WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/1021/Rev.1 
1 October 2010 
 (10-5005) 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures   
  
 
PROGRAMME FOR THE WORKSHOP ON TRANSPARENCY 
 
Note by the Secretariat
1 
 
 
1. The Secretariat of the World Trade Organization is organizing a special workshop on the 
transparency provisions of the Agreement on the A pplication of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures 
(SPS Agreement), to be held in Geneva, Sw itzerland.  The workshop will begin on Monday, 
18 October and will continue on Fr iday, 22 October 2010.  The SPS Committee's informal and regular 
meetings will be held  on 19-21 October 2010. 
2. The objective of the workshop is to enhan ce the implementation and benefits of the 
transparency provisions of the SPS Agreement, in pa rticular by sharing experiences on how to operate 
an effective SPS National Notification Authority and Enquiry Point. 
3. Representatives of Members, Observers and Observer Organizations are all invited to 
participate in the transparency wo rkshop as well as in the meetings of the SPS Committee.  Given the 
focus of this workshop, the Secretariat encourages in particular the participation of officials from 
Members' SPS Enquiry Points and Notification Authorities. 
4. The WTO, with the financial assistance of th e Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund 
(DDAGTF), is funding the participation of about 50 government officials from Enquiry Points and 
Notification Authorities of developing and least-d eveloped country Members and Observers.  It is 
expected that the workshop will not only enhance the participants ' knowledge on transparency issues 
but also allow for exchange of ideas as well as national and personal experiences. 
5. The last SPS transparency workshop was held in 2007.  It concluded with a number of 
recommendations to the SPS Committee and/or the Secretariat on which significant progress has been 
made: 
(a) The SPS Committee adopted the revised R ecommended Procedures for Implementing 
the Transparency Obligations of the SPS Agreement (G/SPS/7/Rev.3) in May 20082, 
based on inputs from the 2007 workshop. 
(b) The Secretariat circulated a document re garding the timeframes related to the 
introduction of new SPS measures in  February 2008 (G/SPS/GEN/819). 
(c) Based on a proposal from New Zealand, th e Secretariat has been facilitating a 
mentoring mechanism among Enquiry Points  and Notification Authorities since 2008 
(G/SPS/W/217). 
(d) The Secretariat has been providing annual updates on the level of implementation of 
transparency provisions (G/SPS/GEN/804 and its Revisions). 
                                                      
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. 
2 The Recommended Procedures to ok effect on 1 December 2008. G/SPS/GEN/1021/Rev.1 
Page 2  
 
  (e) The Secretariat has been further developing and providing training on the SPS 
Information Management System (SPS IMS) during SPS Committee meetings and technical assistance and outreach activities.
3  The SPS IMS could serve as a vehicle 
for identifying notifications of interest a nd preparing newsletters/alerts at the national 
level. 
(f) The Secretariat is in the process of devel oping an online mechanism for submission 
of SPS notifications, a test version of which will be presented at the 2010 workshop.  This facility will become fully operational by early 2011. 
(g) The Enquiry Point of New Zealand, with the assistance of Australia and the WTO 
Secretariat, has prepared a step-by-step procedural manual for Enquiry Points and 
Notification Authorities.  This manual is ava ilable in English, French and Spanish, in 
hard copy and electronically through the WTO's SPS gateway.
4 
6. In addition to the above, the 2007 workshop iden tified the following actions which could be 
taken at the national/regional level to complement these efforts: 
(a) Awareness-raising activities at the national level; 
(b) More proactive involvement in the iden tification of technical assistance needs; 
(c) Using international standards as a point of  departure for national legislation and 
participating actively in the work of th e international standard-setting bodies; 
(d) Consideration of the development of we bsites at the national or regional level; 
(e) Further information exchange and sh aring of best practices at the 
bilateral/plurilateral/regional level and u se of appropriate regional entities;  and 
(f) More active use of the FAO International Portal.  
7. The 2010 workshop programme contained in the Annex was prepared taking into account the 
past two transparency workshops held in 2003 and 2007,5 the Committee's discussions on this topic, 
as well as specific inputs from Members.  The first day of the workshop (Monday, 18 October) will provide for an overview of transparency issues
6 and allow for exchange of national experiences in the 
plenary and during break-out sessions.  The second day of the workshop (Friday, 22 October) will be 
more hands-on with practical exercises on notificatio ns.  The Secretariat will demonstrate how to use 
the SPS Information Management System (SPS IMS) and the new on-line notifications submissions 
facility with the help of about 40 computers which wi ll be installed for this purpose.  Participants may 
wish to bring their own computers to participate in the hands-on exercises on Friday.  In addition, 
there will be a presentation on the FAO International Portal on Food Safety, Animal and Plant Health 
(IPFSAPH) on Wednesday, 20 October during the lunch break. 
8. For further enquiries on the workshop, please c ontact Serra Ayral (t el: +41 22 739 5465, 
e-mail:  serra.ayral@wto.org), Pablo Jenkins (te l:  +41 22 739 6341, e-mail:  pablo.jenkins@wto.org) 
or Robson Fernandes (tel:  +41 22 739 6437,   e-mail:  robson.fernandes@wto.org). 
                                                      
3 http://spsims.wto.org . 
4 http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e /sps_e/transparency_toolkit_e.htm . 
5 For the reports of these workshops, s ee G/SPS/R/32 and G/SPS/R/47, respectively. 
6 See Secretariat background document entitled "Ove rview Regarding the Level of Implementation of 
the Transparency Provisions of the SPS Agreement" (G/SPS/GEN/804/Rev.3).  G/SPS/GEN/1021/Rev.1 
 Page 3 
 
 
  ANNEX 
 
PROGRAMME FOR THE WORKSHOP ON TRANSPARENCY 
 
 
Monday, 18 October 2010 (Council Room) 
 
10.00 – 10.15    Opening remarks by Flavio Soares Damico, Chair of the SPS Committee  
 
10.15 – 10.45  Session I:  Introduction  
 
Speakers:   Gretchen Stanton, Serra Ayral and Pablo Jenkins, WTO 
Secretariat 
• Overview of transparency provisions in the SPS Agreement and of 
relevant Committee/Ministerial Decisions  
• Presentation of Members' level of implementation of transparency 
provisions and decisions (G/SPS/GEN/804/Rev.3) 
• Indication of existing WTO reference ma terials/tools, including the SPS 
IMS 
 
10.45 – 12.45  Session II:  Sharing of national experiences in the plenary  
 
10.45 - 10.55 Why notify?  What are the benefits  of notifications?  What are the costs when 
notifications are not forthcoming? 
  Speaker :  Paul Vitolovich, Manager, SPS Section, Trade and Market Access 
Division, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, Australia  
 10.55 – 11.05 How to facilitate and regularize the preparation of notifications? 
  Speaker:
  Andrea Spencer, Coordinator, Enquiry Point, Standards Council of 
Canada 
 11.05 – 11.15   How to best take advantage of  incoming notifications? 
Speaker
:  Fabián Sáez, Unidad de Relaciones Internacionales, 
Servicio Nacional de Sanidad y Ca lidad Agroalimentaria, Argentina 
 
11.15 – 11.25 How to raise awareness at the na tional level?  How to develop a website on 
notifications? 
Speaker :  Verónica Bustamante Estrada, Dirección de Administración de 
Tratados Comerciales, Minister io de Economía, El Salvador 
 
11.25 – 11.40  Questions/comments on presentations 
 11.40 – 11.50 How to devise an effective t echnical assistance project to improve the 
functioning of Enquiry Points/Notification Authorities? 
  Speaker
:  Alhousseynou Moctar Hanne, Head  of Plant Quarantine and SPS 
Enquiry Point, Ministry of Agriculture, Senegal 
 G/SPS/GEN/1021/Rev.1 
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  11.50 – 12.10 How to maximize benefits from a bilateral technical assistance project?  
  Speakers
:  Sally Jennings, SPS Contact Point, Ministry of Agriculture and 
Forestry, New Zealand  and Dr. Ibraheem A. AL Sheddy, Saudi Food and 
Drug Authority, Saudi Arabia 
 
12.10 – 12.20  STDF update on initiatives to  improve coordination at the national  level 
   Speaker :  Melvin Spreij, Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) 
Secretariat 
 
12.20 – 12.50 Questions/comments on presentations  
 
12.50 – 13.00  Setting the stage for the break-out sessions of the afternoon 
  Speaker :  WTO Secretariat 
 13.00 – 15.00 Lunch break 
 
15.00 – 18.00  Session III:  What actions could improve the implementation and 
benefits of SPS transparency provisions?  
 
15.00 – 17.00  Breakout sessions with four groups (two in  English, one in French, and one in 
Spanish).  Participants will propose recommendations for action in light of 
the topics covered in the morning based on a list of questions to be used by 
the facilitators of each group. 
  Facilitators :  WTO Secretariat  
 17.00 – 18.00 Reporting on breakout sessions by  rapporteurs in the plenary followed by 
general discussion. 
  
Wednesday, 20 October (Room B) 
 
14.00 – 14.45  Presentation on the FAO International Portal on Food Safety, Animal and 
Plant Health (IPFSAPH) 
  Speaker
:  Judith Crews, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 
 
 
Tuesday, 19 October 
 
15.00 – 18.00  Informal meetings of the SPS Committee (see WTO/AIR/3608) 
 
Wednesday, 20 October 
 
10.00 – 18.00 Regular meetings of the SPS Committee (see WTO/AIR/3608) 
 
Thursday, 21 October 
 
10.00 – 18.00 Regular meetings of the SPS Committee (see WTO/AIR/3608)  G/SPS/GEN/1021/Rev.1 
 Page 5 
 
 
  Friday, 22 October (Council Room) 
 10.00 – 11.30 Session IV:  Practical sessi on on how to prepare notifications
 
  Facilitators :  Serra Ayral, Pablo Jenkins , Iffet Kayili-Lejeune, and Galina 
Davis-Konandreas, WTO Secretariat; Sally Jennings, New Zealand Contact 
Point 
• What should be notified and when? 
• Who should notify? 
• What format should be used? 
• Who could be consulted with questions during preparations? 
• To whom should notifications be sent? 
• How does the new on-line submission facility work?(presentation and 
exercise) 
 
11.30 – 11.45  Coffee/tea and croissants offered by the WTO  
 
11.45 – 13.00 Session V:  Practical session on how to track incoming notifications  
 
  Facilitators :  Serra Ayral, Pablo Jenkins  and Iffet Kayili-Lejeune, WTO 
Secretariat; Sally Jennings, New Zealand Contact Point 
• Who could/should track incoming notifications? 
• How could notifications of interest  be identified and shared with 
stakeholders? 
• How could comments on incoming notifications be collected and shared 
with notifying Member? 
• How does the SPS IMS work?(presentation and exercise) 
 
13.00 – 15.00 Lunch break  
15.00 – 16.00 Session V:  Practical session on how to track incoming notifications –
 
continued  
  Facilitators:   Serra Ayral, Pablo Jenkins  and Iffet Kayili-Lejeune, WTO 
Secretariat; Sally Jennings, New Zealand Contact Point 
• Group exercise with sample notification 
 
16.00 – 17.00 Session VI:  Identification of follow-up actions and evaluation of 
workshop  
  Facilitators :  Serra Ayral, Pablo Jenkins  and Iffet Kayili-Lejeune, WTO 
Secretariat; Sally Jennings, New Zealand Contact Point 
 
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