WORLD TRADE G/SPS/GEN/22
8July1997
ORGANIZATION(97-2842)
Original: English Committee onSanitary andPhytosanitary Measures
IMPLEMENTATION OFTHE TRANSPARENCY PROVISIONS
OFTHE SPSAGREEMENT
Statement bytheUnited States attheMeeting of1-2July1997
1. IneachoftheCommittee ’srecent meetings, theChairman haspointed outthatmany WTO
Members havenotyetnotified theSecretariat oftheirNational Notification Authority andtheirEnquiry
Points. TheUnited States hasalsoexpressed concern thatthemajority ofthemembership doesnot
appear tobeusing thenotification process, asrequired under Annex BoftheSPSAgreement.
2. TheUnited States wishes tostress again thatfullimplementation ofthetransparency and
notification provisions oftheSPSAgreement isafundamental WTO obligation. Itisdisturbing that,
more thantwoyears aftertheentry intoforce oftheWTO, implementation ofthisobligation remains
incomplete.
3. Weappreciate theinformation theSecretariat hascompiled fortheCommittee onthisissue.
Unfortunately, thisinformation confirms that76Members have notyetidentified their National
Notification Authority and44Members havenotidentified theirSPSEnquiry Points.
4. Under theSPSAgreement, Members haveaccepted anobligation tonotify anysanitary or
phytosanitary trade measure thatisnotsubstantially thesame as,orthatisapplied intheabsence of,
acorrespondinginternationalstandard,guidelineorrecommendation.However,85Members(two-thirds
ofthemembership) havenotyetnotified asingle SPSmeasure.
5. TheUnited States isaware ofanumber ofSPSmeasures which appear tofallwithin themeaning
ofAnnex B,paragraph 5oftheSPSAgreement, butwhich have notbeen notified totheWTO.
Examples which theUnited States hasrecently brought totheCommittee ’sattention include:
- France hasbanned theimportation ofpetfoodthatdoesnotmeetcertain processing
requirements. Thismeasure isnotbased onaninternational standard. Aswasdiscussed
intheCommittee ’sseventh meeting, thismeasure hasnotbeennotified totheWTO.
- Venezuela hasbanned theimportation ofpoultry products from countries thathave
reported instances ofnon-pathogenic avian influenza (AI). Thisisnotbased onan
international standard. Venezuela hasnotnotified thisoranyother SPSmeasure.
6. These andother examples thathavebeenbrought toourattention byinterested traders, indicate
thatmany Members alsomaynotyethaveestablished theinstitutions andprocedures needed toensure
fullcompliance withthetransparency andnotification provisions ofthisAgreement. Iftechnical or
otherconstraints havedelayed implementation oftheseprovisions, Members should bring suchproblems
totheimmediate attention oftheSecretariat.
7. TheUnited States recommends thattheCommittee request theSecretariat tocontact eachof
theMembers thathavenotyetidentified theirNotification Authority orEnquiry Point prior tothe
Committee ’snextmeeting, inorder toascertain when those Members intend tocomply withthis
obligation. Werequest thattheSecretariat report theresults ofthesecommunications totheCommittee.