SANITARY & PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES: INFORMATION

Members?transparency toolkit

Transparency is a core principle in the WTO. According to Article 7 of the SPS Agreement, members shall notify changes in their sanitary or phytosanitary measures and shall provide information on their sanitary or phytosanitary measures in accordance with the provisions of Annex B. This page contains all the relevant information for members’ transparency work in SPS.

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Transparency obligations

The SPS Agreement establishes the following four transparency obligations that must be fulfilled by members:

transparency obligations

Source: Practical Manual for SPS National Notification Authorities and SPS National Enquiry Points, 2018.

More detailed information on transparency is available in the SPS Agreement, as well as in the Recommended procedures for implementing the transparency obligations of the SPS Agreement (Article 7).

An annual report of the level of implementation of SPS transparency provisions is available in document series G/SPS/GEN/804.

How to submit SPS notifications ?The ePing SPS&TBT Platform

The most efficient way to submit SPS notifications is through the online submission module in the ePing SPS&TBT Platform. This module is password-protected, and is accessible with the single sign-on credentials. This improved functionality allows Members to fill in all types of notification templates, improve national coordination with regulatory agencies, provide more accurate and complete data, prepare notification models to increase efficiency and keep track of all notifications submitted.

The Secretariat can grant Notification admin rights to a user upon request at [email protected]. The notification admin will then be able to draft and submit notifications to WTO. Additionally, the notification admin will also be able to grant Notification drafting rights and/or Notification submission rights to other domestic users registered in the ePing SPS&TBT Platform.

Alternatively, Members can also submit notifications by email to the Central Registry of Notifications (CRN) at [email protected]. Further information and the notification templates can be found in the Recommended Transparency Procedure page.

Types of notifications

Members shall notify each other of their sanitary or phytosanitary regulations, using the following templates, depending on the circumstances. The latest versions of all the templates can be filled in through the ePing SPS&TBT Platform (see above, How to submit SPS notifications).

Members are required to notify all regulations the content of which is “not substantially the same as the content of an international standard, guideline or recommendation”, if such regulations are expected to have a significant effect on trade of other members. Members are encouraged to notify all regulations that are based on, conform to, or are substantially the same as an international standard, guideline or recommendation, if they are expected to have a significant effect on trade of other members.

A notification should be made well before the entry into force of the relevant measure, except when urgent problems of health protection arise or threaten to arise for the member concerned. Any regulation brought into force in urgent circumstances is required to be notified immediately and a rationale for the urgent action provided.

In addition to their original notifications, members can also provide supplementary information in three different forms:

to regular or emergency notifications: Members should notify changes in the status of a notified SPS regulation. For instance, a member may wish to indicate on the addendum if the final regulation has been substantially modified from the notified proposal. An addendum is thus used to provide additional information or changes to an original notification. The issuance of an addendum allows members to track the status of an SPS regulation via its unique notification number.

to regular and emergency notifications: Members should inform the Secretariat of any error(s) contained in their original notification. The Secretariat will issue a corrigendum accordingly.

to regular and emergency notifications: Revisions should be submitted, for example, if a notified draft regulation was substantially redrafted or if a notification contained a large number of errors. A revision is used to replace an existing notification.

There are other types of notifications that members can submit to provide information on other topics:

Equivalence is defined to be the state wherein SPS measures applied in an exporting member, though different from the measures applied in an importing member, achieve the importing member’s appropriate level of sanitary or phytosanitary protection. In accordance with the Decision on Equivalence (G/SPS/19/Rev.2), a member which has made a determination recognizing the equivalence of SPS measures of another member shall notify other members through the Secretariat of the measure(s) recognized to be equivalent and of the products affected by this recognition. Notification should also be made of significant variations to existing equivalence arrangements, including their suspension or rescission.

Any member possessing an unofficial translation of a document relating to a notification should inform the notifying member of the existence of the unofficial translation and should submit to the Secretariat a supplement to the original notification submitted by a member.

In accordance with the Decision on Special and Differential Treatment (G/SPS/33/Rev.1), when an importing member decides on whether and how special and differential treatment may be provided in response to a specific request, that member should inform the SPS Committee. The information should be submitted as an addendum to the original notification concerning the measure.

Further information on the notifications format and on how to fill in the templates is available in the Recommended procedures for implementing the transparency obligations of the SPS Agreement (Article 7), the Practical Manual for SPS National Notification Authorities and SPS National Enquiry Points, and the Technical cooperation handbook on SPS notification requirements.

National notification authorities (NNA) and national enquiry points (NEP)

In accordance with paragraph 10 of Annex B of the SPS Agreement, Members are obliged to designate “a single central government authority” as responsible for the implementation at the national level of the provisions concerning notification procedures: the national notification authority (NNA). Paragraph 3 of Annex B of the SPS Agreement indicates that each Member “shall ensure that one enquiry point exists” which is responsible for the provision of answers to all reasonable questions as well as the provision of relevant documents: the national enquiry point (NEP).

Contact information of Members' NNA and NEPs is available through the ePing SPS&TBT Platform. Notification admins are responsible for updating contacts details of their NNA and NEPs. The Secretariat can grant Notification admin rights to a user upon request at [email protected].

Transparency-related activities

Members can request specific training on transparency-related topics by sending an email to [email protected].
The SPS Committee has undertaken a number of thematic workshops related to transparency.