. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/W/255 
21 December 2010 
 (10-6857) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   Spanish 
  
 
PROCEDURE TO MONITOR THE USE OF 
INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS 
 
Proposal by Argentina
 
 
 
 The following communication, received on 20 December 2010, is being circulated at the request of the delegation of Argentina
. 
 
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I. INTRODUCTION 
1. The SPS Agreement requires Members to adopt in ternational standards and harmonize their 
domestic legislation with the provisions issued by the relevant international organizations.1  It also 
provides for the SPS Committee to develop a proce dure to monitor the process of international 
harmonization and the use of international sta ndards, guidelines or recommendations and to 
coordinate efforts in this regard with the relevant international organizations.2 
2. Accordingly, in October 1997 the SPS Committee adopted a provisional procedure to monitor 
the process of international harmonization and the use of international standards, guidelines or 
recommendations.  The Committee extended the provisi onal monitoring procedure in 1999, 2001, and 
2003, and adopted a revision of the procedure in  October 2004.  On 28 June 2006, the Committee 
agreed to extend the provisional procedure indefinitely , and to review its operation as an integral part 
of the periodic review of the operation and impl ementation of the Agreement under Article 12.7.  
The procedure was subsequently reviewed as part of  the Third Review of the Agreement adopted by 
the Committee in March 2010.  Among other thin gs, it was recommended that the procedure be 
revised so as to correspond more closely to the provisions of Article 12.4. 
3. Monitoring of the use of international standa rds is a standing item on the agenda of regular 
Committee meetings, with 12 annual reports on the ma tter having been submitted to date.  However, 
an analysis of these reports clearly shows th at the procedure for monitoring international 
harmonization has been under-used by SPS Committee Memb ers.  In the last four years, for example, 
only one or two issues have been raised each year. 
4. Argentina understands that this under-utilization is  due, at least in part, to Members choosing 
to raise their trade concerns (even those prompted  by the absence of an international standard or a 
Member's departure from such standards) under th e agenda item "Specific trade concerns" and not 
under the agenda item "Monitoring of the use of international standards". 
                                                      
1 Paragraph 6 of the preamble and Article 3. 
2 Articles 3.5 and 12.4. G/SPS/W/255 
Page 2  
 
  5. While each Member is entitled to raise its concerns under the agenda item it considers 
appropriate, we believe it is important  to preserve and make the best use of each of the tools that the 
SPS Agreement has given the Committee to monitor the implementation of the Agreement and its 
disciplines. 
II. PROPOSAL 
6. In light of the above, and on the understanding that  more structured information is needed to 
ensure full implementation of the commitment to monitor international harmonization, Argentina 
proposes the following: 
• The list of standards, guidelines and reco mmendations included in the annual report 
prepared by the Secretariat pursuant to paragraph 10 of the Monitoring Procedure
3 
should also include all issues raised  by Members under the agenda item 
"Specific trade concerns".  This would apply exclusively in cases where the issue 
concerns:  (i) the departure of an offici al standard from international reference 
standards or (ii) the absence of international standards. 
• Annual reports should be "cum ulative" in a similar way to the yearly summary of 
specific trade concerns4 prepared by the WTO Secretariat.  We feel that this type of 
report would give us a more comprehensiv e and complete picture of the situation 
regarding implementation of the in ternational harmonization process. 
7. We also believe that, on the basis of the a bove-mentioned list, the Committee should include 
in the annual report recommendations aimed at strengthening the principle of international harmonization. 
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3 Document G/SPS/11/Rev.1 
4 These issues may be drawn from the various ve rsions of document G/SPS/GE N/204 published by the 
Secretariat on a yearly basis.