Operating the SPS enquiry point

3.2 Requests for information

Other government agencies than the enquiry point in your territory will continue to receive direct requests on matters such as those outlined above, and they should be free to continue answering them. Enquiries that come to the individual units within government agencies (i.e. not through the enquiry point) can be answered directly and do not need to be processed through the enquiry point system. However, the enquiry point is listed by the WTO as having this responsibility, and must respond to any requests made of it.

Requests to the enquiry point may come from other countries’ enquiry points or originate from other interested parties (such as industry groups) in countries, and from non-Member countries. Although the legal obligation is only to respond to requests from other WTO Members, the enquiry point is encouraged to treat all such enquiries equally, and respond to all reasonable requests for information about the country’s SPS measures. It is best to reply directly to whoever makes the request, but to support the enquiry point system, it is recommended to send a copy of replies (and a list of material supplied) to the relevant country’s enquiry point.

Requests for information that are best filled (completely or in part) by another agency should be forwarded to the appropriate agency. That agency should be asked to advise the enquiry point when the request is fulfilled; if this is not done within a reasonable time a the enquiry point should remind that agency to do so. Sample requests for information are contained in Annex B.