 
31 October 2006, bringing the tota l number of SPS notifications submitted since the entry into force 
of the Agreement to almost 7,196.  Using the mechanism agreed in the March 2004 Committee 
meeting, the availability of two unofficial translatio ns of notified documents we re notified in the same 
period.8 
7. The operation of the transparency provisions  of the SPS Agreement continued to be a 
standing item on the agenda for the regular mee tings of 2006.  The Committee also continued 
discussion on the ways to provide targeted technical assistance to those developing country Members 
still failing to meet the transparency provisions of  the Agreement.  The Secretariat reported on the 
status of development of its information manage ment system (SPS-IMS) designed to improve the  
management and analysis of the documentation r eceived. The first phase was tested and the second 
phase would begin when the first phase was fully operational. 
8. At the regular and informal meetings in 2006, numerous proposals regarding the 
implementation of Article 6 were considered by the Committee, including recognition of regions by 
international standard-setting bodies and by Members. Many Members provided information 
regarding their achievement of pest- or disease-fre e status and a number of Members proposed that 
the Committee should develop procedural guidelines to  facilitate the recognition of pest- or disease-
free areas, enhancing predictability and transparency.9  Other Members maintained the view that the 
relevant international standard-setting bodi es were best placed to develop guidelines on 
regionalization.  Several trade concerns related to the non-recognition of pest- or disease-free areas 
were also raised.  The Committee's discussions  benefited from inputs from the OIE and IPPC.10  The 
Committee agreed to continue work on this issue. 
9. The Eighth Annual Report on the Procedure to Monitor the Process of International 
Harmonization was adopted by the Committee at its June meeting.11  The Committee reviewed the 
operation of the provisional procedure, and agreed to  extend it indefinitely, but to review its operation 
every four years in the context of the periodic Review of the Operation of the SPS Agreement.12 
                                                      
7 Items No. 60, 102, 164 & 194 in G/SPS/GEN/ 204/Rev. 6 and Addendum 1 and No. 94 in 
G/SPS/GEN/204/Rev. 5 and Addendum 1.  
8 G/SPS/N/BOL/16/Suppl.1 an d G/SPS/N/COL/118/Suppl.1. 
9 G/SPS/GEN/636/Rev.1.  
 10 G/SPS/GEN/617, G/SPS/GEN/625, G/SPS/GEN/626 and G/SPS/GEN/707. 
11 G/SPS/42 and G/SPS/42/Corr.1. 
12 G/SPS/40.  G/L/794 
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  10. The Secretariat, Members and Observer Orga nizations provided information on their 
technical assistance activities at each meeting of the SPS Committee.  By the June meeting of the 
Committee, 34 Members had submitted responses to  the questionnaire regarding their technical 
assistance needs.13  At the October meeting, the Secretariat prepared a compendium of the information 
received to date on SPS-related technical assistance, by the WTO Secretariat and by Members and 
other international organizations.14  The Secretariat also reported regularly on the projects and project 
preparation grants supported by the Standards a nd Trade Development Facility (STDF) and provided 
details regarding its ow n SPS-related technical assistance training activities.15 
11. At the October 2006 meeting, the Comm ittee conducted a transitional review under 
Paragraph 18 of the Protocol of Accession of th e People's Republic of China.  Questions were 
submitted in advance of the meeting by the United States and by the European Communities.16 
12. The SPS Committee continued to grant ad hoc ob server status on a meeting-by-meeting basis 
to the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the Latin American Economic System (SELA), the 
Inter-America Institute for Cooperation on Agricultu re (IICA), the Regional International Agricultural 
Health Organization (OIRSA), the ACP Group and the OECD.  The Committ ee also continued to 
consider requests for observer status from the Asian Pacific Coconut Community (APCC), the 
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, and the 
International Organization of  Vine and Wine (OIV). 
13. The SPS Committee maintained its close working relationships with the IPPC, the OIE and 
Codex and received regular updates on their activities.   Other observer organizations also provided 
information on their activities, including technical assistance activities. 
14. The Committee agreed to the following tentative calendar of regular meetings for 2007:  7-
8 March, 27-28 June, and 17-18 October. 
__________ 
                                                      
13 The questionnaire is contained in G/SPS/W/113, and the responses to the questionnaire have been 
circulated as addend a to G/SPS/GEN/295. 
14 G/SPS/GEN/726. 
15 G/SPS/GEN/648 and G/SPS/GEN/718. 
16 G/SPS/W/207 and G/SPS/W/208, respectively.  The report by the Chairperson to the Council for 
Trade in Goods will be contained in G/SPS/43.