. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/W/131
31 March 2003
(03-1806)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English
PROPOSAL FOR AMENDING THE RECOMMENDED TRANSPARENCY
PROCEDURES RELATING TO THE COMMENT
PERIOD OF SPS NOTIFICATIONS
Submission by China
Based on the Report of the Analysis on SPS Notifications in 2002 (G/SPS/GEN/377), the
delegation of China suggests amending the "Recommended Procedures for Implementing theTransparency Obligations of the SPS Agreement (Article 7)" (G/SPS/7/Rev.2, hereinafter the
"Recommended Transparency Procedures") and the guidance for completion of the SPS notification
format relating to the comment period as follows.
1. According to the Recommended Transparency Procedures  (paragraph 8), "Members shall
normally allow a period of at least sixty days for comments", but in fact, Members did not do well in
implementing this provision.  The comment periods for most of the notifications were less than sixty
days.  There are two reasons for this situation.  On the one hand, there is a lot of work to be done by
the WTO secretariat before an SPS notification can be circulated as a document;  for example, the
competent SPS agency must submit the notification to the WTO secretariat who will then review,
translate and circulate the notification.  All this work is time consuming.  So the comment period is
likely to be less than 60 days from the date when the WTO secretariat circulates the notification.  Onthe other hand, the comment periods offered by some Member for some of the notifications are less
than 60 days.  Therefore, the delegation of China suggests to modify the last sentence in paragraph 8
of the Recommended Transparency Procedures  by adding " which should be calculated from the date
of circulation by the WTO secretariat"  after the words "sixty days".  The revised sentence would be
"Members shall normally allow a period of at least sixty days, which should be calculated from the
date of circulation by the WTO secretariat,  for comments".G/SPS/W/131
Page 2
2. Item 12 of the table under paragraph 36 of the Recommended Transparency Procedures
should be revised accordingly as follows:
12. Final date for comments
and agency or authority
handling commentsThe date by which Members may submit comments in accordance
with Annex B, Paragraph 5(b) of the SPS Agreement.  A specific date
should be indicated.  A Member shall normally allow a period of at
least sixty days, which should be calculated from the date of
circulation by the WTO Secretariat . for comment. Any Member
which is able to provide a time limit beyond sixty days is encouraged
to do so. The final date should be indicated as
_____days(>=60days) after circulati on by the WTO Secretariat.
The agency or authority which has been designated to handle the
comments should be indicated.  If this is the national notificationauthority or the national enquiry  point, put a cross in the box
provided.  If another agency or au thority has been designated, provide
its name, address, fax and (if available) E-mail address.
For proposed measures which facilitate trade, Members may reduce
or eliminate the period for receiving comments.
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