RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/R/43 
3 January 2007 
 (07-0029) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures  
  
 
 
SUMMARY OF THE MEETING OF 11-12 OCTOBER 2006
 
 
Note by the Secretariat1 
 
Table of Contents  
 
Page  
 
I. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA.............................................................................................3  
II. ACTIVITIES OF MEMBERS.................................................................................................3  
III. SPECIFIC TRADE CONCERNS ...........................................................................................5  
(a) New issues ..................................................................................................................... .............5  
(b) Issues previous ly raised ....................................................................................................... .......9  
(c) Consideration of specific notifications received.......................................................................10  
(d) Information on resolution of issues...........................................................................................1 0 
IV. OPERATION OF TRANSPARENCY PROVISIONS........................................................11  
V. IMPLEMENTATION OF SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT ................12  
(a) Chairman's report on informal meeting ....................................................................................12  
(b) Other matters relating to special  and differential treatment......................................................13  
VI. EQUIVALENCE – ARTICLE 4............................................................................................14  
(a) Information from Members on their experiences .....................................................................14  
(b) Information from relevant  observer organizations....................................................................14  
VII. PEST- OR DISEASE-FREE AREAS (ARTICLE 6)...........................................................14  
(a) Chairman's report on the informal meeting on regionalization.................................................14  
(b) Information from Members on their experiences .....................................................................16  
(c) Information from relevant observer orga nizations .....................................................................17  
VIII.  TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND COOPERATION .......................................................17  
(a) Information from the Secretariat............................................................................................... 17 
(b) Information from Members....................................................................................................... 18 
(c) Information from relevant  observer organizations....................................................................18  
                                                      
1 This document has been prepared under the Secret ariat's own responsibility and is without prejudice 
to the positions of Members or to their rights or obligations under the WTO. G/SPS/R/43 
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  IX.
 ISSUES ARISING FROM THE REVIEW OF THE OPERATION OF THE SPS 
AGREEMENT ...................................................................................................................... ..19 
(a) Chairman's report.............................................................................................................. ........19  
X. MONITORING OF THE USE OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS ...........................20  
(a) New issues ..................................................................................................................... ...........20  
(b) Issues previous ly raised ....................................................................................................... .....21  
(c) Information from relevant  observer organizations....................................................................21  
XI. TRANSITIONAL REVIEW UNDER PARAGRAPH 18 OF THE PROTOCOL 
OF THE ACCESSION OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.............................21  
XII. MATTERS OF INTEREST ARISING FROM THE WORK OF OBSERVER 
ORGANIZATIONS ................................................................................................................26  
XIII.  OBSERVERS – REQUESTS FOR OBSERVER STATUS ................................................27  
XIV.  CHAIRPERSON'S ANNUAL REPORT TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN 
GOODS .......................................................................................................................... ..........27  
XV. OTHER BUSINESS................................................................................................................2 7 
XVI.  DATE  AND AGENDA FOR NEXT MEETING.................................................................29   G/SPS/R/43 
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I. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA 
1. The Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the "Committee") held its thirty-
seventh meeting on 11-12 October 2006.  The agenda  proposed for this meeting, circulated on 29 
September 2006 (WTO/AIR/2901), w as adopted with amendments. 
2. Delegates to the meeting received a publicati on containing a compilation of the Committee's 
main decisions and other useful documents.  Th e compilation is also available from the SPS home 
page on the WTO website:  http://www.wto. org/english/tratop_e /sps_e/sps_e.htm 
II. ACTIVITIES OF MEMBERS 
United States – Actions regarding BSE 
 
3. The representative of the United States stated th at on 20 July 2006, the US Department of 
Agriculture announced that it wa s transitioning to an ongoing ma intenance surveillance programme 
for BSE after having established through enhanced surveillance that there was an extremely low 
prevalence of the disease in the United States.  The new level of surveillance continued to exceed the 
international guidelines by the OIE and was designed to  detect BSE at a rate of one infected animal 
per one million adult cattle with a high degree of confidence.  The United States also maintained a comprehensive system of interlocking safeguards, in cluding the banning of specified risk materials 
from the food supply and a ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban.  The United States was awaiting the results of the evaluation and BSE risk status classi fication by the ad hoc expert group and Scientific 
Commission of the OIE.  The representative of the United States called on all Members to consider 
the available scientific evidence demonstrating the sa fety of US beef and cattle and to modify their 
import policies to remove unj ustified BSE-related bans. 
United States – Update on pes ticide reassessment programme 
 
4. The representative of the United States reported that the US Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) on 30 August 2006 had completed a ten-year review of 231 food use pesticides that 
resulted in significant changes to how these chemicals were regulated in the United States.   The EPA 
had also announced plans to commence a new regist ration review programme, which would allow for 
the review of each pesticide registration in the United States approximately every 15 years.   
5. With regards to the Food Quality Protecti on Act (FQPA), the representative of the United 
States noted that the FQPA had dramatically change d the safety standards used by EPA in evaluating 
potential risks, especially for infants and children.  Th e law that had also enhanced the transparency of 
the US pesticide review programme, encouraging the participation of all stakeholders in the review 
process.  The EPA, earlier this year, announced that it had completed over 9,637 or 99 percent of the 
required tolerance reassessments.  The review pro cess had resulted in the revocation or modification 
of nearly 4,000 food tolerances and the confirma tion of the safety of 5,237 tolerances, thereby 
improving food safety and human health protection in the United States. 
6. The EPA began a new registration review pr ogramme in October 2006, under which it 
planned to make decisions on an average of 45 regi stration review cases – or about 70 pesticide active 
ingredients – each year.  This was similar to th e ten-year programme just completed and the EPA 
would request public comments on a pesticide case docket.  Trading partners would again be 
encouraged to submit relevant data or informa tion for consideration by EPA during the comment 
period.  The representative of the United States further noted that the new registration review 
programme ensured that as the abilit y to assess risk evolved and as po licies and practices changed, all 
registered pesticides continued to meet the statut ory standard of no unreasonable adverse effects.  G/SPS/R/43 
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  More information about the programme was available in the notification to the WTO 
(G/SPS/N/N/USA/1391) and on the EPA.gov website. 
European Communities – Update on the Bluetongue situation 
 
7. The representative of the European Commun ities recalled that Bluetongue was an insect-
prone viral disease which affected domestic and wild ruminants. The disease did not affect humans 
and there was no risk of the disease being contracted or  spread through meat or milk.  In recent years, 
the disease had been frequently reported in southern Eu rope, mainly in parts of Italy and Spain, but it 
had never before occurred in central or norther n Europe.  Therefore the confirmed outbreak of 
Bluetongue in sheep in the southern parts of the Ne therlands on 18 August 2006 had been surprising.  
On 21 August 2006, the disease was also confirme d in sheep and cattle holdings in Belgium and 
Germany, close to the Dutch outbreaks.  The repr esentative of European Communities indicated that 
all affected countries had taken the necessary measures of establishing a 20 km control zone around the infected farms and 150 km protection and surveill ance zones as laid down in EC legislation.  The 
Bluetongue virus was identified as serotype 8 of Sub-Saharan lineage on 28 August 2006 although the 
precise origin and the way the virus was intr oduced into Europe was not yet known.  On 
21 August 2006, the virus was confir med in cattle in France close to the border with Belgium, in 
region  within the 150 km surveillance zone in response to  the former outbreaks.  The last outbreaks in 
France were confirmed on 5 September 2006 and si nce then no further outbreaks had occurred in 
France.   
8. The representative of the European Communiti es stressed that stringent measures had been 
taken in line with the Communitie s' legislation to control and prevent the disease from spreading 
further. This included movement restrictions of  live animals to disease-free zones both from the 
infected area and from surveillance zones of 150  km surrounding the outbreaks. The European 
Communities regretted that some Members had imposed import restrictions on live bovines on 
account of the occurrence of the Bluetongue virus.  He further noted that serotype 8 had not been 
detected outside the currently restricted zones in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France.  In 
accordance with OIE standards, trade restrictions from the zones in question should only concern live 
ruminants or their genetic material. 
European Communities – Update on the avian influenza situation 
 
9. The representative of the European Communities recalled that it had been providing 
information on the avian flu situation since the star t of the epidemic of pathogenic avian influenza 
H5N1 in February 2006.  By June 2006, a total of  13 EC member States had been affected by avian 
influenza outbreaks, all of which had their origins in  wild birds.  The representative of the European 
Communities observed that a decline of the epid emic in wild birds continued over the summer 
months, perhaps reflecting migratory patterns.  Si nce June 2006, a single case of the H5N1 had been 
detected in a wild duck in Spain and another in black  swan Germany, bringing the total of EC affected 
member States to 14.  The outbreaks in France, Sweden, Germany and Denmark were not in densely 
populated poultry areas and were all swiftly eradicat ed, while the outbreak in Hungary was limited to 
one province only.  Only five EC member States ha d been affected by outbreaks in poultry flocks.  No 
human cases had been reported.   
10. Regarding the measures in place, the representa tive of the European Communities indicated 
that the comprehensive security, surveillance and cont rol measures in EC legislation helped to prevent 
the disease from spreading further.  A high level of  alertness had been maintained across Europe as 
the disease continued to be reported in poultry and ot her birds in several Asian, African and non-EC 
countries.  The representative of the European Communities noted with regret that the very high level 
of surveillance and transparency in its measures had paradoxically also led some WTO Members to  G/SPS/R/43 
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  adopt unjustified and disproportionately restrictive trade measures, and that these be lifted without 
delay. 
Brazil – Information on foot and mouth disease (FMD) and Newcastle disease  
 
11. The representative of Brazil reported that the an imals involved in the FMD outbreak had been 
destroyed, test animals for monitoring purposes intr oduced, the rural properties affected re-populated, 
and a new epidemiological investigation carried out to confirm the eradication of the outbreak.  The 
ban on three municipal areas of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul had been lifted based on OIE and PANAFTOSA analysis and assessment used in the detec tion of reactivity to non-structural proteins of 
the FMD virus.  The use of multiple vaccinations had affected the results of the investigation in the 
State of Paraná but restrictions had been totally su spended in three out of four of the municipal areas 
affected, after the sero-epidemiological  assessment of the re-populated areas. 
12. With regards to  the outbreak of Newcastle di sease diagnosed in the State of Rio Grande do 
Sul on the 4 July 2006, the representative of Brazil re ported that Brazil had ensured the eradication of 
the disease and all sanitary restrictions adopted dur ing the outbreak had been suspended as of the 14 
September 2006.  All the animals were destroyed and intensive surveillance, inspection and testing 
efforts, as well as transit restrictions on the suscep tible live animals and products, had been adopted 
around the areas of the outbreak.  This had prev ented the disease from spreading further and the 
absence of the Newcastle disease virus was confirmed by  results of investigations carried out on test 
animals thus making it possible to lift these sanitary restrictions.  In the course of these outbreaks, 
Brazil had complied with all its obligations in prom oting transparency and security in international 
trade.  In response, Brazil expected trading part ners to adopt sanitary measures compatible with 
international rules and to avoid undue  restrictions to Brazilian products. 
Columbia – Statement on the strengthe ning of SPS measures in Columbia 
13. The representative of Columbia reported on the progress made in the application of the SPS 
Agreement and the overall strengthening and updati ng of their sanitary and phytosanitary system, 
particularly with regards to products in interna tional trade.  In September 2005, Columbia's National 
Council for Economic and Social Policies adopted a National Policy for Agricultural Health and Food 
Safety (CONPES 3375).  A National SPS Council we re also established by Decree 2833 on 
23 August 2006.  This SPS Council was made up of the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural 
Development, Social Protection, Environment,  Trade, Industry and Tourism and the National 
Planning Department.  The Council could establish tec hnical groups to deal with animal health, plant 
health and food safety.  The national policy aime d at updating and strengthening the institutional 
aspects of the SPS national system, improving the oper ative structure with a focus on risk analysis 
approaches, and the implementation of a transitional plan to ensure the effective functioning of the 
system.  An investment of around US$ 80 milli on over the period of 200 6–2010 was required for 
Columbia to meet its goals.  
III. SPECIFIC TRADE CONCERNS 
(a) New issues 
Indonesia's lack of recognition of pest-free areas – Concerns of the United States 
14. The representative of the United States expressed concerns regarding Indonesia's Decree 37 
(G/SPS/N/IDN/24), implemented in March 2006, wh ich established new phytosanitary requirements 
on fruit imports that failed to recognize fruit fly-fre e areas in the United States.  For decades, US 
fruits originating from pest-free areas had been  shipped to Indonesia without any quarantine 
incidence.  The new measure had resulted in US fresh fruit being subjected to unwarranted pest G/SPS/R/43 
Page 6  
 
  treatment before being exported to Indonesia.  The representative of  the United States noted that the 
International Standards for Phyto sanitary Measures (ISPM) guidelines used by the United States were 
recognized by their trading partners worldwide, but  Indonesia had failed to amend its assessment of 
the fruit fly status in the United States even after the United States had extensively communicated and 
provided Indonesia's Ministry of Agriculture with the information requested.  She further noted that 
the measures imposed by Indonesia fo r quarantine fruit flies were overly restrictive and scientifically 
unjustified and had impacted exports of eleven ty pes of US fruits, including apples and grapes.  She 
requested Indonesia to allow the entry of US grapes accompanied by a Federal phytosanitary 
certificate and additional documentation attesting that  the grapes were grown in a fruit fly-free area.   
15. The representative of Australia shared the con cerns of the United States.  Australia was 
working directly with Indonesia and hoped to resolve the issue in the near future. 
16. The representative of Indonesia reported that the issue had been discussed with the United 
States in a bilateral meeting.  Based on their discussion, Indonesia was confident that the matter 
would be resolved amicably in the near future.  I ndonesia was to send an expert team to do an on-site 
inspection for a Mediterranean fruit fly-free area fo r grapes in the State of California.  Indonesia 
needed further information on the sites to be vis ited including the production area of grapes in specific 
sites in California, substantial geographical inform ation, a list of registered grape growers in the 
production area of California, information on surf ace processing, packaging and storage facilities, and 
the procedure of phytosanitary certification.  I ndonesia reiterated its commitment in resolving the 
matter as early as possible and in a mutually beneficial manner.   
Indonesia's legislation on importation of live ani mals and meat products – Concerns of Brazil 
17. The representative of the Brazil expressed c oncern regarding Indonesia's Government 
Regulation 82/2000 applicable to quarantine import procedures for animals and related products.  He 
noted that Regulation 82/2000 did not comply with the regionalization provisions of Article 6 of the 
SPS Agreement or with Chapter 1.3.5 of the OIE Te rritorial Animal Health Code as it did not take 
into account the sanitary characteristics of the ar eas from which the products originated, and required 
the whole territory of an exporting country to be free of any diseases that were not present in 
Indonesia.  As a result of Indonesia regulation, Br azil was frequently facing import restrictions on a 
broad variety of its products on the basis of th e food-and-mouth disease (FMD), even from FMD-free 
zones.  In particular, there was no scientific justif ication for import restrictions on goods which could 
not under any circumstance transmit the FMD agent, meat products submitted to treatments which were internationally recognized as capable of inact ivating the FMD virus, and restrictions on heat-
treated vegetable products.  These unjustified import restrictions resulted in huge financial losses.  
The representative of Brazil urged Indonesia to a dopt national protection levels based on risk 
assessments, taking into account the relevant provi sions of the SPS Agreement and OIE standards.  
The representative of Argentina shared the concern of Brazil and urged Indonesia to adjust its risk 
analysis to the OIE standards. 
18. The representatives of Australia and New Zealand expressed similar concerns regarding  the 
Indonesia's draft Regulation (G/SPS/N/IDN/30) on the importation of meat products.  They both indicated their intentions to submit comments on th e draft regulation before the comment deadline.  
New Zealand further noted that Indonesia had not indi cated in its notification when the draft Decree 
might be adopted.  They encouraged Indonesia to wo rk with other Members to address their concerns 
before adopting the draft Decree.  Australia said  it was working closely with Indonesia and hoped to 
resolve any concerns with the new regulations in the near future.  
19. The representative of Indonesia noted that with regards to the importation of live animals and 
meat products, Indonesia had been conducting a review  on its legislation and would soon notify to the 
WTO a new decree on import of meat of various t ypes of species.  The new regulation replaced the  G/SPS/R/43 
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  existing regulation (Decree 745/1992) on the requirement s of meat importation.  One of the eventual 
requirements for countries to be eligible to e xport meat and meat products intended for human 
consumption to Indonesia was their FMD-free status .  Recognition of the disease-free status would be 
based on an OIE declaration.  A  further requi rement for FMD-free countries to export meat to 
Indonesia would be a desk audit and on-site audit to be carried out by the Director General of 
Livestock Services (DGLS).  In relation to animal  importation, existing regulation would remain in 
effect.   
20. With regards to BSE, the representative of I ndonesia stated that the requirements for the 
importation of live ruminants and ruminant products  from countries or zones declared as negligible 
BSE risk by the OIE had been set out in a new decr ee.  In principle, under the new regulation, live 
ruminants and ruminant products from countries or z ones declared as negligible BSE risk by the OIE 
were allowed to be imported to Indonesia.  Imports of meat and meat products from BSE-risk countries were prohibited.  However, there were exceptions that included meat and meat products 
originating from de-boned meat as specified in Article 2.3.1.3.1 of OIE Code.  The additional 
requirements to export meat and meat products to Indonesia were that such commodities should have 
originated from an establishment a pproved by the DGLS and also met the healthy food requirement of 
Indonesia.  
21. Following Indonesia's submission, the representative of the OIE clarified that Article 1 of the 
BSE chapter contained a list safe commodities that were judged to present no BSE risk no matter the 
BSE status of the exporting country.  This incl uded de-boned skeletal muscle meat that could be 
imported from a country irrespective of its BSE status.  
India's import restrictions on exports of live horses – Concerns of the European Communities  
22. The representative of the European Communities raised concerns regarding India's import 
conditions for live horses from some EC member St ates on the basis of Contagious Equine Metritis 
(CEM).  India's requirements that allowed only for the importation of breeding horses from countries which had been free of  CEM for a minimum of three years was not based on standards and 
recommendations, in particular Article 2.5.1.1 of th e OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code which set 
conditions of live horses to be exported safely in respect of CEM.  India had not provided any 
scientific justification for import requirements cont aining higher protection measures than reflected in 
international standards, and thus was not complyin g with Article 3.3 of the SPS Agreement.  Despite 
numerous bilateral discussions on the issue during 2005 and 2006, no progr ess had been made.  No 
response had been received to a document submitte d by the United Kingdom in January 2006 with 
further scientific evidence that ex port of breading horses from that country posed no risk for the 
Indian equine population.  The representative of the European Comm unities urged India to bring their 
import requirements for CEM in line with OIE recommendations.  
23. The representative of India stated that India allowed the import of live horses, including 
breeding horses, under existing health protocols.  Although it was free from CEM, India allowed 
imports of male horses less than seven years of age and female horses less than five years of age.  The 
representative of India indicated that some CE M-positive countries from the European region were 
regularly exporting live horses to India.  With re gard to the OIE guidelines, consultation with the 
relevant technical experts was being done and a re port on the issue was expected very soon.  India 
was willing to discuss the issue bilatera lly with the European Communities.  
24. The representative of the European Communiti es stressed the fact that some EC member 
States were experiencing restrictions on the e xport of live horses to India, and welcomed the 
opportunity for further bilateral discussions. G/SPS/R/43 
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  Romania's restrictions on pork and poultry imports – Concerns of the United States 
25. The representative of the United States express ed concern about Romania's decision to 
already impose European Communities (EC) requireme nts on US poultry and pork.  She noted that no 
poultry and only two pork facilities in Romania met EC requirements.  Romania's measures therefore 
raised potential national treatment concerns with  huge financial losses given that a considerable 
number of Romanian meat plants were currently not  in compliance with the EC regulations and many 
of the plants had been granted a transition period to 2009 to meet these requirements. 
26. The representative of Romania expressed surprise that the United States had raised this issue 
as an acceptable solution to both parties had been  sought during a series of bilateral meetings.  
Although Romania had decided to extend the implemen tation date of these regulations for US exports, 
the new regulations were adopted as part of the re quirements for Romania's accession to the European 
Communities.  According to the Accession Treaty signed on 25 April 2005, Romania had committed 
to adopt the EC legislation and was expected to fully comply with SPS legislation already in force in the European Communities before its accession on the 1 January 2007.  The representative of 
Romania noted the difficulty it faced in modifying and implementing these new rules, but indicated 
that Romanian producers observed the same rules as other EC member States and third countries.  To 
ensure transparency and give Members the opport unity to prepare for the new import conditions, all 
Romanian legislation on import conditions for por k and poultry meat had been notified to the SPS 
Committee. 
27. The representative of the Europ ean Communities suggested that the United States look at the 
broader benefits of Romania's and Bulgaria's acce ssion to the European Communities.  This was fully 
supported by the global community and provided an outstanding opportunity for the Members 
concerned to strengthen economic  growth and development. 
EC  restrictions on US poultry exports – Concerns of the United States 
28. The representative of the United States raised concerns regarding the delay by the European 
Communities to finalize and implement a draft re gulation that approved antimicrobial treatments 
(AMTs) on poultry subject to certain restrictions.  She recalled that in August 1997, the European 
Communities stopped imports of US poultry meat on the basis of the use of AMTs in its production.  However, in January 2006 the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) had concluded that the 
antimicrobial washes at issue were safe, confir ming an April 2003 opinion by the EC scientific 
committee on veterinary measures related to public health.  Despite the decision by the European 
Communities to propose new legislation that prov ided the framework to approve these products for 
use on poultry, the European Communities had yet to approve importation of poultry treated with 
these products.  The representative of the United St ates urged the European Communities to authorize 
these products so that US poultry exports which met ri gorous US safety standards could also meet EC 
standards.   
29. The representative of the European Communities appreciated the US concerns regarding the 
delay but noted that it was important that the ge nuine and long-standing concerns in the European 
Communities over the use of AMTs were taken fully into account in the approval process.  The circumstances that led to the effective ban on pou ltry meat from United States in 1997 did not relate 
exclusively to AMTs.  The use of AMTs in food of  animal origin was not permitted at present in the 
European Communities inter alia  because of concerns that the use of such treatments could disguise 
other hygiene problems.  The representative of the European Communities expressed disappointment 
that while it was possible for US exports to meet EC hygiene requirements without the use of AMTs, 
the United States was still insisting on the use of these products.  The European Communities was in 
the process of finding a solution and this included a recent decision in principle that AMTs could be 
used to tackle surface contamination.  A draft regul ation had been prepared which allowed for the use  G/SPS/R/43 
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  of such substances under specific conditions.  Th e European Communities was still identifying the 
specific conditions to accompany the draft regulation, in  order to ensure that AMTs were not used to 
hide other problems, however the representative of  the European Communitie s expressed hope that 
bilateral information exchanges with the United States  could lead to a mutually agreeable solution.  
(b) Issues previously raised 
Australia's import restrictions on New Zealand  apples – Concerns of New Zealand (no. 217– 
G/SPS/GEN/204/Rev.6)  
30. The representative of New Zealand recalled that  this concern had been raised at many 
previous meetings of the SPS Committee.  In Dece mber 2005, Australia released a third revised draft 
Import Risk Analysis (IRA) for New Zealand apples, and New Zealand, in consultation with their pip 
fruit industry, had provided a comprehensive submission to Biosecurity Australia on this revised draft.  
The representative of New Zealand noted that sin ce June 2006, Biosecurity Australia had completed 
its consideration for stakeholder comments on the revised draft and a final draft report had been 
referred to Australia's Eminent Scientific Group (ESG ), which had also finished its consideration of 
the draft final report and made recommendations to Biosecurity Australia.  He noted that New 
Zealand had not received these recommendations a nd therefore urged Australia to make them 
available in the interest of tr ansparency.  While New Zealand wa s reassured by the progress made in 
finalizing the issue with Australia, it still had con cerns regarding the content and substance of the 
draft IRA.  Australia still maintained that mature s apples were a vector for the fire blight disease, 
irrespective of the science considered  in the Japan apples dispute which had demonstrated that the risk 
was negligible.  New Zealand was also concerne d about the pests and diseases addressed by Australia 
in the revised import risk analysis and hoped that  the volume of imports assessed in the final IRA 
would take into account only trade from New Zeala nd.  New Zealand indicated its commitment to 
resolving the issue bilaterally with Australia, but was prepared to explore other dispute settlement 
options under the WTO system if the issue w as not resolved in the near future.   
31. The representative of the United States shared  the concerns of New Zealand and indicated 
that the United States had also provided a comprehensive submission to Biosecurity Australia on its 
revised draft IRA.  The United States expected th at Australia's final policy determination for New 
Zealand would be consistent with the wealth of sci entific evidence available on the issue and the legal 
record established by the WTO dispute settlement process.  
32. The representative of Australia reported that in  accordance with Australia's normal procedure, 
the draft final IRA was sent to the independent Eminent Scientific Group (ESG) on 1 August 2006 for 
review.  That group had 60 days to conduct its review and as indicated by New Zealand, the ESG had 
completed the review and the report had been transm itted to Australia's Director of Animal and Plant 
Quarantine.  Biosecurity Australia  was expected to take into account any recommendations made by 
the ESG in producing its final IRA report and the report would be published.  The representative of 
Australia further noted that the final IRA could be  appealed on the basis of any problems with the 
process but not in terms of the actual science in the report.  Once any appeal process had been 
completed, a final report and recommendations would be provided to the Director of Animal and 
Plant Quarantine for a final quaran tine policy determination.  The whole process was expected to be 
completed by the end of 2006 and Australia indicat ed that the recommendations made by the ESG 
would be conveyed in an appropriate fashion as de termined by the Director of Animal and Plant 
Quarantine.  
Dominican Republic tolerance levels for soil content on potato tubers – Concerns of Canada  
33. The representative of Canada reported that they  had held bilateral meetings to discuss the 
Dominican Republic's requirements for Canadian potato.  In September 2006, the Dominican G/SPS/R/43 
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  Republic sent representatives to Canada to get firs t-hand information on Canadian potato production, 
distribution and transportation systems and to take sam ples for testing. At the conclusion of the visit, 
Canada thought they had reached an agreement on th e conditions for Canadian potato exports to the 
Dominican Republic.  However, there had been no agreement on acceptable soil tolerance levels as a 
result of miscommunication of the results of the September meeting.  Canada was interested in 
continuing the technical discussion on the issue and hoped that the issue could be resolved on the 
basis of acceptable internationa l practices for soil tolerance.  
34. The representative of the Dominican Republic observed that following the recommendations 
of a multidisciplinary team of experts working on potato certification and phytosanitary measures, 
they had agreed on a soil tolerance level of one gr am of soil per kilo of potato for consumption and 
five grams of soil per kilo of seed potato.  Canadi an and Dominican Republic experts agreed that over 
the next two years the situation was to be carefully monitored and that it might be possible to increase the soil tolerance level to 85 grams of soil per kilo  of potato.  However, the representative of the 
Dominican Republic  agreed that there had been  miscommunication and expressed their desire to 
continue monitoring the situation while hoping that  an understanding could be reached at a bilateral 
level.  
(c) Consideration of specific notifications received 
35. No Member raised concerns related to a specific notification. 
(d) Information on resolution of issues 
Chile's restrictions on imports of wheat and fruits  
36. The representatives of the United States and of Chile informed the Committee that following 
bilateral discussions held in Augus t 2006, the concerns raised in 1 997 regarding Chile's restrictions on 
the importation of US fruit had been resolved (no. 16 - G/SPS/GEN/204/Rev.6). 
Import restrictions on live birds, meat, meat produc ts and other derivatives due to avian influenza 
37. The representative of the European Commun ities informed the Committee that regarding 
concerns raised in 2005 and 2006 denouncing unjus tified import restrictions on EC exports of poultry 
and poultry products on the basis of avian influe nza, a significant number of WTO Members had 
lifted their bans on EC products according to intern ational standards.  He noted that some Members 
however, still had in place and that the European Co mmunities would continue to seek the lifting of 
these import restrictions (no. 234 - G/SPS/GEN/204/Rev.6). 
European Communities import restrictions on cinnamon  
38. The representative of Sri Lanka indicated th at through bilateral discussion, concerns 
regarding the issue of EC restrictions on the im portation of cinnamon had been resolved to their 
mutual satisfaction.  He informed the Committee th at in July 2006, an international standard for 
cinnamon was established and it had also been approv ed by Civil Society Coalition (CSC) in Geneva.  
He noted that these issues had b een resolved through the cooperation of the European Communities 
(no. 230 - G/SPS/GEN/204/Rev.6/ Add.1).  
Revision of document G/SPS/GEN/204 
39. The Secretariat recalled that a seventh revision of document G/SPS/GEN/204 would be 
produced in advance of the March meeting of the Committee.  This revised document would include 
all of the new issues, discussions and progress that had been made on issues previously raised, and the  G/SPS/R/43 
 Page 11 
 
 
  resolutions of any issues that had been reported dur ing 2006.  The Secretariat requested Members to 
bring to its attention any errors or corrections that  needed to be made to the document, and thanked 
the representative of Korea for its assistance in this regard. 
Informal information sessions 
40. The Chairman briefly reported on the informati on sessions held prior to the meeting. With 
regard to private and commercial standards, he recalle d that the issue was first raised at the meeting of 
29-30 June 2005 by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,  particularly relating to the EurepGAP scheme.  
He noted that participants had appreciated the oppor tunity to improve their understanding not just of 
the EurepGAP scheme, but also to gauge the ec onomic impact of over 400 private schemes which 
were in operation.  Members had ra ised a number of questions related directly to the work of the 
Committee to Mr. Hoffman of UNCTAD and Mr. Garbutt of EurepGAP. 
41. The representative of Saint Vincent and the Gren adines indicated that their concerns with 
respect to the EurepGAP issue rema ined the same.  The cost implications of these private standards, 
which were often of greater rigidity than the intern ationally set standards, were very large, especially 
for small farmers in small and vul nerable economies.  Argentina, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Egypt, 
Indonesia, Kenya and South Africa shared the con cerns of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and 
suggested that the issue of priv ate and commercial standards in general should be included on the 
agenda of the next SPS Committee meeting. 
42. The Chairman suggested that to move forward on the issue of private standards, Members  
could prepare contributions with specific examples of their experiences for a substantial discussion at 
the next meeting. 
43. With regards to the information session with the CBD Secretariat, the Chairman noted that a 
number of Members had agreed with the view of  the CBD Secretariat that measures to address 
invasive alien species fell within the scope of the SP S Agreement.  The Secretariat had confirmed that 
this was the stated intention of the negotiators  of the SPS Agreement.  Many Members had also 
agreed that international standards to address invasive  alien species that were not within the scope of 
the IPPC could be desirable.  They suggested that this issue be discussed by a joint meeting of OIE, 
IPPC and the CBD Secretariats. 
IV. OPERATION OF TRANSPARENCY PROVISIONS 
44. The Chairman drew attention to the most recent list of national notification authorities 
contained in G/SPS/NNA/10;  the most recent list of national enquiry points contained in 
G/SPS/ENQ/20;  and notifications received since the last meeting of the SPS Committee summarized, 
on a monthly basis, in G/SPS/GEN/715, G/SPS/GEN/721 and G/SPS/GEN/723.  The Secretariat 
urged Members to ensure that their information on enquiry points and on notification authorities was 
correct.   
45. The Secretariat reported on the development of the SPS information management system 
(SPS-IMS) for SPS notifications, specific trade concerns and other Committee documents.  A first 
phase of this project would help the Secretariat prepare notifications and make better and more 
efficient use of the information available.  A second phase would enable Members to conduct 
searches that went beyond what was currently possi ble in the Documents Online system on the WTO 
website.  Eventually, Members would be able to  s ubmit notifications online directly.  The Secretariat 
was presently testing the first phase;  the sec ond phase would begin when the first phase was fully 
operational.  The Secretariat expectation was that the system will improve the efficiency and speed of 
anyone working with SPS-related documents.  Unfo rtunately, the project was taking longer than 
expected and the Secretariat was seeking administ rative and technical arrangements and solutions G/SPS/R/43 
Page 12  
 
  with other units, which were not yet finalized.  Howe ver, the Secretariat indicated that it was in a 
position to show the structure and functioning of the system to any delegations interested.  The 
Secretariat expressed particular appreciation to the United States for their financial assistance on the project. 
46. The representative of Cuba thanked the Secr etariat and Members for their efforts and 
expressed support for the SPS-IMS project. 
V. IMPLEMENTATION OF SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT 
(a) Chairman's report on informal meeting 
47. The informal meeting on Special and Differentia l Treatment was devoted to discussion of the 
background paper by the Secret ariat on technical assistance (document G/SPS/GEN/726).  The 
document is based on an overview of SPS-related technical assistance as reported to the WTO/OECD 
trade capacity building database in the period 2001- 2006.  This data concerns the provision of SPS-
related technical assistance.  In addition to a general overview of the data, the document also 
examines the provision of technical assistance to those 33 Members who had replied to the questionnaire circulated to the SPS Committee, as reco rded in the database.  Finally, on the basis of 
evaluation forms collected from participants at WT O workshops and a very limited survey of projects 
logged in the database, some very preliminary anal ysis on the effectives of technical co-operation was 
undertaken. 
48. In presentation of the document, the Secretariat highlighted the following: 
• Firstly, the data itself could be collected, presented and managed in a more user-friendly 
manner;   
• Secondly, the data set had improved as a result of Secretariat efforts and Members' reporting 
on their own technical co-operation activities to the SPS Committee.  However, the picture of 
technical assistance captured by the database was still a partial one;  
• And thirdly, there was very little information on the effectiveness of technical assistance 
offered.  Aside from the evaluation of WTO activities, the data presented in the document 
could be considered anecdotal at best a nd did not capture the views of recipients. 
49. On the issue of how to improve data collection,  the Secretariat had stated that full reporting 
on SPS-related technical assistance to the WTO-OECD  trade capacity building database was the best 
solution.  However, given the existing under-repor ting by Members, specific reporting to the SPS 
Committee had allowed the Secretariat to verify that  activities had been logged in the database.  One 
particularly helpful action in this regard would be to identify the monetary values of individual 
projects as well as of overall programmes. 
50. The data provided a preliminary indication that  technical assistance was regularly offered by 
donors in response to requests from beneficiaries – al though sometimes this occurred in the context of 
overall programmes developed by donors.  There was no indication as to whether or not assistance 
was fully or partially funded.  Certain of the ge ographical categories merited further explanation.  
There was no reporting of technical assistance offe red by developing countries to other developing 
countries.  The Secretariat had noted furthermore that  the data had not been analyzed according to the 
typology of assistance given in document G/SPS/GEN/206. 
51. One Member had observed that the document could not be considered an authoritative 
overview of the current provision of technical assistance.   The fact that only partial data was available  G/SPS/R/43 
 Page 13 
 
 
  for 2005 and 2006 gave a misleading picture in this  regard and the Member had expressed concerns 
about the further use of the document.  In that Member's view, the most useful elements of the 
document were the tables on technical assistance to specific Members having replied to the technical 
assistance questionnaire.  Another Member had questi oned the sample survey results presented in the 
document, recalling the earlier criticism of assistance as supply-driven and ineffective.  
52. One theme which had come out clearly from inte rventions was the need for further work on 
evaluating the effectiveness of assistance.  Unders tanding the provision of assistance was useful, but 
understanding how that assistance could be made effective was essential.  The usefulness of the 
workshop on implementation held in Marc h 2006 had been noted in this regard. 
53. The Chairman noted that in closing the info rmal meeting, he had placed the Secretariat 
document in the context of the Committee's re port on S&D (G/SPS/GEN/36) and actions which the 
Committee could take which would assist implementation by developing countries.   
(b) Other matters relating to special and differential treatment 
54. The Chairman reported that following discussions  in the June meeting of the Committee, 
regarding the proposal from a number of small and vulnerable economies 
(WT/COMTD/SE/W/16/Rev.1), he had reported to the Chairman of the Committee on Trade and 
Development (CTD) Dedicated Session on Small Economies.  On the 29 September 2006, the CTD 
Dedicated Session adopted a report on Measures to Assist Small Economies in meeting their obligations under the Agreements on SPS Measures, TB T and TRIPs.  The report had been circulated 
as document WT/COMTD/SE/5, and was submitted to the General Council for consideration at its 
meeting on 10 October 2006.  The Chairman noted th at in endorsing the report, the General Council 
had inter alia , agreed that small economies were allowed to  use regional bodies to assist them in the 
implementation of their obligations under the SPS Agreement.  The General Council recommended 
that Members, when providing technical and fina ncial assistance to supp ort small and vulnerable 
economies in fulfilling their rights and obligations under the SPS Agreement, should consider the 
advantages of providing that assistance to a designated regional body where such exists. 
55. Finally, the Chairman welcomed efforts made to improve the implementation of the SPS 
Agreement and expressed hope that the Committee would provide whatever support it could to 
Members in this regard.  He observed that it was ve ry important for Members to take note of the fact 
that the proposal was from another body of the WTO but certainly had implications for the SPS 
Committee.  The proposal, however, did not imply any modification of the SPS Agreement. 
56. The representative of the United States recalled th at when the Committee met in June 2005, it 
had a good discussion about the proposal.  She noted that some concerns were raised and requested 
information regarding the process followed to  address the concerns in the proposal.  
57. The Chairman recalled that the proposal was or iginally presented to the CTD and the opinions 
of the SPS Committee, the TBT Committee and the TR IPs Council had been sought.  He noted that 
since the SPS Committee had not made any decision on the proposal, the proponents had decided to 
continue the discussion in the CTD Dedicated Sessi on, which agreed that the proposal had sufficient 
support to be sent to the General Council for consid eration.  Before the document was sent to the 
General Council, some delegations had expressed th e view that in future these types of proposals 
should first have the consensus of the specialized bodies.  
58. The representative of Barbados clarified that in the CTD Dedicated Session the issue was 
raised in the context of identifying what measures ha d been implemented or were being looked at and 
contemplated for small and vulnerable economies.  She reiterated that the proposal had been revised G/SPS/R/43 
Page 14  
 
  and that the proposal did not change the SPS Agre ement on how the Secretariat provided assistance, 
but sought to provide some clarity. 
59. The representative of Cuba raised concerns about other outstanding proposals, including the 
proposal from the African Group and that presen ted by the United States in June on S&D 
(G/SPS/W/198).  She noted that progress in this area  had been limited by the suspension of the trade 
negotiations and expressed Cuba's desire to conti nue discussions on the subject irrespective of the 
outcome of negotiations.  
60. The representative of Kenya agreed that there was a need for more guidance on how to handle 
the issue of S&D in relation to the suspension of the negotiations.  She noted that it was the 
responsibility of the whole Committee to discuss the issue of S&D, including proposals that were on 
the table, and not the responsibility just of the proponents.  She further noted that at the last 
Committee meeting the African Group had invited Members to comment on the existing proposals, 
but no comments had been forthcoming.  The represe ntative of Kenya encouraged Members to engage 
constructively in the debate and to provide s uggestions on how the Committee could proceed and 
revise the proposals.   
61. The Chairman concluded that the issue of S&D was part of the regular work of the 
Committee and indicated that although some of the proposals were in some way designated within the 
framework of the Doha Declaration, discussions coul d still continue at the Committee's next informal 
meetings as long as Members agreed.   While noting the concerns of some Members on the issue with 
regard to the suspension of the trade negotiations, he reiterated the fact that anything which could 
improve the implementation of the SPS Agreement was part of the Committee's regular agenda.  
VI. EQUIVALENCE – ARTICLE 4 
(a) Information from Members on their experiences 
62. No Members provided information on ex periences related to equivalence. 
(b) Information from relevant  observer organizations 
63. The representative of the IPPC reminded the Committee that in 2005, the ICPM had approved 
guidelines for the determination and recognition of equivalence of phytosanitary measures (ISPM 24). 
VII. PEST- OR DISEASE-FREE AREAS (ARTICLE 6) 
(a) Chairman's report on the informal meeting on regionalization  
64. At the informal meeting held on 10 October,  discussions focused on the revised background 
paper prepared by the Secretariat (G/SPS/GEN/ 640/Rev.1).  Many Members welcomed the revision, 
but some had noted that their comments on the original version of the paper had not been fully 
reflected.  A number of suggestion for clarification and editorial changes were also proposed.  The 
Secretariat had explained that the paper was a ba ckground document for discussion.  It attempted to 
identify common views held by Members, but was not meant to reflect all views and was not proposing any draft legal document. 
65. One Member had noted that Part IV of the document now indicated that Members could also 
seek recognition of an area where a pest or disease  had never been present and did not have to be 
eradicated.  This Member was concerned that a cer tain disease might never have been diagnosed in an 
area but could still be present.  Another Member ha d explained that this subject had been discussed 
among Caribbean Members who felt it was important to include si nce due to their geographical  G/SPS/R/43 
 Page 15 
 
 
  situation, many Caribbean countries were free of many pests and diseases.  They were not talking 
about diseases for which there were no testing capabiliti es, but those for which tests could be carried 
out to confirm a disease was not present. 
66. Several Members had noted that they had prop osed adding timeframes to the typical steps 
identified in Part IV of the document.  Alt hough the revised document made reference to the 
possibility of establishing timeframes in paragraph 31, this paragraph was not part of the steps.  The 
document stopped short of actually identifying maximum timeframes, which according to some Members was desirable to avoid undue delays and improve transparency and predictability. 
67. Many Members had stressed their continuing opposition to setting timeframes for the 
recognition process in a multilateral context, but so me were willing to consider alternatives to 
multilateral timeframes.  For example, a Committee decision could include guidance for an agreement 
on timeframes between the exporti ng and the importing Member.  One Member had noted that for 
developing countries it was important that timelines  should take into account crop seasons.  This 
Member had also proposed that a notification to the SPS Committee should be made at the beginning 
and at the end of the recognition process so that  the Committee would have some idea of the 
timeframes involved. 
68. Several Members had indicated that they remain ed concerned about duplication in the work 
of the SPS Committee and that of the OIE and IPPC, a point not adequately emphasized in the document.  Another Member had indicated that if the pest or disease status of an area had been recognized by an international standard-setting body, this should be taken into account by the 
importing country.  One Member had noted that work  on a standard related to regionalization was 
currently under way at the IPPC; this standard mi ght be adopted at the next CPM meeting in March 
2007.  The Committee should closely communicate with  the IPPC to avoid any inconsistencies. 
69. A few Members had questioned the usefulness of Step J on the expedited process.  Where 
previous experiences had led to confidence between authorities, this would naturally lead to more 
rapid exchanges and decision making.  One Member had suggested that the need for inclusion of 
reference to an expedited process should be considered  at a later point in time, after some experience 
with a regular procedure. 
70. The OIE had reported that it had received co mments on its regionalization chapter only from 
the European Communities; the OIE hoped that other Members would also contribute.  In addition, 
the OIE was working on guidance on compartmentali zation for avian influenza.  Some OIE members 
were in favour of adding avian influenza to th e current list of four diseases for which there was 
official recognition.  Where there was official r ecognition of a disease-free country or zone, the OIE 
considered this as equivalent to an OIE standard.  The Secretariat paper might reflect more strongly 
that acknowledging this official re cognition should be the default point for departure, even if some 
Members might require additional steps. 
71. The IPPC had reported that, as a result of the importance attached to it by this Committee, it 
had given priority to the development of a draft international standard for the "Recognition of pest-
free areas and areas of low pest prevalence".  This standard had been sent out for country 
consultation, and the IPPC had organized a seri es of workshops to facilitate participation and 
comments from developing countries on the five draf t standards currently under development.  The 
IPPC had recalled its plea for lia ison between national trade and technical officials in preparing 
comments.  These comments would be reviewed by the Standards Committee next month, and if there 
was agreement the draft standard would be forw arded to the CPM for possible adoption in March 
2007.  In addition to this work on the standard, the IPPC had established a focus group to develop 
terms of reference for a working group on in ternational recognition.  The Commission on 
Phytosanitary Measures had considered that very little information was available on the extent to G/SPS/R/43 
Page 16  
 
  which pest-free areas were actually being used, and had requested the secretariat to undertake a 
survey.  Based on the results of this survey, the CPM would decide how to proceed.  Responses to the 
survey received so far were interesting and covered all regions and a good range of crops and pests.   
72. One Member had recalled that in the report of the review, the Committee had committed to 
adopting a decision on Article 6.  Several Members considered that after a long debate that had 
continued for 10 meetings already, Members shoul d now make progress towards adopting a decision 
on this subject.  They proposed transforming the background paper into a draft proposal for a formal decision by the Committee.  
73. At the end of the meeting, the Chair had noted  that there seemed to be an interest in 
continuing discussions.  Members seemed to now better understand each others' views, and certain 
Members had indicated some flexibility in their po sitions.  The Chair had proposed creating a group 
of "friends of the chair" to try to move the matte r forward in more informal, concentrated discussions, 
but it turned out that so many delegations wanted to  participate that a brief informal meeting had been 
held on 12 October instead.  In the meantime, Memb ers were encouraged to consult one another in 
smaller groups to try to bridge the differences in views. 
74. At the informal meeting on 12 October, one Me mber reported that such consultations had 
taken place among several Members to discuss a possible compromise.  This group had examined options for enhancing predictability and transparency and intended to continue with a view to finding 
a solution acceptable to all. 
75. The representative of Egypt had recalled Egypt's position that international recognition should 
expedite the bilateral process.  He  agreed that whenever international recognition existed, it should 
serve to enhance the trust of the competent author ities of the exporting countries.  He had expressed 
the view that the SPS Committee was well-placed to provide administrative guidance to all WTO 
Members on how to apply Article 6 of the SPS Agr eement while leaving the technical procedures to 
the relevant international standard-setting bodies (I SSBs).  Egypt had also expressed the view that 
timeframes should be established in two steps, fi rst at a multilateral level, where the SPS Committee 
could agree on a provisional timeframe and secondly,  at a bilateral level, with the applicable 
timeframe determined by both exporting and importi ng Members depending on the situation at hand.  
On the issues of transparency and undue delays, he had noted that notification to the SPS Committee 
should take place irrespective of the outcome of the bilateral recognition process.  Finally, the representative of Egypt had stressed  that there was a need for an expedited process and suggested the 
draft arrangement for recognition of pest-free areas and areas of low pest prevalence developed by the 
IPPC could form the basis of further discussion on this issue by the SPS Committee. 
76. In concluding his report of the informal discu ssions, the Chairman observed that there was a 
consensus among Members to continue the discussions  in an informal mode prior to the next 
Committee meeting on the basis of document G/ SPS/GEN/640/Rev.1 and any additional comments 
on it.  Members were requested to send any comments or documents to the Secretariat well before the 
meeting in March 2007.   
(b) Information from Members on their experiences  
77. The representative of Peru informed the Committe e that the National Animal Health Service 
in Peru (SENASA) had made efforts to establish disease-free areas, which ha d consequences for trade 
in animal products.  She noted that in implem enting the SPS Agreement and using the standard 
guidelines of the OIE, SENASA had established a qua rantine system to prev ent the entry of diseases 
through trade and applied import requirements through 28 external control points and 20 internal 
quarantine departments.  A national poultry health  programme initiated in 2002 had permitted Peru to 
be declared free of avian influenza, following a ser ies of measures that were taken for both domestic  G/SPS/R/43 
 Page 17 
 
 
  and wild birds.  SENASA had a schedule to ensure the control of diseases of economic impact for 
swine, especially classical swine fever (CSF), respiratory reproductive swine syndrome (PRRS), and Aujezky disease at the national level.  This initiativ e was supported by a project financed by the Inter-
American Development Bank, which would run from  October 2006 to October 2011.  The project was 
expected to reduce the prevalence of these diseases to le vels of less than five per cent, consistent with 
the official declaration of free areas, and lead to an increase of ten per cent in swine production. 
(c) Information from relevant observer organizations  
78. The representatives of the OIE and IPPC reiterated their views raised in the informal meetings 
on regionalization held on 10 and 12 October 2006.   
VIII.  TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND COOPERATION  
(a) Information from the Secretariat 
79. The Secretariat reported that since the last  Committee meeting, one regional workshop had 
been held for the Commonwealth of Independent  States and four national seminars held in 
Madagascar, Bulgaria, Ethiopia and Djibouti.  The Secr etariat had also been involved in other training 
events, including training organized by the Swedis h International Development Agency and training 
on transparency obligations across WTO Agreemen ts for Cambodia.  The Secretariat welcomed 
delegates who were participating in the two-week  specialized training course on SPS in English from 
16-27 October 2006.  A regional workshop would be held  in Colombia, with the participation of OIE, 
Codex, IPPC and IICA, at the end of October 2006.  This would be followed by a national seminar in 
Colombia.  National seminars were  planned in Mexico and Sri Lanka  next year and the Secretariat 
also reported that an invitation had been received fro m the Ministry of Agricult ure in Japan to provide 
training to some officials.  The 2007 technical assistance plan included three regional workshops for 
Members in South Asia, Francophone  and Anglophone Africa, and well as a specialized SPS training 
course to be held in French.  The plan also included a special meeting on transparency and an 
unspecified number of national seminars provided at the request of Members.  The Secretariat recalled 
that a strategic review of WTO technical assistance  had been completed and was to be discussed in 
the Committee on Trade and Development on 3 November 2006 (WT/COMTD/512).  Members 
should ensure that the enquiry points and notifica tion authority lists provided to the Secretariat and 
observer organizations were correct and up to date , as various problems had been encountered when 
trying to invite national enquiry points, Codex, OIE and IPPC contact points to training activities 
organized by the WTO. 
80. On recent developments in the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF), the 
Secretariat reported that the Working Group was to meet on 16 and 17 October 2006.  The main item 
on the agenda was a medium-term strategy for the STDF for the next five years.  In terms of strategy, 
the document emphasized a greater focus on coordina tion to enhance the effectiveness of technical 
assistance provided.  The Secretariat noted with pa rticular reference to Madagascar that national 
awareness was a key driver to the success of national seminars.  The Secretariat also reported a 
number of ongoing STDF projects aimed at assessi ng the effectiveness of technical assistance and 
improving the flow of information on STDF related i ssues.  Finally, the Secretariat would be involved 
in delivering an end-of project workshop under the Joint Integrated Techni cal Assistance (JITA) 
programme, which was an initiative for 16 African countries.  One of the initiatives had been to 
strengthen the performance of enquiry points through delivery of hardware and training in terms of 
document handling.  The project would be comp leted by March 2007, with a another planned 
workshop to look at compliance with reporting and notifications under the various WTO Agreements 
of relevance.  G/SPS/R/43 
Page 18  
 
  81. The representative of Paraguay provided fu rther information on the STDF project on 
improving the flow of information, which began in 2005.  He stated that the project was now in its 
final phase of implementation and was to be fully functioning by November 2006. 
(b) Information from Members 
82. The representative of Canada provided a summ ary of her country's technical assistance 
activities between the period Ja nuary 2000 and December 2004.  Du ring this period, Canadian 
assistance had involved 76 projects to 59 Members,  observer organizations a nd other countries that 
amounted to over CND$10 million in the areas of informat ion, trainings and "soft" infrastructure 
development (G /SPS/GEN/728). 
83. The representative of the European Commun ities provided information on a two-week SPS 
seminar organized in September and October 2006 for Ecuadorian au thorities, which concentrated on 
meeting EC requirements for fish imports.  O ngoing activities included the EC-ASEAN co-operation 
programme, which started in 2002, with the objectiv e to assist in the development of an Asian 
regional dimension and strategy for developing t echnical regulations, setting standards, metrology, 
accreditation and conformity assessment principles and practices in line with WTO and EC policies.  
In addition to the pesticides initiative programme (PIP) in the ACP region, estimated at 34 million 
euros until 2010, the European Communities was also funding a regional programme for the 
protection of fruits and vegetables in the Indian O cean region for the period 2002-2008, estimated at 
4.8 million euros.  This involved five members of  the Commission of the Indian Ocean (COI) which 
were also ACP countries (Comoros, Madagascar, Maurice, Seychelles and Reunion).  He also 
provided information on a number of technical as sistance activities in cooperation with observer 
organizations (IPPC and FAO), particularly in the phytosanitary area.  With regard to the STDF, the 
representative of the European Communiti es announced it would provide financial s upport for the 2007 
working year.  He highlighted the current and pl anned contributions of some EC member States, 
including Denmark, France, Germany, the Neth erlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom. 
84. The Secretariat thanked the European Communiti es for its contributions and noted that a 
contribution of the United States to the ST DF was in the process of being finalized. 
(c) Information from relevant  observer organizations  
85. The representative of the International Trade Ce ntre (ITC) reported that during this period 
ITC assistance had involved six projects, incl uding projects aimed at improving fishery capabilities 
and  the effectiveness of inspection and auditing  services in Indonesia and Malaysia for fishery 
exports.  Other ITC projects implemented over the period included the Technical Support for 
Improving the Standardization Quality Assu rance Accreditation and Metrology (SQAM) 
infrastructure in  Malawi.  The ITC also reported that, in collaboration with ISO, it had developed a 
software-based checklist for the new certification tool on food safety management systems – ISO 
22000:2005, which was particularly helpful to sm all businesses in developing countries and transition 
economies.  In June 2005, the ITC and the Commonw ealth Secretariat jointly organized an interactive 
follow-up workshop aimed at exploiting options for developing countries in influencing and meeting 
international standards (G/SPS/GEN/740).   
86.
 The representative of the IPPC drew attention to document G/SPS/GEN/730  which listed its 
recent and forthcoming technical assistance activities.   
87. The representative of Codex recalled that the Codex Alimentarius did not directly offer 
technical assistance but did so through the Food Sa fety and Control Unit of the FAO and WHO.  A 
comprehensive listing of its activities in the last  12 months could be found in G/SPS/GEN/720.  For 
2007, a total of 138 Members were eligible for support within the framework of the Codex Trust Fund  G/SPS/R/43 
 Page 19 
 
 
  and the deadline for application was the end of October 2006.  The Codex had been developing its 
capacity to communicate more effectively with its Members by improving the functionality of its 
website and a number of other activities were pla nned in the coming year to enhance communication 
between Codex members, including an e-learning course.   
IX. ISSUES ARISING FROM THE REVIEW  OF THE OPERATION OF THE SPS 
AGREEMENT 
(a) Chairman's report 
88. The Chairman reported on the informal meeting held on 11 October 2006.  Following an 
introduction by the Secretariat of the Compendium of Documents Related to Issues Arising from the 
Second Review of the Implementation of the SPS Agreement (G/SPS/GEN/722), Members  had 
considered a number of issues raised not only in the documents listed in  the Compendium but also in 
the Report of the Review of the SPS Agreement of June 2005 (G/SPS/36) and in  relevant submissions 
predating that report. 
89. These could be grouped under four  broad subject areas:  (1) Transparency/clarification of 
terms;  (2) Relationship between the SPS Committ ee and International Standard Setting Bodies;  
(3) Undue delays, and  (4) Cons ultations under Article 12.1, Use of Good Offices, Resolution of 
Trade Concerns. 
90. With regard to transparency, in view of th e upcoming special meeting for Enquiry Points 
scheduled for October 2007, a number of delegations supported according priority to this area in the 
first part of next year and had asked the Secretar iat to circulate a questi onnaire to Members. This 
questionnaire could, among others,  focus on obstacl es to establishment and functioning of Enquiry 
Points, difficulties faced in preparing and responding  to notifications and possible improvements to 
notification procedures.  Consideration of the responses to the questionnaire would facilitate 
preparations to ensure a results-oriented special meet ing.  One delegation had al so suggested to have a 
statistical analysis of SPS notifications, as had been undertaken by China in 2003. 
91. The representative of the OIE had underlined the n eed for greater clarification with respect to 
references to specific OIE standards in SPS no tifications of measures, as these sometimes 
contradicted OIE standards while claiming to follow them.  
92. The delegation of Canada had proposed that the Committee work towards a clarification of 
the terms "measures" and "regulations" as containe d in the SPS Agreement.  Another delegation 
considered favourably this proposal, indicating that  using different terminology to refer to the same 
concept could lead to uncertainty. 
93. On the relationship between the SPS Committee and International Sta ndard-Setting Bodies, 
the delegation of New Zealand had re ferred to its substantive document on this high priority issue.  It 
contained specific questions to guide the Committ ee's work.  With a view to making concrete 
progress, one delegation had suggested to start by fo cusing on questions 1,3, and 5 contained in that 
submission. 
94. Under the third area on undue delays, Colombia  had suggested that the Committee accord 
priority to consider this important cross-cutting issue and monitor instances of "undue delays" through 
notifications from Members.  Se veral delegations had suggested that Members come forth with 
specific examples of undue delays, well in advance of upcoming Committee mee tings, with a view to 
preparing the ground for better targeted discussions.   G/SPS/R/43 
Page 20  
 
  95. With regard to consultations under Article 12, th e delegation of Brazil, referring to paragraph 
16 of the Compendium prepared by the Secretaria t, had clarified that Brazil was in favour of 
enhancing the use of the Committee's mechanism for voicing specific trade concerns, not changing it.  
96. One delegation had pointed out that sometimes "r esolved" trade concerns did not appear as 
such in the Committee's documentation.  The Secretar iat clarified that the accuracy of the compilation 
of specific trade concerns found in G/SPS/GEN/204 and its revisions depended on the information 
provided by Members. 
97. A number of delegations had supported the furthe r consideration of how the use of the good 
offices of the Chair could complement other effort s in a timely resolution of trade problems.  The 
Secretariat had recalled that the good offices of th e Chair had been used in  the past and further 
information on these from Members concerned or th e Secretariat could help facilitate further 
discussion on this topic. 
98. One delegation, referring to a Chilean proposal , had suggested that the OIE and the IPPC 
provide information on their dispute settlement pr ocedures.  The representative of the OIE had 
referred to a recent OIE submission on this topic (G/SPS/GEN/731). 
99. Overall, there had been recognition that Members had come up with a range of useful 
suggestions, both in numerous docum ents circulated and in the Committee's Report on the Review of 
the Agreement.  Some of these would require a subs tantive amount of further discussions while others 
could possibly be addressed more rapidly.  The ch allenge was to organize the Committee's work and 
start taking actions accordingly.  Therefore, the Co mmittee had asked the Secretariat to draft possible 
next steps under each of the four areas identified,  taking into account the comments made during the 
informal meeting.  The Chairman concluded his oral report by noting that the Secretariat had 
responded to this request and had circulated a draf t paper entitled "Issues Arising From the Review of 
the SPS Agreement – Proposed Next Steps" for c onsideration by the Committee with a view to 
identifying concrete steps for the coming months. 
100. With regard to the draft paper on "Proposed Next Steps", several Members were concerned 
that all of the issues identified in the Committe e's report on the Review (G/SPS/GEN/36) were not 
included, and in particular that sufficient priority was not given to moving ahead on the issue of Regionalization.  Some Members also indicated th at they could not endorse any major decisions 
without consultations with their respective national authorities.  The Secretar iat clarified that the 
paper on the proposed steps was not a formal docum ent and did not entail any change in document 
G/SPS/GEN/36.  Rather, the paper simply proposed a way for the Committee to move forward on the 
issues arising from the Review.  The Secretariat was requested to revise the proposed next steps 
paper, taking into account the views of Members, to serve as a basis for an  informal meeting on the 
issues arising from the Review that would immedi ately precede the March meeting of the Committee. 
101. At the same time, the Committe e agreed to move ahead with  respect to the issue of 
transparency, and requested the Secretariat to circ ulate a questionnaire regarding difficulties Members 
faced in the effective operation of Enquiry Poin ts and Notification Authorities.  Members were 
requested to make suggestions for addressing these difficulties, and others with respect to the 
implementation of transparency provisions of th e SPS Agreement, and provide this information for 
consideration in an informal meeting on transparency to be held in March.  
X. MONITORING OF THE USE OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS 
(a) 
New issues 
102. No Member raised any new issue under this agenda item.  G/SPS/R/43 
 Page 21 
 
 
  (b) Issues previously raised 
103. No further information was provided on issues previously raised. 
(c) Information from relevant  observer organizations  
104. The representative of the Codex Alimentarius reminded the Committee that last year the 
Codex Alimentarius Commission decided to abolis h the procedure regarding the notification of 
acceptance by Members on the use of Codex standards.   The main reasons for the abolition were that 
it created a dichotomy between those Codex standards submitted for acceptance by Codex members and  those that were not actually used substantively by Codex members.  He noted that there had been 
ongoing discussion as to which new procedure or meas ures or instruments could be introduced to 
address the wish of Codex members to monitor the use of Codex standards.  One proposal to this 
effect had been that the regional Codex coordinati ng committees would have a standing agenda item 
regarding the use of Codex standards and related te xts at the national and regional level.  The Codex 
secretariat had sent a circular letter to all Codex me mbers, that contained a questionnaire related to: 
(1) the use of Codex standards and related texts at  the national and regional level;  (2) non-use of 
Codex standards and related texts;  (3) any di fficulties encountered by Codex members in using 
Codex standards and related texts;  (4) relevance of Codex standards as a basis for harmonization;  
and (5) any other health and trade pr oblems related to standardization (
G/SPS/GEN/727) .   
XI. TRANSITIONAL REVIEW UNDER PARAGRAPH 18 OF THE PROTOCOL OF 
THE ACCESSION OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA 
105. The Chairman recalled that in accordance with Paragraph 18 of the Protocol of Accession of 
the People's Republic of China, the SPS Committee w as to undertake an annual review for eight years 
of the implementation by China of the SPS Agr eement.  He opened the floor for comments or 
questions from Members. 
106. The representative of the United States recalled th at in its submission for the 2006 transitional 
review (G/SPS/GEN/594), the United States had pr esented China with written questions covering a 
number of areas, including (1) China's BSE-related bans  on US beef and other low-risk products;  (2) 
China's zero pathogen requirements on meat and pou ltry products;  (3) inappropriate avian influenza 
restrictions on US poultry; (4) inadequate regul atory transparency; (5) China's requirement for 
annually updated lists of approved fruit packagi ng facilities; (6) China's non-recognition of the US 
National Fruit Fly Trapping Programme (NFFTP); a nd (7) China's non-recognition of all types of 
materials for use in food packaging and food-contact  materials sold in the market.  The themes 
underlying these questions continued to be the same  as those underlying the submissions made at the 
three previous transitional reviews.  As shown in documents G/SPS/W/126, G/SPS/W/139 and 
G/SPS/W/153, the United States had consistently ra ised concerns regarding (1) China's failure to 
notify numerous SPS measures;  (2) the lack of tran sparency in China's application of SPS measures; 
and (3) China's imposition of requirements that appear  to have no basis in science.  These concerns 
were most evident in two issues raised in th e United States 2006 submission, namely China's BSE-
related bans and fire blight restrictions. 
107. The representative of the United States further noted  that the United States' strongest concerns 
involved China's BSE- and avian influenza-relate d bans on US beef and poultry and their products, 
respectively.  China had provided virtually no info rmation to the United States on the basic regulatory 
framework under which it would make science-based decisions to consider th e US request for China 
to lift these bans.  Dozens of countries had lifted thei r bans on US beef and each of them had, at a 
minimum, provided the United States with a detailed explanation of the regulatory steps necessary to 
make a decision on the US request to lift the ban.   Since China imposed the bans on US beef and 
poultry, it had still not offered any explanation of its actions or on the necessary regula tory steps for G/SPS/R/43 
Page 22  
 
  lifting the bans.  The United States was also c oncerned that China's measures were not based on 
relevant risk assessments.  The United States re quested China to adhere to the science-based 
principles contained in the OIE guidelines when making related regulatory decisions regarding 
imports of US cattle and beef pr oducts and US poultry and poultry pr oducts.  The United States also 
urged China to take steps to ensure that its regulatory authorities quickly addressed this problem. 
108. The representative of the United States also expressed concern that China continued to 
enforce technically unattainable zero-tolerance re quirements for certain pathogens such as salmonella 
on imports of meat and poultry products from the Un ited States.  The Standardization Administration 
of China (SAC) and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of 
the People's Republic of China (AQSIQ) National St andard on Fresh and Frozen Poultry Products 
(GB16869-2005) on these pathogens, effective from 1 Janua ry 2006 appeared to be inconsistent with 
the Codex Alimentarius (Codex) guidelines.  The United States was also concerned because the 
tolerance requirement applicable to imports did not appear to be enforced against domestic products.  
However, China had acknowledged the need to revise domestic regulatory controls in this area and 
the United States urged China to immediately remedy this situation. 
109. Another important concern of the United States related to China's hygienic standards for food 
contact materials.  The representative of the Unite d States expressed concern that under the National 
Standard GB 9685-2003, issued by China's Minist ry of Health (MOH), China had approved only 65 
types of materials for use in food packaging and food -contact materials sold in its market.  Thousands 
of these materials were currently permitted for use in food-contact materials in the United States, 
Europe and Canada.  The United States further no ted that these products already existed in the 
Chinese stream of commerce and, if not permitted, could lead to significant economic losses for US 
and other producers/suppliers.  While the United St ates appreciated China's many timely amendments 
to G/SPS/N/CHN/42 on solid wood packaging materials, the United States still  urged China to move 
quickly and approve food-contact materials not previ ously approved in China or by foreign regulatory 
authorities.  
110. On the issue of regulatory transparency, the United States was concerned about the number of 
SPS measures that China enforced against US produc ts without notification to the WTO for members' 
comments prior to adoption and implementation.  The United States had identified over 20 of these 
measures issued between 1 July 2005 and 30 A ugust 2006.  Some of these measures implemented 
new registration requirements, others set new safety  standards for residues, while others invoked new 
procedures for inspection or identified new quarantine pests.  Some of the measures appeared to be 
inconsistent with previous standards.  Although the United States appreciated the fact that many of the 
measures were now available on the Chinese Government  website, they had invariably raised the cost 
of entry into China for US producers, particularly due to lack of the opportunity to review and assess 
them in advance.  However, the United States recogni zed the strides China had made in the past year 
to more consistently implement its WTO obligations in this regard.  The United States also noted that 
China had now overtaken many Me mbers in the WTO with its 99
th notification of a new SPS measure 
made to the Secretariat on 28 August 2006, and enc ouraged China to continue to make progress on 
notification. 
111. In its written questions, the United States had also expressed ongoing concerns on several 
other matters, which had been raised previously  in the Committee, including:  (1) the annually 
updated lists of approved fruit pack ing facilities requirement;  (2) zero pathogen requirements on meat 
and poultry products;  (3) inappropriate avian influe nza restrictions;  and (4) non-recognition of the 
National Fruit Fly Trapping Programme (NFFTP).  The United States recognized the advances made by China during the Phytosanitary Bilateral T echnical meeting in Xi' during the week of 
4 September 2006 (in which China recognized the NFFTP of the United States and eliminated the 
requirement of an annually updated list of US produc tion orchards that were approved to ship fruit to 
China).  The United States however, noted that it would still like to see more progress in these areas,  G/SPS/R/43 
 Page 23 
 
 
  particularly in the elimination of additional requi rements for an annually updated list of approved fruit 
packing facilities. 
112. The representative of the European Communiti es thanked China for its commitment to the 
transitional review mechanism (TRM) and expressed a ppreciation for the efforts deployed by China to 
answer the questions posed during the previous TRM exercise.  The European Communities noted 
with satisfaction the increased cooperation be tween China and the European Communities on SPS 
issues and mentioned the increasing number of cont acts and the establishment of formal cooperation 
mechanisms aimed at promoting in creased trade flows under safe cond itions.  However, the European 
Communities would welcome further improvement in  the currently limited access to the Chinese 
market for EC food products.  The European Commun ities also noted that in contrast to the large 
number of notifications made as part of the WTO accession process, there has been a sharp fall in the 
number of notifications by China under the SPS Agreem ent over the past year.  Clarification by China 
on this point would be welcome by the European Communities.  
113. The representative of the European Communities indicated two market access areas where 
enhancement of cooperation was needed:  removal of the current BSE-related ban on certain ruminant 
derivative products from the European Communiti es and a greater flexibility on the approval 
procedure for listing of EC establishments e ligible to export products into China. 
114. At previous Committee meetings, the Europ ean Communities had welcomed the compliance 
of China's import policy for EC bovine semen and embryos with the World Organization for Animal 
Health's (OIE) standards on BSE.  The Europ ean Communities encouraged China to apply OIE 
standards in accordance with its obligations under Article 3 of the SPS Agreement.  The 
representative of the European Communities noted that China was quick to apply international 
standards when problems arose, but often delayed far beyond these guidelines when lifting the measures.  The European Communities also consider ed the very slow progress in negotiations of 
certain bilateral protocols between China and EC member States as a key factor hampering trade in agricultural products between the European Comm unities and China.  The European Communities 
urged China to follow its obligations under the SPS  Agreement, including obligations to maintain 
imports restrictions only if they were scientifica lly based.  In this regard, the European Communities 
invited China to implement the OIE standards, accel erate the negotiations and to avoid undue delays. 
115. The European Communities noted  that China's ban on certain animal products from EC 
member States was based on a single isolated and completely controlled inci dent of contamination 
with dioxins.  The European Communities beli eved that in the absence of proper scientific 
justification, the SPS Agreement gave no basis for Ch ina to maintain the ban.  In addition, China's 
100 per cent testing import requirements on dairy products for E. Sakazakii  were not scientifically 
based and not proportional to the risk in accordance with provisions of the SPS Agreement.  In this 
regard, the European Communities asked China to respect the provisions of the SPS Agreement and 
in particular Article 2.2. 
116. The representative of Brazil noted that while Brazil acknowledged the considerable strides 
made by China with regard to SPS issues, it shar ed the concerns of the United States and other 
delegations regarding the extrem ely rigid levels and technically  unattainable zero-tolerance 
requirements for certain pathogens, such as salm onella on imports of m eat and poultry products, 
which China still continued to enforce.  Brazil also  requested China to make all possible efforts to 
develop and improve on the transparency process rega rding notification of their regulations so that 
Members could have the necessary time to assess the measures. 
117. The representative of Australia expressed appreci ation for China's efforts since joining the 
WTO in 2001 to develop and improve its quarantin e and inspection systems and to ensure that 
quarantine procedures were based on risk assessment and sound scientific evidence.  Australia valued G/SPS/R/43 
Page 24  
 
  its strong relationship with China and continued to make efforts to strengthen communication and 
cooperation with China on SPS matters.  Australia understood the challenges China faced and noted 
the steady progress made by China in the developmen t of SPS measures consistent with the provisions 
of the SPS Agreement.  Australia particularly appreci ated  recent work by China to develop an import 
protocol for Australian citrus, which was now be ing implemented.  Australia was engaged in a 
number of bilateral SPS issues with China and looked forward to an early resolution of these issues to 
allow bilateral trade to expand for the mutual benef it of both Members.  Australia further encouraged 
China to develop measures that were based on scientifically sound risk assessments and harmonized with international standards, while also ensuring c onsistency and transparency in its development and 
administration of SPS measures, at both a national and provincial level, as well as conformity with 
notification obligations under the SPS Agreement.  Au stralia further urged China to make sure that 
adopted measures were reviewed appropriately to en sure that they were the least trade restrictive 
possible. 
118. The representative of Australia further observed that Australia had been pleased to offer a 
significant amount of technical assistance to China,  worth about US$2 million, to assist development 
of China's SPS capabilities and systems.  A recen t example was the provision of SPS master class 
training in Canberra for 19 of China's quarantine officials in May 2006.   
119. The representative of China thanked the United States, the European Communities, Brazil and 
Australia for their comments and questions.  He st ated that China had taken note of the comments 
from Brazil and Australia and were prepared to cont inue the constructive dialogue with them on any 
issue of bilateral interest in the SPS area.  With regard to questions from the European Communities, 
China regretted the fact that due to late submission of document G/SPS/W/208 (on 9 September 
2006), China had had difficulty in processing these qu estions in time and requested the European 
Communities to respect the basic rules and pro cedures on the handling of general item documents 
before the SPS Committee to avoid delays in dealing with their concerns.  China further noted that as 
to the specific questions mentioned by the repr esentative of the United States, some progress had 
already been made through bilateral discussions a nd negotiations prior to the Committee meeting.  
However, he provided the following information an d responses to the comments and questions raised 
by the United States under the framework of Paragraph 18 of China's Protocol of Accession.  
120. In relation to transparency, by March 2002, prior to its accession to the WTO, China had 
notified 140 SPS measures promulgate d before its accession to the WT O.  After its accession, China 
had circulated 100 notifications to the WTO Secr etariat, which provided Members with a comment 
period of 60 days calculated from the date of circul ation of the notification by the Secretariat, as 
requested in China's proposal on transparency (G/SPS/W/131 and corrigendum).  The Ministry of 
Commerce of the People's Republic of China (MOF COM) had established mechanisms to enhance 
coordination among ministries and agencies responsib le for SPS measures and had already organized 
various meetings, workshops and training courses on no tifications for officers from relevant ministries 
and agencies.  These actions had greatly improve d the SPS measure notification process in China.  
Moreover, MOFCOM, together with AQSIQ, had dr afted and adopted guidelines on notification of 
SPS measures. 
121. Regarding BSE-related internati onal standards, the representative of China recalled that in 
previous bilateral talks on the OIE standards code  and from a huge number of statistical analyses, 
China had already pointed out that there existed considerable loopholes in the US prevention and 
control project, tracing system and implementation of  a feedstuff ban.  This provided evidence that  
the United States was not qualified under OIE standa rds as a BSE risk controllable country.  China 
further noted that at present, to prevent the risk of BSE entering China, it only allowed the importation 
of boneless beef from cattle under 30 months old, which meant that the Chin ese authorities needed to 
be convinced that beef other than boneless beef from cattle under 30 months is safe from BSE.  China 
nonetheless indicated its willingness to continue to disc uss the issue bilaterally at a technical level.  G/SPS/R/43 
 Page 25 
 
 
  122. Concerning pathogen requirements, China indicated  that it had taken international standards 
into account.  China had no criteria to require zer o pathogens on fresh and frozen poultry products but 
had considered that it was common knowledge that salmonella was harmful to human health, and in 
discussions on food safety goals in the Codex Comm ittee on Hygiene, most Members believed that 
salmonella should not be detected in food produc ts.  China further observed that it was a legal 
requirement in many countries that salmonella should not be detected in fresh or frozen poultry.  The 
risk assessment report on salmonella in poultry by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meetings on 
Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) pointed out that data on exposur e levels of salmonella 
was insufficient.  In China, both domestic and foreign-produced poultry had to meet the same 
pathogen standard, as such China was in compliance with its obligations under Article 2.3 of the SPS 
Agreement.  
123. In relation to avian influenza in poultry prod ucts from Pennsylvania in the United States, 
China drew Members' attention to OIE requirement that all H5 avian influenza cases, high or low 
pathogenic, should be reported to OIE, and China as an importer of US poultry should have also been 
notified of the outbreak in Pennsylvania.  China noted that the United States had not notified them 
until repeatedly requested to do so.  China jus tified the ban imposed on poultry products from the 
state of Pennsylvania in accordance with the regiona lization principle of the SPS Agreement, as China 
could still not identify poultry products that originated  from an epidemic area in the United States.  
Nonetheless, China indicated its intention to hold fu rther bilateral discussions with the United States 
in order to ensure that poultry enteri ng China was safe from avian influenza.  
124. Regarding the issue of notification, China further noted that among the 13 measures which the 
United States claimed it had not notified to the WT O Secretariat, some were revised according to 
international standards where no substantial ch anges had occurred while other were aimed at 
regulating internal trade of products. 
125. The representative of China concluded by expr essing thanks to Members for their cooperation 
and understanding  and hoped that his statement ha d covered most of the comments and questions 
raised by the United States and that the informat ion he had provided was useful and helpful to 
Members.  China also expressed its desire for closer cooperation with all Members of SPS the 
Committee on issues of mutual interest and in the implementation of the SPS Agreement.   
126. The Chairperson thanked the representative of China for the thorough response and asked if 
any other Member wished to take the floor.  With re gard to the procedural aspects of the review, he 
noted that last year China had requested that no re ference should be made to any particular procedure 
when handling the review.  Based on this, questions  were not invited from Members, which was likely 
one of the reasons for the late submission of questions from the European Communities. 
127. The representative of China agreed that questi ons should not be inv ited from Members, but 
with the Chairman but noted that during the bila teral meeting with the European Communities the 
explanation given by the European Communities fo r the late submission of the questions was not 
related to the procedural aspect of the review.  Chin a further noted that due to the complexity of the 
questions from the European Communities, it was going  to take China a lot of time and effort to 
prepare the responses.  China, nonetheless, appreciat ed clarification from the European Communities.   
128. The representative of the Eur opean Communities noted that it had not at anytime suggested 
that it expected China to respond to their questions  during this meeting.  The European Communities, 
however, expected China to review the questions a nd provide them with a response at a time that 
China deemed appropriate.  The European Comm unities will be very pleased to receive China 
contribution.  G/SPS/R/43 
Page 26  
 
  129. In concluding, the Chairman stated that he would make a short factual report on the 
transitional review to the Council for Trade in Goods , and attach to this the relevant section from the 
report of the Committee's meeting (G/SPS/43). 
XII. MATTERS OF INTEREST ARISING FROM THE WORK OF OBSERVER 
ORGANIZATIONS 
130. On behalf of the FAO, the Secretariat drew  attention to a questionnaire related to an 
evaluation of the FAO being undertaken by a team of independent evaluators.  The evaluators were 
interested in responses and inputs from delegates to the Committee who were actively involved in this 
field.  This evaluation was different from anothe r evaluation of the IPPC, in which a number of 
Members had been requested to meet the evaluato rs on the margins of the Committee meeting.   
131. The representative of IICA reported on the SPS Initiative for the Americas, which had 
supported the active participation of its members to 13 consecutive meetings of the SPS Committee 
since 2002.  For this meeting, the participa tion of capital-based experts from 26 countries was 
facilitated.  In June 2006, IICA held a joint follow-up session of the first specialized trade policy 
course on the SPS Agreement course with the Secretar iat.  IICA also facilitated a three-day workshop 
in August 2006 in Honduras for its National SPS Committee, and provided technical assistance to 
Paraguay within the framework of the STDF-19 Proj ect.  The representative of IICA reported that a 
number of activities had been carried out in collaboration with the USDA, FAO, IPPC, OIE and Codex (G/SPS/GEN/724). 
132. The representative of OIE drew attention to its documents on the relationship between OIE 
standards and invasive alien species (G/SPS/GEN/732) and on the OIE dispute mediation process 
(G/SPS/GEN/731).  He noted that the Terrestrial Code Commission had met to review the current 
chapters on FMD, Bluetongue, BSE, classical swine fe ver, avian influenza, equine influenza, and 
many other diseases.  In collaboration with IICA and with some STDF funding, the OIE had 
developed a Performance, Vision and Strategy  Instrument (PVS) for the evaluation of the veterinary 
services of OIE member countries.  So far 15 countries had indicated interest in having their 
veterinary services evaluated. 
133. The representative of the IPPC drew a ttention to document G/SPS/GEN/729, which 
summarizes the IPPC standard setting work progra mme.  27 ISPMs had been adopted to date.  He 
noted that there had been a revision of ISPM No. 2 on  pest risk analysis;  standards for the recognition 
of pest-free areas;  phytosanitary treatment for regu lated pests;  de-barked and bark-free wood;  and 
the establishment of areas of low p est prevalence for fruit flies.  In response to IPPC Members needs, 
four explanatory documents for IPPC standards ha d been developed – guidelines for wood packaging, 
pest reporting, the use of radiation and guidelines for phytosanitary import regulatory systems.  The IPPC strategic planning group met in October and discussed inter alia   the new draft business plan 
with revised strategic goals.  
134. The representative of the Codex highlighted r ecent developments, in particular the major 
outcomes of the last session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission that met in July 2006 
(G/SPS/GEN/727).  To address the increasing wo rkload, the Codex Committee on Food Additives 
and Contaminants was split into two – a Committee on Food Additives and a Committee on Contaminants.  A new subsidiary body was also established to work on antimicrobial resistance in 
food-borne pathogens.  He further noted that th e budget shortage of FAO and WHO had led to a 
reduction in the number of JECFA meetings from tw o to only one per year, and this was likely to 
affect the work of the Codex on food additi ves and contaminants, which depended on risk 
assessments by JECFA.  With the admission of Belarus as its 174
th member in September 2006, 
Codex work now covered 99 per cent of the world's population.  The text of the Codex Alimentarius 
was now available only electronically due to funding problems.  G/SPS/R/43 
 Page 27 
 
 
  135. Several Members expressed appreciation for th e work of the international organizations. 
Some noted, in particular, the work of IICA and th e USDA in strengthening national services for plant 
and animal health and for the opportunity for ma ny delegates to participate in the SPS Committee 
meetings.  The representatives of Brazil, Cuba and Belize expressed gratitude for the follow-up to the 
first specialized training course on SPS measures, which had provided them with an opportunity to 
share experiences on the challenges that they encoun tered in the implementation of the action plans 
that had been elaborated during the two-week course. 
136. The representative of the Europ ean Communities expressed appreciation for the international 
organizations, especially for their work in strengt hening the capacities of developing countries.  He 
encouraged Members to support the work of these orga nizations by providing resources either directly 
through the parent organizations (FAO and WHO) or  indirectly through mechanisms such as the trust 
funds or the STDF.   
XIII.  OBSERVERS – REQUESTS FOR OBSERVER STATUS 
137. The Committee agreed to invite those organiza tions which had been granted observer status 
on an ad hoc, meeting-by-meeting basis to participate in its next meeting.  The Committee also decided to invite all observer organizations to  participate in its next informal meetings. 
138. The Committee was unable to reach any decision with regard to the requests for observer 
status from the Office International de la Vigne et du Vin (OIV), from the Asian and Pacific Coconut 
Community (APCC), and from the Convention on Biodive rsity (CBD), and agreed to revert to this 
matter at its next meeting.   
XIV.  CHAIRPERSON'S ANNUAL REPORT TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS 
139. The Chairman announced his intention to make a brief, factual annual report on the activities 
of the SPS Committee in 2006 for consideration by th e Council for Trade in Goods.  The report to the 
Council on Trade in Goods was subsequently circulated as G/L/794. 
XV. OTHER BUSINESS 
Concerns related to the EC Novel Foods Regulation 
 
140. The representatives of Peru, Ecuador and Colu mbia reiterated concerns relating to EC 
Regulation 258/97 on Novel Foods  (G/SPS/GEN/733 and G/SPS/GEN/735).  They considered that 
the regulation constituted a non-justif ied barrier to trade in these products as it was not flexible and 
made no distinction between novel (GMO) foods and traditional foods with no known risks.  They 
noted that exotic products originating from Latin Am erica were not the result of any type of genetic 
modification but rather formed part of the biodiversity  of the region and were consumed traditionally.  
Also there were inconsistencies in the way this  regulation was applied throughout the European 
Communities.  The European Communities had not cons idered the fact that many of the traditional 
products had been marketed in a number of countries with very strict sanitary standards as they posed 
no health risks to consumers. 
141. The European Communities was requested to pr omptly review Regulation 258/97, and to 
exclude from its scope of application exotic tr aditional products resulting from biodiversity.  The 
European Communities was also enco uraged to take into account scien tific assessments and relevant 
evidence from other countries and competent interna tional organizations when risk assessments were 
made, and to establish different procedures for foods of known risk and no known risk in the 
European Communities.  The Europe an Communities was also  requested take into account the history 
of the product, the consumption patterns and traditional knowledge rela ting to its use and preparation, G/SPS/R/43 
Page 28  
 
  so as to provide for greater flexibility in the appli cation of the regulation and facilitate the entry of 
exotic traditional products into the European market. 
142. The representatives of Bolivia, Brazil and the Ph ilippines shared the concerns of Peru, 
Ecuador and Columbia.  The representative  of the Philippines highlighted the fact that the regulation 
could become an unjustified non-tariff barrier to th e EC market in view of the unclear technical 
distinction between these  products and other prod ucts.  He expressed hope that progress would be 
made on the issue and a mutual solution found as soon as possible. 
143. The representative of the European Communiti es reminded the Committee that the issue had 
been discussed in the SPS Committee on previous occasions and there ha d been various exchanges of 
communications between the Members concerned.  He acknowledged the problem with traditional 
products, which were not in the EC market prio r to 1997 and noted that the regulation was not 
discriminatory as EC producers had to undergo similar risk evaluations.  He noted that nonetheless the European Communities imported an enormous volume of foods and vegetables.   He reiterated the 
request that the Members concerned submit data on the volume of trade and risk assessments carried out in other developed countries.  The representativ e of the European Communities indicated that the 
EC Commission was putting forward a new proposal that addressed the genuine concerns of 
Members.  A public consultation had been held  on the matter and the European Communities 
appreciated the contributions from the concerned Members. 
Implementation of Article 5 of the SPS Agreement  
 
144. The representative of Columbia reported on th e establishment of a risk analysis and 
international affairs group, and of procedure for the preparation of risk analysis for plant pests and 
animal diseases (G/SPS/GEN/734). 
US restrictions on imports of wooden Christmas trees  
 
145. The representative of China recalled its concer n regarding US restrictions on imports of 
wooden handicrafts from China.  Although some  progress had been made following bilateral 
consultations, China was still concerned that the US restrictions were disproportionate and not 
necessary.  While the United States allowed the im portation of manufactured items which had been 
heat-treated or fumigated with methyl bromide, since the United States de tected beetles in wooden 
trees, no information had been provided to China.    He requested the United States to provide details 
of the enterprises that failed to meet the US quarant ine requirements.  China indicated that China had 
adopted IPPC standards to treat the wooden handicr afts and therefore expected the United States to 
accept the Christmas trees, or to identify alterna tive procedures so that Chinese enterprises knew how 
to meet the US requirements. 
146. The representative of the United States i ndicated that the measures imposed on the 
importation of certain manufactured wood items (inc luding artificial Christmas trees with bark 
attached) from China were imposed after no response was received for a requested plan of action to 
address the issue.  She noted that manufactured wood items that were heat-treated or fumigated with 
methyl bromide and that had their bark removed were  not subject to the import restriction.  Progress 
had been made during the bilateral technical di scussions in September 2006 and the United States 
looked forward to receiving China's accreditation pro posal for fumigation and heat treatment of wood 
handicrafts from China. 
Creation of a food safety agency  
 
147. The representative of Panama informed the Committee of the creation of the Panama Food 
Safety Authority, which had established import pr ocedures for foodstuffs set out by Decree Law 11  G/SPS/R/43 
 Page 29 
 
 
  (G/SPS/N/PAN/47).  To optimize the efficiency of  the inspection and import services in connection 
with human health, animal health and plant health  the services had been cons olidated into a public 
entity with an autonomous technical and scientific st atus.  With the creation of a single Panamanian 
authority for food safety, Panama hoped to achieve  a greater level of cooperation and consultation 
among Government offices working in this field.  The new single agency offered a number of 
advantages, including:  the clearance of imported foodstuffs by a single body;  elimination of double 
inspection by the Ministries of Health and Ag riculture;  expeditious, automatic and costless 
registration and inspection of foodstu ffs;  removal of the Ministry of Health register;  no requirement 
of import licenses for food by the Agriculture Quarantine Directorate;  faster import approval through prior compliance with sanitary requirements;  th e publication in the official gazette of health 
requirements;  permanent staff at the port of entry to check and clear consignments.  Panama had 
notified the draft general regulation for this ne w authority in 3 October 2006 (G/SPS/N/PAN/48).  
This initiative by Panama was part of its efforts to ad just the health system so  that it met international 
requirements and the challenge of globalization. 
Guatemala's restrictions on poultry imports  
 
148. The representative of Mexico reported that sin ce the issue was raised in March 2005, Mexico 
had taken various measures at bila teral level to reach a solution.  However, Guatemala was still in 
breach of its obligation under Articles 5 and 6 of the SPS Agreement.  The representative of Mexico 
requested Guatemala to suspend the restri ctions imposed on Mexican poultry imports. 
149. The representative of Guatemala indicated that a meeting of the technical bodies of both 
Members was to be held on 17-18 October 2006, where an analysis of the situation would be made.  
At the meeting, the health situation of both coun tries, domestic quarantine measures and the situation 
regarding avian influenza were to be reviewed.  He expressed hope that the meeting would enable 
technicians from both parties to reach a satisfactory solution. 
Information from the Dominican Republic  
 
150. The representative of the Dominican Republic stat ed that the Dominican Republic was to hold 
a simulation of an avian influenza outbreak on 25 October 2006, and he invited Central American 
Members to observe.  In addition, referring to th e suspension of imports of semen from the United 
States and Canada as of November 2005, he inform ed the Committee that the first imports from 
Canada had recently been permitted.  The Domini can Republic was revising protocols with other 
Members, in particular the United States, so as to allow imports of this animal product.   
XVI.  DATE  AND AGENDA FOR NEXT MEETING 
151. The next meeting of the Committee was tentatively scheduled for 7 – 9 March 2007, with 
informal meetings scheduled for 5 – 6 March 2007.  The meeting dates have subsequently been 
changed:  the regular meeting of the Commit tee will be held on 28 February and 1 March, 
preceded by informal meetings on 26-27 February 2007.  
152. The representatives of Canada and of Japan s uggested that the Committee revert to the 
previous practice of the regular meeting beginning on Wednesday mornings, preceded by one or two days of informal meeting if necessary.  The repr esentative of Japan and of the United States also 
suggested that multiple issues could be taken up in an informal meeting and the period for informal 
meetings shortened. G/SPS/R/43 
Page 30  
 
  153. The Committee agreed on the following provisional agenda for its next meeting. 
PROPOSED AGENDA FOR MEETING OF 28 FEBRUARY-1  MARCH 2007 
 
1. Adoption of agenda 
2. Activities of Members 
3. Specific trade concerns 
(a) New issues 
(b) Issues previously raised (c) Concerns with commercial and private standards (d) Consideration of specific notifications received 
(e) Information on resolution of issues in G/SPS/GEN/204/Rev.7 
4. Operation of transparency provisions 
 [(a) Report on the informal meeting] 
5. Implementation of special and differential treatment 
(a) Report on informal meeting 
(b) Other matters relating to S&D 
6. Equivalence – Article 4 
(a) Information from Members on their experiences 
(b) Information from releva nt observer organizations 
7. Pest- and Disease-free areas – Article 6 
(a) Report on informal meeting 
(b) Information from Members on their experiences 
(c) Information from releva nt observer organizations 
8. Technical assistance and cooperation 
(a) Information from the Secretariat 
(b) Information from Members 
(c) Information from observers 
9. Issues arising from the Review 
(a) Report on informal meeting 
10. Monitoring of the use of international standards 
(a) New issues 
(b) Issues previously raised 
11. Matters of interest arising from the work of observer organizations 
12. Observers – Request for observer status 13. Election of Chairperson 14. Other business 15. Date and agenda of next meeting  G/SPS/R/43 
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  154. The following deadlines are releva nt for the next meeting:  
(i) For identifying new issues for considera tion under the monitoring procedure AND  
for requesting that items be put on the agenda:  15 February 2007  
(ii) For the distribution of the airgram:  16 February 2007.  
__________