 
. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/W/164 
26 October 2004 
 
 (04-4536) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   Spanish 
  
 
CLARIFICATIONS - REGIONALIZATION AND THE NEED FOR  
GUIDELINES TO IMPROVE ITS IMPLEMENTATION  
 
Communication by Chile
 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 25 October 2004, is being circulated at the request of the delegation of Chile.  
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 1. The aim is to strengthen and in no sense to re place or duplicate the work of the international 
scientific organizations recognized by the SPS Agreement. 
2. There is a need for a framework or guidelines fo r the process of recognition of sanitary status 
that takes place after
 a country has attained the status of being "free" or a "free area". 
3. Since all Members are exporters and importers, th ere is a need for clarity in the post-sanitary 
status process for the purpose of recognitio n by the other Members;  this involves 
implementation  of the SPS Agreement. 
4. Clearly, the process of obtaining sanitary status varies depending on whether animals or 
plants are involved, and there will even be  differences between th e different pests and 
diseases.  However, once a country has attained a specific sanitary or phytosanitary status and 
is declared to be pest- or disease- free, the recognition process will include administrative and 
legal procedures and, in the technical part, risk analysis mainly with regard to the 
documentation, and may include technical checks.  In the whole of this latter process guidelines could be devised so as to establish a clearer importer/exporter relationship, bearing 
in mind that there is currently a wide variety of procedures. 
5. The exporting country that attains pest- or disease -free status will have to have followed the 
international guidelines laid down by the interna tional scientific organizations (OIE or IPPC); 
the importing countries will be able to verify this situation. 
6. The importing country will have to grant recognition if the procedure has complied with 
international (OIE or IPPC) guidelines and, even mo re so, if the sanitary status in question has 
been verified by the competent international organization, although in actual fact in the 
recognition process followed in this situati on there may well be differences between the 
Members as regards the time-frames and procedures. 
7. The situation also arises of countries whose appropriate level of protection (ALP) is higher 
and whose admission requirements are stricter than the international norms.  Such countries 
would have to justify that situation or, within  the international organization, propose changes 
to the international norm if there is a firm scientific basis for such a change. G/SPS/W/164 
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 8. Finally, there are countries which, in the case of recognition, do not comply with the 
international regulations and ma ke no attempt to justify their action, thereby prolonging the 
process of recognition. 
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