Transparency provisions of the SPS Agreement
The transparency provisions of the SPS Agreement serve several important purposes:
- They encourage importing Members to take the interests of their trading partners into account in formulating measures.
- They allow exporting Members to contribute to the design of measures that are to be introduced by trading partners and which may affect exports.
- They make SPS measures subject to scrutiny by Members in a manner that encourages and facilitates conformity with the provisions of the Agreement.
- They allow exporters to anticipate and adjust to trade impacts that flow from new or amended measures.
Transparency provisions
Article 7 of the 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
Annex B
- publication of regulations
- enquiry points
- notification procedures
Article 5.8: explanation of reasons for measures
Article 12: role of the SPS Committee
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The transparency provisions of the SPS Agreement are relatively simple, especially when compared to some of the other WTO agreements.
There are three main components: publication of regulations, notification requirements, and explanation of measures not based on an international standard.
All regulations that have been adopted have to be published promptly, to allow other members to become acquainted except in urgent situations, there must be a reasonable interval between publication and entry into force.
According to Article 5.8, Members “may request” explanations about regulations not based on an international standard and which might constrain exports. This explanation “shall be provided” by the member maintaining the measure.
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Obligations
Under the SPS Agreement WTO Members must:
- designate a single central government authority to be responsible for notifications
- notify other Members of proposed SPS measures and emergency measures
- maintain an enquiry point to answer questions from other Members
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Under the SPS Agreement, Members have to notify three things:
1. a National Notification Authority (NNA)
2. certain SPS measures
3. an Enquiry Point (EP)
Members must also publish their SPS regulations.
The NNA prepares notifications about SPS measures, and the EP answers questions about them.
The NNA and EP may be the same body, for example in the health or agriculture ministry, but their roles are different: the NNA actively has to implement the notification requirements, whereas the EP provides information when requested.
Some examples of NNA and EP that are same body include:
- Servicio y Agricola Granadero (SAG) – Chile
- Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resource – Mauritius
- MAF Biosecurity Authority – New Zealand
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National Notification Authority
- A single central government authority responsible for the implementation of notification procedures
- Identifies measures that must be notified (not TBT)
- Publishes notice of a proposed SPS measure at an early stage, and notifies measure, when - measure is new or modified, and
- an international standard does not exist, or the measure deviates from the standard, and
- measure may have a significant effect (positive or negative) on trade of other Members.
- Measures not meeting these criteria do not have to be notified - Notification goes to other Members via WTO Secretariat. Notification must show: - objective and rationale of the measure
- On request, notification authority must provide a copy of the proposed measure to another Member and identify deviations from relevant international norms
- Other Members must have sufficient time to make written comments
- Upon request, comments must be discussed
- Comments and results of discussion must be taken into account in finalising the proposed measure. |
“Members shall designate a single central government authority as responsible for the implementation, on the national level, of the provisions concerning notification procedures…”. These procedures are described in Annex B (paragraphs 5, 6, 7, and 8).
The NNA
- prepares notifications about new or changed measures,
- provides copies of the regulations, when they are requested,
- allows time for comments, discussing these comments upon request, and taking the comments into account.
Not all SPS measures have to be notified, only those that meet all three criteria.
Measures have to be notified if they are:
- an international standard does not exist, or the measure deviates from an existing standard, AND
- the measure might have a significant effect on the trade of other members.
The “significant effect” can be negative (the more frequent situation) or positive (e.g. a measure which lifts a ban, or simplifies a procedure).
It can be difficult to know the potential effect on trade, especially internal measures not directly concerned with trade (e.g. movement of goods within a country): When in doubt, notify.
Related articles:
- Sanitary & Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) - Part 1
- Sanitary & Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) - Part 2
- Sanitary & Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) - Part 3
- Sanitary & Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) - Part 4
- Sanitary & Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) - Part 5
- Sanitary & Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) - Part 6