. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/W/169 
15 February 2005 
 (05-0623) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   Spanish 
  
 
UNDUE DELAYS 
 
Communication from Uruguay
 
  
 The following communication, received on 9 February 2005, is being circulated at the request 
of the delegation of Uruguay
. 
 
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I. BACKGROUND 
1. In October 2004, Uruguay submitted the doc ument entitled "Undue Delays" to the WTO 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.   This document was circulated to Members 
under the symbol G/SPS/W/160. 
2. The document sets out the frustrations experi enced and harm suffered by agricultural 
exporters when importers hinder or delay the sanita ry or phytosanitary risk assessment procedures 
governing entry of their products.  The document al so indicates that such difficulties and delays 
usually arise in connection with the risk assessments  required for laying down specific product entry 
conditions, taking decisions regard ing the recognition of equivale nce or of regionalization or 
establishing control, inspection or approval procedur es.  Such difficulties and delays mainly occur as 
a result of excessively long time-limits for decisi on-making, exaggerated in formation requirements 
and bureaucratic and non-transparent administrative procedures. 
3. Uruguay welcomes the discussions which have been initiated on Article 6 - 
"Regionalization".  We note that such discussions  are being held concurrently, both directly and 
indirectly, on a number of Committee agenda items , for example, "Regionalization - Article 6" and 
"Monitoring the use of international standards" as well as on issues for consideration under the item 
"Review of the Operation and Implementation of the SPS Agreement". 
4. Furthermore, Uruguay believes that many of the problems being tackled within the 
framework of the discussions on Article 6 (exces sively long time-limits, for example) are not 
exclusive to the recognition of regionalization, rather  they are problems which also very often arise in 
relation to other Agreement disciplines and mechanis ms.  Uruguay is targeting a broader, widespread 
and horizontal issue, as described in our previous document entitled "Undue Delays". 
5. In the said document, Uruguay suggested that the Committee ask the relevant international 
organizations (World Organization for Animal H ealth (OIE), Interim Commission for Phytosanitary 
Measures (ICPM) and Codex Alimentarius Commi ssion (CAC)) to consider the possibility of 
undertaking work on time-limits, information requi rements and procedures.  In our opinion, the 
positive reaction to our document "Undue Delays" shows that progress could be made in this regard.  
A number of Members have, however, stated that they  do not believe that international organizations G/SPS/W/169 
Page 2  
 
could or should establish specific time-limits and pr ocedures.  Uruguay, on the other hand, feels that 
this is both possible and necessary. 
6. For purely illustrative purposes, we would r ecall that, in the year 2000, over a hundred 
countries which negotiated the Cartagena Protocol  on Biosafety agreed to the establishment of 
specific procedures and time-limits for action relati ng to the various mechanisms provided for in the 
Protocol.  By way of example, with regard to the Advance Informed Agreement (AIA) Procedure, 
provisions were laid down on notification, ac knowledgement of receipt of notification and 
decision-making within 270 days.  The Protocol requ ires that decisions be based on risk assessments.  
The transboundary movement of living modified organisms (the scope of the Protocol) is an 
extremely complex issue.  Taking this important fact  into consideration, we feel that it would be 
feasible for the reference organizations for the SPS Agreement to establish specific time-limits and 
procedures for matters falling within their purview , some of which are perhaps not as complex as 
those covered by the Cartagena Protocol.  
II. PROPOSAL 
7. Uruguay hereby proposes that, under a specific agenda item entitled "Undue Delays", a 
general discussion be held on the pr oblems of "excessively long time-l imits, exaggerated information 
requirements and non-transparent procedures" in  relation to all Agreement disciplines and 
mechanisms, in particular those provided for in Articles 4, 5, 6 and 8.  It also proposes that, 
subsequent to this discussion, the reference orga nizations for the SPS Agreement be informed of 
Committee conclusions and suggestions in this regard and asked to address, as a matter of priority and 
within their respective fields of competence, the development of specific a nd concrete standards, 
guidelines or recommendations on time-limits, information requirements and procedures. 
 
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