WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/804 
11 October 2007 
 (07-4368) 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures   
  
 
OVERVIEW REGARDING THE LEVEL OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 
TRANSPARENCY PROVISIONS OF THE SPS AGREEMENT 
 
Note by the Secretariat
1 
 
 
INTRODUCTION  
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, Switz erland, on Monday, 15 October 2007 and in the 
morning on Tuesday, 16 October 2007.
2  The workshop will be followed by informal and formal 
meetings of the SPS Committee, lasting until Friday , 19 October.  This ba ckground Note is intended 
to assist Members in their deliberations on questio ns related to transparency during these upcoming 
meetings. 
2. The Note provides an overview regarding the level of implementation of the transparency 
obligations found in the SPS Agreement (Artic le 7 and Annex B) and of the Committee's 
Recommended Procedures for Implementing the Tran sparency Obligations of the SPS Agreement 
(G/SPS/7/Rev.2).  The overview only covers areas whic h the Secretariat is in a position to track (such 
as notifications) but does not include those where th e Secretariat is not directly involved (such as 
provision of comments on specific notifications). 
3. In preparing this Note, the Secretariat h as taken advantage of its new SPS Information 
Management System, the public version of whic h will be launched and presented on 15 October 
during the transparency workshop.  While some histor ical data dating back to 1995 has been retrieved 
from various internal resources, some of the more detailed analysis has only  been possible for the 
months of June, July and August 2007.3 
DESIGNATION OF NOTIFICATION AUTHORITIES AND ENQUIRY POINTS 
4. Annex B, paragraph 9 of the SPS Agreement obliges Members to designate a single central 
government authority as responsible for the implem entation of notification procedures.  Among the 
151 WTO Members, 131 Members have designated a "no tification authority".  Those which have not 
include 12 least developed countries (LDCs) and 7 developing countries.4 
5. Annex B, paragraph 3 requires that each Member  establish an Enquiry Point responsible for 
the provision of answers to all reasonable questions  and of relevant documents.  Of the 151 WTO 
                                                      
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 programme for the workshop can be found in G/SPS/GEN/794/Rev.1.  
3 In general, the analysis covers the period up until 31 August 2007. 
4 See G/SPS/NNA/12 for the latest list of notif ication authorities as notified to the WTO. G/SPS/GEN/804 
Page 2  
 
  Members, 139 have provided the WTO with the cont act information of their Enquiry Point.  Those 
which have not include 11 LD Cs and 1 developing country.
5 
SUBMISSION OF NOTIFICATIONS 
6. Under the SPS Agreement, notifications are used to notify other Members about new or 
changed regulations that may significantly affect trade.  Annex B, paragraphs 5-8, as well as the 
Recommended Procedures, elaborate on the notificati on procedures Members are to follow.  For ease 
of reference, the specific sub-topics highlighted belo w follow the order of items that are contained in 
the regular and emergency notification formats. 
Types of notifications 
7. The two main types of notifications are regular notifications and emergency notifications.  In 
addition, addenda, corrigenda or revisions can be issued subsequent to an original regular or 
emergency notification.6  As of 31 August 2007, Members had submitted: 
• 5,621 regular notifications;  1,401 addenda/ corrigenda to regular notifications;  and 
• 986 emergency notifications;  193 addenda/c orrigenda to emergency notifications. 
8. Moreover, the Committee has adopted a special  format and recommended procedures for the 
notification of determination of the recognition of equivalence of sanitary or phytosanitary measures.  
Furthermore, the Secretariat has established a mech anism for Members to inform each other of the 
availability of translations of notified measures into  one of the official languages of the WTO.  These 
are submitted in the form of supplements.  As of 31 August, one equiva lence and 12 supplement 
notifications had been circulated. 
9. Considering all types of notifications together , a total of  8,217 notification have been 
submitted to the WTO  until 31 August 2007.  As can be seen in Figure 1, there has been an upward 
trend in the number of notifications – with the to tal number of notifications reaching 1,157 for the 
year 2006.   
10. While the increase in notifications could be re garded as a sign of enhanced transparency, it 
should be kept in mind that these statistics on notif ications do not necessarily provide an indication of 
the extent to which new or changed SPS measures are indeed being notified to the WTO.  The specific 
trade concerns raised at meetings of the SPS Co mmittee still regularly include failures to notify 
measures. 
11. Managing the flow of notifications has also beco me a challenge for all Members, particularly 
for those with limited resources.  As the repli es to the Questionnaire on the Operation of Enquiry 
Points and National Notification Authorities indicat e, this is one of the areas where Members are 
looking for technical assistance and guidance from best-practices.7 
 
 
                                                      
5 See G/SPS/ENQ/22 for the latest list of Enquiry Points as notified to the WTO. 
6 See the Recommended Procedures  for Implementing the Transparency Obligations of the SPS 
Agreement (G/SPS/7/Rev.2) for further elabora tion on the different ty pes of notifications. 
7 See the Analysis of Replies to the Questionnaire on the Operation of Enquiry Points and National 
Notification Authorities (G/SPS/GEN/751/Rev.1) fo r  further elaboration on this issue.  G/SPS/GEN/804 
 Page 3 
 
 
  Figure 1 
Notications Submitted per Year
0200400600800100012001400
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
(Aug)
Regular Notifications Addenda/Corrigenda Emergency Notifications
 
 
Notifying Members 
12. Out of the 151 WTO Members, 94 ( 62%) have to date submitted at least one notification to 
the WTO. 
13. As can be seen in Figure 2, the share of notifications submitted by developed countries 
reaches 57% while the share of thos e by developing countries is 42%.8  A very small share comes 
from LDCs.  Still, as can be seen in Figure 3, th ere has been a steady increase in notifications from 
developing country Members over the years. 
                                                      
8 The categories of level of development rely on WTO working definitions as identified in the 
Integrated Database (IDB ) for analytical purposes. 
 G/SPS/GEN/804 
Page 4  
 
  Figure 2 
 
Development Status of Notifying Members
57.41%42.29%0.30%
Developed Developing Least Developed
 
 
Figure 3  
Notifications by developing countries per year
0100200300400500600
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
(Aug)
Regular Emergency Addenda / Corrigenda
 
14. Looking at the geographic regions from which the notifications originate, Figure 4 shows that 
the majority of notifications come from the North America region, followed by Asia, and then South and Central America and the Caribbean.
 9  
                                                      
9 The geographical groupings used rely on WTO work ing definitions as identified in the Integrated 
Database (IDB) for analytical purposes.  The same groupings are used in the WTO's Annual Reports.  G/SPS/GEN/804 
 Page 5 
 
 
  Figure 4 
Notifications by Geographical Region
NA
SA, CA and 
the Caribbean
Europe
CIS AfricaAsia
Middle East
0500100015002000250030003500
 
15. The Members which have submitted the greatest number of notifications, including all 
formats, are the following:   
Table 1 – Members with greatest number of notifications 
 
Member  No. of 
NotificationsShare of 
Total 
United States  2,367 28.8% 
European Communities 517 6.3% 
New Zealand 464 5.6% 
Canada 449 5.5% 
Brazil 446 5.4% 
Korea, Republic of 298 3.6% 
Chile 292 3.6% 
China 261 3.2% 
Australia 249 3.0% 
Mexico 236 2.9% 
 
Products covered 
16. In accordance with paragraphs 5-6 of Annex B and the Recommended Procedures, Members 
are required to identify the products to be covere d by a new or changed SPS measure and provide the 
relevant HS codes.  While most notifications i ndicate the products to be covered, few provide the G/SPS/GEN/804 
Page 6  
 
  specific HS codes.  It is interesting to note, however, that most Members indicated they would 
welcome the provision of these codes by their trading partners.
10   
17. Nonetheless, since 1995 the WTO's Central Re gistry of Notifications (CRN) has been 
assigning, to the extent possible, the relevant HS codes for all notifications.11  While being only 
indicative, an assessment at the two-digit level s hows that the products cove red most often fall under 
the following categories: meat and edible meat o ffal (02), dairy produce, birds and eggs, etc. (04), 
edible vegetables and certain roots and tubers (07), edible fruit and nuts;  peel of citrus fruit or melons 
(08), and miscellaneous chemical produ cts (in particular pesticides) (38). 
Regions/countries affected 
18. The Recommended Procedures also ask Members to identify the regions or countries which 
are most likely to be affected by the measure bei ng notified.  An assessment of the notifications 
submitted during the months of June, July and Augu st 2007 indicate that only 16% of notifications 
have made identified a specific group of countries or  a region, while others c ontain general references 
such as "all trading partners", "all countries", etc.  On the one hand, the work of other Members would 
be facilitated immensely if more specificity was pr ovided by notifying Members.  On the other hand, 
when submitting notifications, Members may be hesita nt to specifically identify potentially affected  
countries/regions for fear of not accura tely assessing who might be affected. 
Objective and Rationale 
19. In accordance with paragraphs 5-6 of Annex B and the Recommended Procedures, Members 
are also required to state the objective and ratio nale of proposed regulations.  Looking at the 
notifications submitted during the months of June , July and August 2007 shows that about a third 
have referred to food safety and about a quarter to  plant protection as one of the objectives (see 
Table 2) 
Table 2 - "Objectives" of notified SPS measures (June-August 2007)  
 
 Total (June, July, August) Share over 3-month period 
Food Safety 222 33.2% 
Animal Health 82 12.3% 
Plant Protection 170 25.4% 
Protect humans from animal / 
plant pest or disease 153 22.9% 
Protect territory from other 
damage from pests 41 6.1% 
 
International Standards, Guidelines or Recommendations 
20. The Recommended Procedures ask Members to indicate whether a relevant international 
standard exists and if so, to describe how the notif ied measure deviates from that standard.  However, 
the SPS Agreement does not require Members to notify a measure if its content is substantially the 
same as that of an international standard.  Still,  a number of Members have proposed to modify the 
                                                      
10 See the Analysis of Replies to the Questionnaire on the Operation of Enquiry Points and National 
Notification Authorities,(G/SPS/GEN/751 /Rev.1, paras. 11 and 18) for further elaboration on this point. 
11 This information is now available in the SPS Information Management System (SPS IMS).  G/SPS/GEN/804 
 Page 7 
 
 
  Recommended Procedures such that all new or changed SPS measures be notified to the WTO.12  
Figure 5 indicates that currently most notifications relate to measures which are not covered directly 
by international standards.  Still, there have been exceptions.  For example, more than 80 notifications 
relating to ISPM 15 have been circulated.13 
Figure 5 
Notifcations referrin g to a relevant international 
standard
Codex 
13.3%IPPC
8.0%
OIE
9.0%
None
69.8%
Codex IPPC OIE None
 
 
Final date for comments 
21. Annex B, paragraph 5, provides that notificati ons should take place at an early stage, when 
amendments can still be introduced and co mments taken into account.  The Recommended 
Procedures state that a 60-day comment period should be provided with respect to regular 
notifications.  An analysis of the notifications issu ed during the months of June, July and August 2007 
shows, in Table 3, that a significant number of notifications do not provide a comment period.  For  those that do provide comment periods, these av erage 40 days when calculated as the difference 
between the deadline for final date for comments and the date of circulation of the notification.  A 
number of Members have called for more regular compliance with the 60-day comment period and 
have suggested a clarification that the comment peri od commences as of the date of circulation of a 
notification by the WTO Secretariat.
 14 
                                                      
12 See The Compilation of Proposals Regarding the Revision of the "Recommended Procedures for 
Implementing the Transparency Obligations of the SPS Agreement (Article 7)" (G/SPS/W/215, para. 7) for 
proposals to modify the Recommended Procedures with respect to this issue. 
13 ISPM 15 the IPPC's International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures No. 15 on Guidelines for 
Regulating Wood Packaging Material in International Trade 
14 See The Compilation of Proposals Regarding the Revision of the "Recommended Procedures for 
Implementing the Transparency Obligations of the SPS Agreement (Article 7)" (G/SPS/W/215, para. 10) for 
proposals to clarify the Recommended Procedures with respect to the comment period. G/SPS/GEN/804 
Page 8  
 
  Table 3 - Comment Period in Notifications (June-August 2007) 
 
Comment Period specified in Notifications No. Share
Comment Period Not Indicated / Not Available 58 22% 
Comment Period Ends before Distribution Date 13 5% 
Comment Period Available 189 73% 
Average Comment Period provided 40 days 
 
Issue keywords 
22. With the launch of the SPS IMS; the Secretaria t is also in a position to track notifications 
according to a list of predefined keywords, wh ich describe issues appearing frequently in 
notifications.  Since 2003 these keywords (around 60) are being assigned by the CRN.  It is expected 
that access to these keywords will assist those s earching for notifications in certain areas.  The 
keywords which have been most frequently assigned by CRN to notifications (apart from "objectives" 
such as food safety) include pesticides, animal  diseases, zoonoses, pest s, food additives, avian 
influenza and BSE. 
OTHER ASPECTS RELATING TO TRANSPARENCY  
23. As indicated above, there are a number of areas where the Secretariat is not in a position to 
provide an overview.  These include questions such as the following: 
•  To what extent are Members publishing thei r regulations at an early stage (Annex B, 
paragraph 5(a)? 
• To what extent are Members providing comments on notifications, and to what extent 
are these taken into account? 
• To what extent are translations of proposed regulations available? 
• How quickly do Members respond to requests for documents or other information? 
24. These are areas where Members have occasiona lly shared their experiences with the SPS 
Committee.  But beyond these implementation issues , the challenge for many Members has been to 
actually benefit from the transparency provisions, the purpose of which is to enhance predictability 
and ultimately to improve and mainta in market access for traders. 
 
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