. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/W/212 
25 September 2007 
 (07-4037) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
 
CHINA’S PROPOSAL ON THE AMENDMENT TO "THE RECOMMENDED 
PROCEDURES FOR IMPLEMENTING THE TRANSPARENCY OBLIGATIONS  
OF THE SPS AGREEMENT (ARTICLE 7)" 
 
Submission by China
 
 
 
 The following communication, received on 14 September 2007, is being circulated at the 
request of the Delegation of China . 
 
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 With regard to the "Recommended Proce dures for Implementing the Transparency 
Obligations of the SPS Agreement (Article 7)" (G /SPS/7/Rev.2), China would like to propose the 
following:  1. Proposed amendment 
1. Due to the fact that SPS measures notified are highly specialized and that the texts of most 
proposed regulations are lengthy and in a non-WTO working language, Members, especially developing country Members, usually find it difficult  to translate, study and comment on the notified 
measure in sixty days.  In this connection, China suggests that an additional provision be included in 
paragraph 8 of the Recommended Procedures to en courage Members, especially developed Members, 
to provide longer comment periods. 
2. In accordance with paragraph 8 of the Recommended Procedures, "Members shall normally 
allow a period of at least sixty days for comments" .  However, most of the comment periods are in 
fact shorter than sixty days.  This is because on the one hand, the comment periods allowed for by 
some Members are shorter than sixty days; and on the other hand, there are a few steps before 
notifications are circulated by the WTO Secretariat which also require a certain amount of time to go through.  For example, submission of notifications  to the WTO Secretariat, by the regulatory bodies 
of Members that draft SPS measures through thei r notification authorities and their permanent 
missions to WTO, and the verification and circulatio n by the Secretariat both take time.  These factors 
reduce the comment period to less than sixty days be tween the date of circulation by the Secretariat 
and the expiry date of the comment period.  In this respect, China suggests that the method of 
calculation of the comment period be changed in the Recommended Procedures, to count the 
comment period starting from the date of circulation by the WTO Secretariat.  This is the same proposal China submitted to the Committee in March 2003 (G/SPS/W/131). 
2. Proposed amendment regarding the implementation of the Recommended Procedures  
3. Paragraph 14 of the Recommended Procedures states that "Documents requested should 
normally be provided within five working days.  If this is not possible, the request for documentation G/SPS/W/212 
Page 2  
 
  or information should be acknowledge d within this period and an estim ate of time required to provide 
the requested documentation should be given".  Failure to observe this recommendation sometimes 
prevents trading partners getting the document in time and providing timely comments.  In view of this, China suggests that the SPS Committee encour age Members to strictly comply with the 
recommendation so as to ensure that Members have sufficient time to comment.   
4. Paragraph 28(a) of the Recommended Procedures states that "when a proposed regulation is 
either adopted or comes into force, a Member ma y wish to indicate on the Addendum that the final 
regulation has been substantially modified from the notified proposal".  This provision is helpful for 
other Members to know accurately what measures are fi nally approved and what will be implemented.  
But presently, such Addenda are still not commonly u sed by Members.  In this connection, China 
suggests that the SPS Committee en courage Members to strictly comply with paragraph 28 and 
circulate the addendum accordingly. 
 
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