. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/1032 
28 June 2010 
 (10-3527) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
INFORMATION ON SPS-RELATED RECENT AND FORTHCOMING  
ASSISTANCE AND OTHER ACTIVITIES 
(PERIOD:  MARCH – JUNE 2010) 
 
Communication from the International Trade Center (ITC)
 
 
 
 The following communication, received on 28 June 2010, is being circulated at the request of 
the ITC . 
 
_______________ 
 
 A. P
ROJECTS :  
STDF/PG/172:  "Expanding Nigeria’s export of sesame seeds and sheanut/butter through 
improved SPS capacity building for private and public sector"   
 
1. The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has addressed the main outstanding issues in 
the project document and budget, previously raised by ITC (as the preferred supervisory agency) and 
STDF.  The project document is now finalized.  A Letter of Agreement will be signed between WTO 
and ITC and WTO and NEPC.  Project activities are due to start in the third quarter of 2010.  
B. OTHER ITC  PROJECTS OF INTEREST : 
Non-Tariff Measures project 
 
2. ITC is implementing a representative company surv ey on non-tariff measures (NTMs) in ten 
developing countries throughout 2010.  The objective is to identify and understand the obstacles trade 
exporters and importers face when complying with  NTMs, including SPS and TBT.  The survey has 
been initiated in several of the countries in collaborat ion with local partners and national stakeholders 
(e.g. Ministry of Trade, Department of Commerce,  Export Promotion Agency).  Phone screen and in-
depth face-to-face interviews are currently ongoing in  Burkina Faso, Morocco, Paraguay, Peru and Sri 
Lanka.  In coordination with local research institu tions, ITC will analyze the survey data by products 
and sectors, and identify types of NTMs & procedur al obstacles which exist.  ITC will disseminate in-
depth country reports in the framework of local st akeholders’ workshops.  IT C is planning to give a 
presentation on NTM at the STDF WG Meeting on 2 Ju ly 2010 on an information sharing basis. 
For more information about NTM project, please contact: 
Ms Poonam Mohun, ITC, NTM Market Analyst, Market Analysis and Research Tel.:  +41 22 730 0277 - Fax:  +41 22 730 0577 - Email:  mohun@intracen.org
 
 G/SPS/GEN/1032 
Page 2  
 
  ACCESS!  Programme 
 
3. The ACCESS! programme is a gender-focused, regional trade support programme aimed at 
improving the trade support services for African businessw omen in international trade, with a view to 
promoting their economic empowerment.  The ACCESS! Programme has been recently reviewed by 
updating the export training course structure, upgrad ing existing training materials and developing 
new topical and sector-specific training materials.  It will ultimately benefit ACCESS! Focal Point (AFP) institutions as well as ACCESS! participati ng women entrepreneurs in 19 ACCESS! countries.  
Out of the 32 training modules, few tackle comp liance with technical requirements and conformity 
assessment (i.e. "Export Quality Management",  "Exporting Horticulture Products", "Exporting 
Coffee").  
4. Three ACCESS training of trainer events are sch eduled:  Senegal (9-17 June 2010);  Gabon 
(14-22 July 2010);  and Zambia (15-23 September 2010). 
Trade for Sustainable Development (T4SD) 
 
5. ITC continues its work in Trade for Sustaina ble Development (T4SD), a partnership-based 
effort led by the ITC to enhance transparency on voluntary standards and to increase opportunities for 
sustainable production and trade.  In the framework  of T4SD, ITC is organizing jointly with the 
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) a workshop on " Sustainability Standards and thei r Role in International 
Trade and Development ", Geneva, 1–2 July 2010 
(http://www.fesglobalization.org/geneva/documents /Program_Sustainability_Standards_July2010.pdf
) 
For more information about T4SD, please c ontact Joseph Wozniak, Programme Manager 
(wozniak@intracen.org).   
C. ITC
 INTERNATIONAL TRADE FORUM MAGAZINE  
Issue 3, 2010 Quality & Standards:  A Pre-requisite for Entering Markets 
 
6. The Quality & Standards magazine issue will look at standards and quality and the role they 
play for developing country exporters.  The issue is due to be published in September 2010.  The 
STDF Secretariat will contribute to this issue with  an article featuring STDF work of relevance. 
 
  
For more information: 
Shyam K. Gujadhur, ITC Senior Adviser on Standards and Quality Management 
Tel:  +41 22 730 03 96 - Fax:  +41 22 730 05 76  - E-mail:  gujadhur@intracen.org 
 Ludovica Ghizzoni, ITC Adviser on Enterprise Value Chain –Export Quality Management  
Tel.:  +41 22 730 06 38 - Fax:  +41 22 7 30 05 76  - E-mail:  ghizzoni@intracen.org 
 Web address:  http://www.intracen.org/eqm
 
E-mail address:  quality@intracen.org 
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