. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/TPKM/209 
29 October 2010  
 (10-5697) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION OF EMERGENCY MEASURES 
 
1. Notifying Member:  THE SEPARATE CUSTOMS TERRITORY OF TAIWAN, 
PENGHU, KINMEN AND MATSU   
If applicable, name of local government involved:     
2. Agency responsible:  Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health 
3. Products covered (provide tariff item numbe r(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO;  ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where 
applicable):  Vacuum-packed foods and canned foods 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable: 
[X] All trading partners   
[ ] Specific regions or countries:    
5. Title of the notified document:  "Good Hygiene Practice for Vacuum Packed Food","The 
Regulations of Labelling for Vacuum Pack ed Food" and "Good Hygiene Practice for 
Canned Food"  Language:  English  Number of pages:  4 
http://members.wto.org/crnattach ments/2010/sps/TPKM/10_3999_00_x.pdf  
http://members.wto.org/crnattach ments/2010/sps/TPKM/10_3999_00_e.pdf  
6. Description of content:  This practice is applicable to re lated food proprietors of vacuum-
packaged foods and canned foods. 
7. Objective and rationale:  [X] food safety, [ ] animal health, [ ] plant protection, 
[  ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [ ] protect territory from other 
damage from pests.    
8. Nature of the urgent problem(s) and reason for urgent action:  Botulism is a serious 
paralytic illness caused by a neurotoxin that is produced by the bacterium Clostridium 
botulinum.  These rod-shaped organisms grow best in low oxygen environment such as 
vacuum-packed foods and canne d foods.  There are eight outbreaks of botulism in Chinese 
Taipei this year, and one person was dead in  botulism.  Most of the cases are correlated 
with vacuum-packed foods.  To prevent bot ulism, the emergency action was taken to 
legislate for related food proprietors of  vacuum-packed foods and canned foods. G/SPS/N/TPKM/209 
Page 2  
 
  9. Is there a relevant international standard ?  If so, identify the standard:  
[ ] Codex Alimentarius Commission (e.g. title or serial number of Codex standard 
or related text)   
[ ] World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) (e.g. Terrestrial or Aquatic 
Animal Health Code, chapter number)   
[ ] International Plant Protection Convention (e.g. ISPM number)   
[X] None Does this proposed regulation conform to  the relevant international standard? 
 [ ] Yes   [ ] No 
 If no, describe, whenever possible, how and why it deviates from the 
international standard:    
10. Other relevant documents and langu age(s) in which these are available:   "Good 
Hygiene Practice for Vacuum Packed Food"," The Regulations of Labelling for Vacuum 
Packed Food"and"Good Hygiene Practice for Canned Food" (DOH Food No.0991302600, 
30 September 2010) is available in English from the National Notification Authority, 
National Enquiry Point, and Department of H ealth.  The standards will be published in the 
Official Government Gazette when adopted.  The full text may be downloaded from the 
following website:  http://food.doh.gov.tw/english/english.asp  
11. Date of entry into force ( dd/mm/yy )/period of application (as applicable):  To be 
determined. 
[ ] Trade facilitating measure   
12. Agency or authority designated to handl e comments:  [ ] National Notification 
Authority, [ ] National Enquiry Point.  Address, fax number and e-mail address (if available) of other body:   
Food and Drug Administration  
Department of Health 
No.161-2, Kunyang St, Nangang District, Taipei City 115-61, Taiwan  
Tel:  +(886 2) 26531318 ext 1189 Fax:  +(886 2) 26531062 E-mail:  griffey@fda.gov.tw 
13. Texts available from:  [X] National Notification Authority, [X] National Enquiry 
Point.  Address, fax number and e-mail address (if available) of other body:   
Food and Drug Administration 
Department of Health 
No.161-2, Kunyang St, Nangang District, Taipei City 115-61, Taiwan  Tel:  +(886 2) 26531318 ext 1189 Fax:  +(886 2) 26531062 E-mail:  griffey@fda.gov.tw