. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/661 
28 March 2006 
 (06-1393) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SPS AGREEMENT:  
 
Information for the Workshop on 31 March 2006
 
 
Communication from Pakistan  
 
 
 The following communication, received on 24 Marc h 2006, is being circulated at the request 
of the Delegation of Pakistan. 
 
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1. In preparation for the Workshop on the Implementation of the SPS Agreement, Members 
were invited to submit information on their experienc es in relation to the issues to be discussed.  The 
following are the responses of Mr. Ahmed I. Aslam. 
Question 1  
  How regularly do representatives of your country participate in meetings of the SPS Committee? Who usually participates from your country (Capital-based experts or Geneva-
based trade representatives)?  What information do you receive regarding meetings of the SPS 
Committee and how do you receive this information?  
2. Officials from the mission in Geneva usua lly attend SPS Committee meetings.  The mission 
in Geneva sends reports to the Ministry of Co mmerce on all the meetings attended at the WTO.  
These reports usually contain minutes of the meetings attended by various officials.  The reports at 
times are circulated to the relevant federal ministries.  
Question 2
 
  Does your country have an SPS national Committee?  How do your exporters find out 
about your trading partners’ new SPS requireme nts?  What national mechanisms can be 
created to ensure the stakeholders in your country  are informed in a timely manner of new SPS 
requirements so that the SPS requirements of trad ing partners can be evaluated and so that the 
views of relevant stakeholders can be taken into  account when responding to SPS notifications? 
In establishing such mechanisms, how can Members identify the relevant domestic stakeholders 
and promote effective interaction among those st akeholders that can be sustained over time? 
How can information about SPS requirements be tr ansmitted to groups outside of capital? 
 
3. A National Taskforce on SPS has recently been constituted.  Its first meeting will be held in 
the middle of April.  The committee consists of  representatives of all interest groups ranging from 
academics to farmers to processors to exporters.  
 G/SPS/GEN/661 
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  4. There is no national early warning system that informs exporters of the new SPS requirements 
established by trading partners.  Most exporters re ly on their own sources for SPS-related information;  
these can include partners in the impor ting country, the internet, etc.  
5. One of the objectives of creating a national taskforce on SPS is to create a forum for 
spreading information.  The information provided by Pakistan's embassies in leading trading partners 
may be presented and evaluated in the taskforce me etings.  An information centre is currently being 
developed which would host all the relevant SPS de tails on major trading partners.  The project is 
faced with serious technical and financial constraints at the moment.  
6. The national taskforce is the best forum to ensure continued and sustained interaction 
amongst key stakeholders.  
Question 3
 
  Has there been any national planning on  how to implement the SPS Agreement in your 
country?  If so was this planning de veloped using a particular methodology? 
 7. There has been little debate in Pakistan about implementing strategies for the SPS Agreement. 
But it is hoped that the national taskforce will ser ve as a forum for such debates and approve the 
strategy for implementation.  The national SPS Enqu iry Point has developed a national strategy paper 
on implementation of the SPS Agreem ent which will be presented in the first meeting of the task force 
for approval.  The strategy is based on four principles: 
(a) Development of a National Animal and Plant Health Inspection System;  
(b) Accreditation of labs; 
(c) Review of all SPS related laws including the food laws, the animal and plant 
quarantine laws, grading and marketi ng laws, labeling requirements etc.; 
(d) Encouraging and eventually making mandato ry use of standards like HAACP etc.  
Question 4
 
 
 How does your country identify its techni cal assistance needs?  What has been your 
country's experience in both the request and th e supply of SPS-related technical assistance?  
How can technical assistance supply and demand be  most effectively matched, priority areas 
identified and duplication of donor efforts avoided? 
 8. Identification of technical assistance needs is  a complex process which involves provincial 
ministries carrying out surveys and sending requests to  their federal counterpart s, who after evaluating 
them forward the requests to the National Planning  Commission for consideration and comment.  The 
process also invites comments from the Ministries of Economic Affairs and Finance.  Once approved 
by the Planning Commission, they are sent to the Ca binet for approval.  It is a lengthy process that 
takes a lot of time.  
9. Pakistan has set up a National Task Force on SPS that will now be the main forum for 
discussing and identifying technical assistance need s.  A single forum with representatives from the 
federal and provincial governments a nd other stakeholders appears to be the best way forward without 
risking wastage or misallocation of resources.  
 
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