WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/50 
7 November 2008 
 (08-5411) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures  
 
 
 
REPORT TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS ON  
CHINA'S TRANSITIONAL REVIEW 
  
 The present report is submitted under the responsib ility of the Chairperson, as agreed by the 
Committee at its meeting of 8-9 October 2008. 
 
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1. The Committee held its seventh Annual Tran sitional Review under Paragraph 18 of the 
Protocol of the Accession of the People's Republic  of China at the regular meeting commencing on 
8 October 2008. 
2. Prior to the meeting, the United States submitted questions to China in writing, which can be 
found in document G/SPS/W/229. 
3. Statements made at the Committee meeting in the context of this transitional review by China, 
the United States and the European Communities w ill be reflected in the summary report of the 
meeting, to be circulated as G/SPS/R/53 and are attached. 
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  ATTACHMENT – EXCERPT FROM G/SPS/R/53 
 
AGENDA ITEM 12: TRANSITIONAL REVIEW UNDER PARAGRAPH 18 OF THE PROTOCOL OF ACCESSION OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA 
 
1. The Chairman recalled that in accordance with Paragraph 18 of the Protocol of Accession of 
the People's Republic of China, the SPS Committee w as to undertake an annual review for eight years 
of the implementation by China of the SPS Agreemen t.  He first invited the United States to present 
the questions it had submitted in document G/SPS/W/229. 
2. The representative of the United States observe d that the Transitional Review Mechanism 
allowed Members to assess and understand the progr ess that China had made in implementing the 
WTO agreements.  She raised several issues relati ng to restrictions on agricultural trade.  The 
concerns were:  (1) on  how China conducted risk assessments on US origin beef and beef products;  
(2) BSE-related restrictions on protein free tallow;  (3) pathogen residue standards;  and (4) avian 
influenza.  The representative signalled that several of these issues had been raised in 2007, however, 
China had provided only limited responses.  
3. The representative of the United States requested  information on the status of revision to 
China's sampling plans and microbiological criteria for food-born pathogens.  Moreover, the United 
States was also concerned that China had banned ractopamine without conduc ting a risk assessment.  
The other concern raised was regarding avian influe nza related bans affecting the states of Arkansas 
and Virginia.  
4. Finally, the United States was interested in the pl ans to boost food safety regulations in China, 
especially regarding the recent problems with melamine  in milk, the changes that would be made and 
when they would be notified to the WTO.  
5. The representative of the European  Communities shared the concer ns of the United States and 
reiterated that OIE standards should be respected .  The European Communities had specific concerns 
regarding the animal health standards, the micr obiological criteria and the plant health standards 
implemented by China.  Imports of EC beef a nd other bovine products were still banned by China 
despite the fact that 25 EC member States were classified by the OIE as having "negligible" or 
"controlled risk" of BSE.  Also, the European  Communities was concerned regarding certain 
microbiological criteria such as E. Sakazakii , and the zero tolerance leve l applied for products not 
intended for infants.  These standards were not in lin e with Codex.  Finally, compliance with China's 
plant regulatory import system was unjustifiably difficult.  The European Communities welcomed 
recent improvements in communication between th e European Communities a nd China regarding the 
plant health issue.  
6. The representative of China noted the questions ra ised by the United St ates and the European 
Communities.  On BSE-related issues, the repr esentative stated that China has conducted the 
necessary risk assessments on beef imported from the United States and there had been many 
technical communications on numerous occasions.  The efforts made by the United States to prevent BSE contamination were appreciated, but there were  still problems in the implementation of the cattle 
tracing system and the implementation of the feed  ban.  China hoped that the United States could 
address the loopholes and problems in the prevention and control systems of BSE on the basis of the related OIE standards.  China was willing to conti nue working with the United States on this issue. 
7. The representative of China reiterated that he r officials had communicated with the US 
authorities on the issue of trade in protein-fr ee tallow on several occasions.  In March 2008, the 
United States had agreed to send relevant material s but China had not yet received these.  China's 
measures on protein-free tallow were fully consiste nt with the regulations stipulated in the OIE  G/SPS/50 
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  Terrestrial Animal Health Code that a product co ntaining specified risk materials (SRM) was not 
tradable worldwide, and protein -free tallow (maximum level of insoluble impurities of 0.15 per cent 
in weight) should enjoy free trade .  The representative stated that China's requirement had taken into 
account the risk assessment results and international standards. China was willing to hold bilateral 
talks at technical level on the interpretation of the relevant articles of the OIE Terrestrial Animal 
Health Code with the United States to sh are views and address issues of concern.  
8. On pathogen standards, the representative of China stated that China had never set zero 
tolerance requirements for pathogens in raw meat  and poultry products.  China used sampling and 
testing to identify whether the quality of meat pr oducts met relevant standa rds and requirements.  
Such practices had been adopted by many other countries and were fully consistent with Codex 
Alimentarius standards which stipulated that pathog ens should not be detected in meat products for 
human consumption.  The same pathogen standa rds applied to both foreign and domestically 
produced products in China.  China was following the latest progress in the Codex regarding the 
standards for microorganisms detected in food pro ducts and had started to formulate standards for 
maximum levels of animalcule detected in food products based on this progress and China’s 
monitoring data on food-born diseases. 
9. On residue standards for ractopamine, China restri cted the use of ractopamine in feedstuff to 
protect consumers' health and food safety.  This restriction applied uniformly to import and domestic 
products.  Similar regulations were adopted by ma ny other countries.  China was in the process of 
completing a risk assessment on ractopamine and was willing to communicate with other Members on 
this issue.   
10. With regard to avian influenza (AI), China had lifted the ban on poultry and poultry products 
from six states of the United States including Pe nnsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, 
West Virginia and Nebraska, based on risk assessment s of the AI situation in these states.  However, 
with regard to the H5N1 strain of AI in Virginia , according to the technical information available to 
China, it appeared likely that this was the high pathogenic type of vi rus.  Therefore, China requested 
that the United States provide the relevant viral strain  for further study.  The representative said that  
China had not yet received this.  With regard to  the state of Arkansas, China had received the 
application and the related technical materials fro m the United States at the end of September 2008 
and was in the process of undertaking the risk ass essment.  China hoped that the United States could 
provide the technical materials and virus strain relati ng to avian influenza at an early point in time.  
China also wished to intensify communications w ith the United States to so lve the technical issues 
appropriately.  
11. About the food safety issues, the representative of China had become aware of the concern 
only at this time.  However, the Chinese delega tion had already briefed the Committee on the progress 
regarding the dairy produc ts and the testing results, and on how the Chinese authorities were dealing 
with this issue.  The Chinese Premier had clearly stat ed that in dealing with the incident of milk and 
milk products, China would be transparent.  China would keep the Committee informed regarding this 
matter. 
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