. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/675 
31 March 2006 
 (06-1480) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SPS AGREEMENT: 
EXPERIENCES AND ISSUES 
 
Information for the Workshop on 31 March 2006
 
 
Communication from Mongolia  
   The following communication, received on 29 Marc h 2006, is being circulated at the request 
of the Delegation of Mongolia. 
 
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1. In preparation for the Workshop on the Implem entation of the SPS Agreement, participants 
were invited to provide information relating to th eir experiences in relation to the issues to be 
discussed.  The following are the responses of Mr. Ishdorj Navaanzundui. 
2. There have been substantial new developmen ts in food safety regulation in many countries 
during the 1990s, including new and more stringent standards for many hazards.  Both existing and 
emerging measures to protect human health can affect trade in agricultural products by increasing the costs of imports or prohibiting them entirely.  Product standards or process standards may increase 
foreign producers' costs relative to domestic producers' costs. 
3. Food safety is becoming a very important issue in Mongolia as the imports of food and food 
products are increasing rapidly.  Mongolia has br ought in a number of measures/regulations to 
improve the food safety situation in the country. 
4. The Law on Food and Food Products was adopted in  1995 and amended in 1999.  In this law, 
the issues related to food production, food safety c onditions to be fulfilled in the course of providing 
related services, food safety indicators as well as the rights and liabilities of those engaged in food 
production services with relation to food safety issues were defined accordingly. 
5. In Mongolia, the State Specialized Insp ection Agency was established in 2000. 
6. In 2001, the Government adopted a national pr ogram – "Food supply, security and nutrition", 
which was a step forward in solving the issues su ch as food supply, consumption and sanitary issues 
in a complex way. 
7. In 2003, the Parliament of Mongolia ratified and introduced the Government's policy on food 
and agriculture.  The main objectives of this policy paper were the appropriate use of food resources;  
fostering and promoting production;  increasing th e quality and competitiveness of food products. G/SPS/GEN/675 
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  8. In addition, there have been many programs a nd projects (animal health, protection of animals 
from harsh winters, green revolution, meat exports , etc.) that are producing concrete results in 
improving national food safety issues. 
9. All the laws and acts related to the improvement  of the legal environment of the agricultural 
sector were aimed at dealing with food safety issues overall. 
10. I would like to introduce some data provided by the State Specialized Inspection Agency.  
In 2003, there were 90,319 violations with regard to  food safety issues in Mongolia.  In the same year 
the Agency penalized the violators for an am ount of 77,770.3 million tugrik and destroyed food 
valued 231,461.4 million tugrik, which did not comply with the national standards. 
11. I wish to thank the SPS Secretariat of the WTO in their endeavour to facilitate the 
transmission of notifications to all Members and their commitment to assist Members to meet their 
commitments under the SPS Agreement. 
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