WTO: 2008 NEWS ITEMS
Revised recommendations agreed by WTO members
NOTE:
THIS NEWS ITEM IS DESIGNED TO HELP THE PUBLIC UNDERSTAND
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE WTO. WHILE EVERY EFFORT HAS BEEN MADE TO ENSURE THE
CONTENTS ARE ACCURATE, IT DOES NOT PREJUDICE MEMBER GOVERNMENTS’
POSITIONS. THE OFFICIAL RECORD IS IN THE MEETING’S MINUTES
SEE ALSO:
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Lamy’s speeches
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FIND OUT MORE
about SPS’s “three sisters” — the international
standards-setting bodies:
>
Codex Alimentarius
>
World Organization for
Animal Health
>
International Plant
Protection Convention
The revised recommendations deal with how
governments provide information on new or proposed measures they adopt on
sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures. They were approved in the WTO
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Committee’s 2–3 April 2008
meeting, provided no country objected by the end of May. (Officially, the
committee adopted the guidelines “ad referendum”.)
The recommendations will take effect in the latter part of 2008. Some time is needed to
prepare the new formats for countries to use when they supply the
information, and for the WTO Secretariat to adapt the electronic system it
uses to manage and circulate the notifications to the rest of the
membership.
Sharing and commenting on information about new or changed measures is one
of the SPS Committee’s most important tasks — members use the committee to
ensure that SPS measures comply with the WTO agreement, meaning they are
based on science or international standards and are not protectionism in
disguise.
The new recommendations are a third revision of the present set, and include
new forms and procedures for countries to submit information, together with
details of new on-line databases where notifications and other relevant
information are compiled. The recommendations will be circulated to members
in document G/SPS/7/Rev.3 when the date for implementing them is known. A
draft is available in document G/SPS/W/215/Rev.2.
The recommendations also encourage WTO members to notify when they adopt
international standards — this would be voluntary because members are only
required to notify when their measures do not follow international
standards.
> Search WTO Documents Online for all versions of the recommendations, including the latest when it is available.
Next meetings
These dates (with informal meetings on other days in the week) could still be changed:
-
24–25 June 2008
-
8–9 October 2008
•
notification: a transparency obligation requiring member
governments to report trade measures to the relevant WTO body
if the measures might have an effect on other members
• sanitary and phytosanitary measures: measures dealing
with food safety
and animal and plant health.
Sanitary: for human and animal health. Phytosanitary:
for
plants and plant products
> More jargon: glossary
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