. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/792 
5 July 2007 
 
 (07-2875) 
Committee on Sanitary and 
Phytosanitary Measures Original:   Spanish 
 
 
 
PRIVATE AND COMMERCIAL STANDARDS 
 
Statement by Ecuador at the Meeting of 27-28 June 2007  
 
 
 The following communication, received on 2 July 2007, is being circulated at the request of the delegation of Ecuador.  
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 1. The delegation of Ecuador wishes to initiate a discussion rather than to question any of the 
proposals for so-called private or commercial standa rds.  The aim of such a discussion would be to 
invite the Member countries, especially the developi ng countries like Ecuador, to examine the real 
value or risk involved in the proposal and application of such standards.  The idea came to us in the 
wake of the information workshop on private a nd commercial standards held jointly with UNCTAD 
on 25 June, and once we had listened to  the relevant report in this room.  We were surprised at the 
information received from each of the representatives of those international organizations and other 
similar unofficial groups which provide services or which apply such co mmercial standards and 
which, in some cases, have formed separate associations. 
2. The questions to be discussed are the following.  Do we not alr eady have adequate health and 
food safety standards provided by the three refere nce organizations that are associated with and 
recognized by the WTO Agreement on the Applica tion of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, 
i.e. the Codex Alimentarius, the IPPC and the OIE?  Is there perhaps no recognition of the fact that 
some of our countries still have serious problems of  a technical and economic nature and difficulties 
arising from the lack of specialized staff in applying  and monitoring such official standards?  And yet 
there now appears a series of commer cial standards which we must take into account in order to be 
able to sell our products. 
3. There are further questions which need to be answered.  What added value would the 
developing countries obtain from the existence and a pplication of private or commercial standards if 
some of these private standards become prerequisite s for the facilitation of trade?  Furthermore, we 
have observed that private standards are not harmoni zed with the official st andards laid down in the 
international agreements, but on the contrary, in some cases, exceed the official standards, for 
example in the case of tolerances.  Will this not, ther efore, be a way of imposing restrictions on trade? 
4. On the other hand, in their statements some of the representatives of these organizations that 
are promoting private standards have said that the aim of applying such standards is to reduce poverty 
and facilitate the exports of the systems of small producers in the developing countries.  We believe 
this to be a deliberate exaggeration. 
5. We firmly believe on the basis of the evidence av ailable to us that the application of such 
private and commercial standards damages the comp etitiveness of our small producers, which already G/SPS/GEN/792 
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  bear a heavy burden on account of the unfair co mpetition they have to face from other production 
systems which not only have more investment capita l and advanced technology, but are also, as we all 
know, subsidized systems.  And now, on top of that, are we going to have to pass the tests of the private standards in order to be able to sell our goods?  That is not the way to reduce poverty.  We shall only mention one example that will help to  back up our concern.  Many systems of small 
producers in Ecuador have been organic systems by tradition and by default.  Thus, on account of the 
lack of investment capital they have been systems that have never used agrochemicals.  Traditionally 
they have been and are organic systems, but now  they will have to pay costs of around US$3,000 per 
year on average, so that a private certifier may certif y that such traditionally organic produce is really 
organic.  For a small producer such costs may ex ceed the profit for the whole year, which shows once 
again that this is not the way to reduce poverty. 
6. In conclusion, my delegation calls on the repres entatives of the developed countries to show 
sensitivity in considering the following questions.  Ar e we willing to accept that the official standards 
laid down in the WTO SPS Agreement are not suffici ent to admit the exports of agricultural produce 
from our countries?  Do we want to or will we ha ve to revise the SPS Agreement so as to open the 
way for the proposed private standards?  Is there any article in the Agreement which indicates that 
private standards have a role to play?  The risk, for us, is that we would be opening the door to a system that does not suit us.  In future, each country  that is able to do so will propose and impose its 
own private standards and so the final question is:  where does that leave th e official international 
standards that have required so much effort to reach the point where we are now? 
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