. /. RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/W/176 
24 June 2005 
 
 (05-2691) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   Spanish 
  
 
DRAFT REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE REVIEW OF THE OPERATION AND 
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AGREEMENT ON THE APPLICATION 
OF SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES 
 
 
Communication from Peru
 
   The following communication, dated 22 June 2005,  is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Peru. 
 
________________ 
  1. Peru thanks the Secretariat for document G/SPS/W/173  Review of the Operation and 
Implementation of the Agreement on the App lication of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  and 
would like to make the following comments. 
 2. As a general comment we note that the doc ument reflects to a large extent the activities 
conducted, the issues addressed and the significant efforts made by the Committee in fulfilling its 
terms of reference.  We submit the paragraphs  below as input to a number of specific issues. 
 
VIII. REGIONALIZATION (ARTICLE 6) 
 
3. In the section on regionalization, the documen t indicates that the difficulties faced by some 
Members in implementing Article 6 of the SPS Agreement had already been noted in the 1999 Review.
1 
 
4. The present review reaffirms that " despite the OIE and IPPC guidelines, exporting 
countries still suffer from delayed recognition of their pest- or disease-free status by importing 
countries ".2 
 
5. Since a broad consensus has been reached on difficulties in the implementation of Article 6, 
and it being the Committee's task to carry out the fu nctions necessary to implement the provisions of 
the SPS Agreement and the furtherance of its obj ectives (Article 12.1 of the SPS Agreement), we 
believe that a more specific recommendation is needed  as to what the Committee would do in order to 
facilitate the implementation of Article 6 of the SPS Agreement. 
 
6. Peru therefore suggests that the second recommendation in paragraph 71 of document G/SPS/W/173 - " The Committee should continue to consider th e most effective way of facilitating the 
implementation of Article 6 of the SPS Agreement "- be improved to read as follows: 
 
                                                     
 
1 Paragraph 64 of document G/SPS/W/173. 
2 Paragraph 69 of document G/SPS/W/173. G/SPS/W/176 
Page 2  
 
  " Assign to the SPS Committee the task of preparing, as soon as possible, a draft decision on 
the effective implementation of Article 6, usi ng as a starting point the various proposals made 
by Member. " 
 
XV. UNDUE DELAYS 
 
7. It has been acknowledged in the course of th e Committee's most recent discussions that there 
are undue delays in the implementation of several articles of the SPS Agreement.  Peru therefore 
supports the recommendation that the Committee should consider how to ensure the timely 
implementation of various provisions of the SPS Ag reement in specific circumstances, so as to avoid 
unnecessary delays , and suggests adding the following as an appropriate supplement to it: 
  " The Committee shall as soon as possible pr epare a list of the provisions of the 
SPS Agreement in connection with which count ries have noted the existence of undue delays 
and shall adopt a decision on practical mechanisms to overcome such delay ." 
 
XVIII. WORK PROGRAMME 
 
8. At the meetings on the review of the SPS Ag reement, several Members noted the need for a 
work programme on the issues that the Committee plan s to address in future meetings, and also put 
forward specific proposals that could be consider ed within the context of such a programme. 
 
9. Peru shares and supports the view that a work  programme is needed and believes that such a 
programme should not be limited to listing the issues  that the Committee is to discuss in the future, 
but should set out the objectives and results that we propose to achieve in regard to these priority 
issues before the next review of the SPS Agreement. 
 
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