WTO Members Hold Consultations on SPS Agreement Implementation Challenges
World Trade Organization members held a third round of consultations May 8-11 covering the progress made in undertaking the Work Program of the 12th Ministerial Conference Sanitary and Phytosanitary Declaration, which is meant to address challenges in implementing the Agreement on the Application of SPS Measures. Members laid out proposals to boost the functioning of the committee's work on food safety and animal and plant health, WTO said.
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Members asked the WTO secretariat to "compile the co-stewards' reports to create a factual summary of the Work Programme that will be circulated and discussed at the next informal SPS Committee meeting in July," and also agreed the committee chair will work with the co-stewards on a "shorter draft outcome document with some findings and recommendations emerging from the Work Programme that would be presented to ministers at MC13," WTO said. The secretariat said another session could be held in September if needed to move ahead on both documents.