. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/W/214 
1 October 2007 
 (07-4154) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
 
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR OPE RATING THE SPS NOTIFICATION  
AUTHORITY AND SPS ENQUIRY POINT 
 
Proposal by New Zealand
 
 
 The following communication, received on 27 September 2007, is being circulated at the 
request of the Delegation of New Zealand.  
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BACKGROUND 
 
1. The SPS Agreement has been operating now for ove r ten years and great strides have been 
made by Members to meet their obligations of transparency under Article 7 and Annex B.   
2. The SPS Secretariat has run workshops on tran sparency every three years alongside the 
formal meetings of the SPS Committee.  These ha ve highlighted issues of concern and provided 
information to Members on ways in which to estab lish successful and effective National Notification 
Authorities (NNA) and National Enquiry Points (NEP) .  These areas, however, remain challenging for 
many developing country Members.  
3. This paper suggests how more technical assistance can be given in this area to meet the needs 
of developing country Members.   
Step-by-step Practical Procedures Manual
 
4. The document " How to Apply the Transparency Provisions of the SPS Agreement",  available 
on the WTO website on the SPS Agreement, offers exce llent general information on the application of 
the transparency provisions of the SPS Agreemen t, but it does not describe the actual practical 
procedures on the process.   
5. Many developing country Members struggle w ith implementing basic operations.  Breaking 
down the process into practical, manageable parts would make the task less overwhelming.  For 
example, the process of sending notifications  to the WTO could be broken down into: 
• writing the notification; 
• allocating its unique WTO number (and the process for doing that);  
• checking it;  
• recording it,  
• saving it (including steps for developing  a logical filing system) and finally; 
• sending it to WTO.   G/SPS/W/214 
Page 2  
 
  The development of this type of step-by-step  operational procedure manual would assist many 
developing country Members in their transparency operations. 
Transparency Mentoring System
 
6. This proposal aims to offer developing count ry Members a single contact point for gaining 
assistance and support to resolve their individual tran sparency issues.  This could be achieved through 
a mentoring system.  
7. Mentoring involves developing a long term, positive and proactiv e relationship between those 
involved.  It is a relationship based on trust, wh ich requires thoughtful interaction and a commitment 
to providing ongoing assistance and support to those being mentored. 
8. Transparency Mentoring would involve mentori ng Members being available to give advice 
where needed on the many practical issues de veloping country Members face in meeting their 
transparency obligations.  The types of support a mentoring Member could offer are: 
• email/phone contact point for issues; 
• procedural/operational guidance (a mentoring Me mber could work through a basic procedure 
step-by-step manual with its assigned devel oping country Member, adapting it as necessary 
for that Member’s unique requirements e.g:, lack of computer access, split NEP and NNA 
responsibilities across government departments or lack of reliable internet); 
• legislative guidance;  
• assistance with resources;  
• assistance with translations; 
• hands-on workshops;  and 
• in-house training. 
 9. It is envisaged that the NNA or NEP operators  in the participating Member countries would 
be the dedicated contact point.  The individuals who run these operations have the technical 
knowledge and experience to provide the best pr actical assistance to developing Members NNA and 
NEP operators.  
10. Members that wish to be involved would register with the SPS Secretariat.  Mentoring 
Members would provide information on the level of mentoring they could offer and the supported 
Members would indicate their level of need.  The S ecretariat would then pair the Members based on 
the information provided and on geographical region and language.  
11. To ensure that the system meets its objectiv e of providing reliable and focused assistance, it 
would be important to have an annual review process.  This could be carried out by the Secretariat or 
a small working group could be established to un dertake the annual review.  This would assist in 
guaranteeing that any issues participating c ountry Members were having could be raised 
independently.  The review process could be  achieved through the use of simple annual 
questionnaires.  Handling of ongoing issues could be carried out by the working group or possibly by appointing advisers who would be available to lia ise between the particip ating country Members, 
offering assistance and advice on solutio ns for resolving any difficulties. 
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