WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/SPS/N/THA/202/Rev.2 
3 May 2012  
 (12-2358) 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION OF EMERGENCY MEASURES 
 
Revision 
 
1. Notifying Member:  THAILAND 
If applicable, name of local government involved:     
2. Agency responsible:  Food and Drug Administration (Thai FDA) 
3. Products covered (provide tariff item numbe r(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO;  ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where 
applicable):  Import requirement for food with ri sk of radionuclide contamination 
(ICS Code 67.040) 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable: 
[ ] All trading partners   
[X] Specific regions or countries:  Japan  
5. Title of the notified document:  Ministry of Public Health Draft Notification entitled 
"Import Requirement for Food with Risk of Radionuclide Contamination"  
Language(s):  Thai and English  Number of pages:  2 
http://members.wto.org/crnattach ments/2012/sps/THA/12_1541_00_e.pdf  
6. Description of content:   Following the accident of the Fukushima nuclear power plant on 
11 March 2011, causing a leak of radionuclide in to the environment and leading to food 
contamination, MOPH issued the Notification of  the Ministry of Public Health Re: Import 
Requirement for Food with Risk from Radi onuclide Contamination, dated 11 April 2011 
B.E. 2554 (2011) to avoid radionuclide contamin ation in food imported from Japan.  After 
that, MOPH continued to monitor food pr oducts imported from Japan, and the food 
surveillance data collected by the Japanese authorities showed that the situation of food 
contamination in some prefectures had cha nged.  MOPH considered revising this 
Notification by issuing the Notification of the Ministry of Public Health Re: Import 
Requirement for Food with Risk from Ra dionuclide Contamination B.E. 2554, dated 
25 July B.E. 2554 (2011), and taking effect on 3 August 2011.  
Since November 2011, the food monitoring data of the Japanese authorities has shown that 
none of the food samples produced or originated  in Tokyo presented radioactive substances 
and all complied with the levels of radioac tivity prescribed in the MOPH notification. 
Therefore, it is appropriate to remove this prefecture from the location where it is required 
to submit a certificate of anal ysis or documents indicating th e levels of radionuclide and the 
location of food production of every shipment at the import check point.  G/SPS/N/THA/202/Rev.2 
Page 2  
 
   MOPH therefore revised the import require ment for food with risk of radionuclide 
contamination as follows:  
Clause 1:  The Notification of the Ministry of Public Health Re: Import Requirement for 
Food with Risk from Radionuclide Contamination B.E. 2554, dated 25th July B.E. 2554 (2011) shall be repealed and replaced by this (Draft) MOPH Notification; 
Clause 2:  All kinds of food, except food a dditive, flavouring agent and materials intended 
to preserve food qualities such as desiccating ag ent, oxygen absorbent etc. originated from 
the radionuclide contaminated areas in Jap an: the prefectures of Fukushima, Gunma, 
Ibaraki, Tochigi, Miyagi, Chiba, Kanagawa and Shizuoka, the levels of radionuclides shall 
be detected not exceed the prescribed limits in  the Notification of the Ministry of Public 
Health Re: Standard of Food Contamin ated with Radionuclide, date 11 April 
B.E.2554 (2011). The Importers are required to submit documents indicating the category, 
the type of food, the levels of radionuclide and their locations of production every shipment 
at the import check point, issued by any of the following agencies:  
(1) The Japanese government competent authority (CA), or (2) Other agencies accepted by the Japanese government competent authority, or 
(3) Government laboratory, or  
(4) Designated laboratory by government, or  
(5) Accredited laboratory conforms to the international standard Clause 3:  All kinds of food, except food a dditive, flavouring agent and materials intended 
to preserve food qualities originated from prefect ures other than those stated in clause 2, 
importers are required to submit documents indicating the location of harvesting or 
processing for every shipment at the impor t check point issued by the Japanese 
Government competent authority, or ag encies accepted by the Japanese government 
competent authority, or Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Japan. 
In case of not having above mentioned documents (clause 3) the importer can submit a 
certificate of analysis that indicate the category, the type of food and the levels of radionuclide issued by any of the agen cies stated in clause 2(1) - 2(5).  
7. Objective and rationale:  [X] food safety, [ ] animal health, [ ] plant protection, 
[ ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [ ] protect territory from other 
damage from pests.    
8. Nature of the urgent problem(s) and reason for urgent action:  Urgent action was 
needed following the accident at the Fukushima  nuclear power plant and the findings that 
certain foodstuffs from Japan containe d high levels of radioactivity.  G/SPS/N/THA/202/Rev.2 
 Page 3 
 
 
  9. Is there a relevant international standard ?  If so, identify the standard:  
[X] Codex Alimentarius Commission (e.g. title or serial number of Codex standard 
or related text) Codex General Standard for Contam inants and Toxins in Food and 
Feed (Codex Standard 193-1995) : RADIONUCLIDES 
[ ] World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) (e.g. Terrestrial or Aquatic 
Animal Health Code, chapter number)   
[ ] International Plant Protection Convention (e.g. ISPM number)   
[ ] None Does this proposed regulation conform to  the relevant international standard? 
 [X] Yes   [ ] No  If no, describe, whenever possible, how and why it deviates from the 
international standard:    
10. Other relevant documents and langua ge(s) in which these are available:   Notification 
of the Ministry of Public Health entitle d "Standard of Food Contaminated with 
Radionuclide" (as notified in G/SPS/N/THA/201, da ted  28 April 2011)   Thai and English  
11. Date of entry into force ( dd/mm/yy )/period of application (as applicable):  On the date 
after being notified in the Official Gazette.        
[ ] Trade facilitating measure   
12. Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [X] National Notification 
Authority, [X] National Enquiry Point.  Address, fax number and e-mail address (if 
available) of other body:    
13. Texts available from:  [X] National Notification Authority, [X] National Enquiry 
Point.  Address, fax number and e-mail address (if available) of other body:    
 National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards  
 50 Phaholyothin Road, Ladyao  Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900   Thailand  Tel:  (+662) 561 4204  Fax:  (+662) 561 4034;  (+662) 561 4088 
 E-mail:  sps@acfs.go.th    
 Website: http://www.acfs.go.th