WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/665 
28 March 2006 
 (06-1418) 
Committee on Sanitary and 
Phytosanitary Measures Original:   French 
 
 
 
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SPS AGREEMENT 
 
Information for the Workshop on 31 March 2006  
 
Communication from Togo  
  
 The following communication, received on 24 Marc h 2006, is being circulated at the request 
of the delegation of Togo. 
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 1. In preparation for the workshop on the impl ementation of the SPS Agreement, the Members 
have been invited to submit information on their e xperiences in respect of the subjects to be discussed. 
 Question 1
 
  How regularly do representatives of your country participate in meetings of the SPS 
Committee?  Who usually participates from your  country (capital-based experts?  Geneva-
based trade representatives?)  What information do you receive regarding meetings of the SPS 
Committee, and how do you receive this information?   
 
2. Togolese representatives have never par ticipated in SPS Committee meetings. 
 3. However, representatives from the Ministry of  Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, namely 
from the Department of Livestock and Fisheries, the Department of Agriculture and the Togolese 
Institute of Agronomic Research (ITRA), par ticipated in regional seminars on the WTO SPS 
Agreement in May 2003, in Cotonou, Beni n, and in October 2005, in Bamako, Mali. 
 4. Information regarding the WTO is sent only to the Ministry of Trade and is not widely circulated. 
 
Question 2
 
  Does your country have a SPS national co mmittee?  How do your exporters find out 
about your trading partners new SPS requirements?   What national mechanisms can be created 
to ensure that stakeholders in your country are informed in a timely manner of new SPS 
requirements, so that the SPS requirements of trad ing partners can be evaluated and so that the 
views of relevant stakeholders can be taken into account when responding to SPS notifications?  
In establishing such mechanisms, how can Members identify the relevant domestic stakeholders 
and promote effective interaction among those st akeholders that can be sustained over time?  
How can information about SPS requirements be tr ansmitted to groups outside of capital?  
 5. Togo does not yet have an SPS national committee. G/SPS/GEN/665 
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  6. Exporters in Togo are informed of trading partners' new SPS requirements by foreign clients 
who are affected by the requirements, and by the competent authorities in the case of requirements 
that have been transmitted by the Ambassador of Togo in Brussels. 
 7. The creation of an SPS national committee run by the focal point and comprising the 
government officials, private partners and cons umers, would enable information regarding SPS 
requirements to be circulated in a timely manne r.  This committee could meet once every three 
months and as and when necessary.  8. Relevant stakeholders c ould be identified according to their activities and functions. 
 
9. Information concerning SPS requirements could be transmitted to groups outside of capital at 
committee meetings and by mail.  
Question 3
 
 
 Has there been any national planning on how to implement the SPS Agreement in your 
country?  If so, was this planning deve loped using a particular methodology?  
 
10. There has not yet been any national planni ng on how to implement the SPS Agreement, but 
contacts have been established and pursued since the WTO regional seminar on the application of 
sanitary and phytosanitary measures, held  in Bamako, Mali, in October 2005.  
 
Question 4  
  How does your country identify its techni cal assistance needs?  What has been your 
country's experience in both the request and th e supply of SPS-related technical assistance?  
How can technical assistance supply and demand be  most effectively matched, priority areas 
identified and duplication of donor efforts avoided?   
11. Togo identifies its technical assistance need s according to the regulatory requirements of 
partner countries, when these requirements cannot be met owing to a lack of technical, material and 
financial resources. 
 12. Togo has not had any experience in the request and supply of SPS-related technical 
assistance, since it has never request ed this type of assistance. 
 
13. In order for technical assistance supply and de mand to be most effectively matched, it would 
be desirable if, in response to the request, a field mission were organized to assess the needs in terms 
of quality and quantity in the areas concerned.  14. Priority areas will be identified accordi ng to their economic and social importance. 
 
15. In order to avoid any duplication of donor e fforts, consultations coul d be held between the 
Government and the donors concerned and an offici al list could be kept of the various donors and 
their fields of interest.  In other words, in addition to concerted action, an inventory of the fields benefiting from SPS-related technical assistance could be drawn up a nd regularly updated.  G/SPS/GEN/665 
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  16. Bearing in mind the above and in order to ensu re the effective and efficient implementation of 
the SPS Agreement at national level, it would be desirable for the WTO:   - To help finance participation in meetings; and  
 - to send an expert to review the differe nt situations in the countries concerned. 
 
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