National Notification Authority

WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION SPS National Notification Authority Stakeholders Industry Other Government Agencies Participating Members Other members notifications Other WTO Information Member Comments New notifications Requests for full texts Requests for Full texts WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION SPS National Notification Authority Responsibilities Process new SPS notifications sent from the WTO Website Targeted distribution of notifications to stakeholders Requesting full texts from other members Receiving and forwarding comments Record keeping

Notifications made by other Members Receipt Recording /Summary Distribution List/Distribution Filing

Accessing new notifications Best Practice is using the SPS IMS Based System. Accessing SPS IMS website to generate Excel summary sheets Log on to the SPS IMS site http://spsims.wto.org The SPS Information Management System (SPS IMS), which is accessible to Members and other interested parties since October 2007, is a more specialized and detailed information source on SPS notifications and other SPS documents. It allows for more advanced searches on SPS notifications and also facilitates creation of custom reports. Some of you still most likely receive an email from Irma with all the notifications in it. These will be all new notifications that WTO have received and processed over the last week. You only need to do this if your internet is really unreliable as SPSIMS is much more efficient.

Summary Sheet notifications As you can see the various types of notifications are all here in the first sheet Ongoing – are for Regular, emergency, Addendums, Corrections and Revisions Memos are in a separate sheet under ‘Other SPS documents’ in SPSIMS.

Distribution Lists Develop a distribution list Business groups in your organisation Other government departments Research / Educational Organisations Industry groups So how do you find these? Think about who the changes in regulations of others countries effect, eg: importers, exporters, growers, producers, agencies both research and govt eg: DoC

Identifying Possible Stakeholders Notification to: Food safety Border Standards Post-clearance Protect territory from other damage from pests Additional Notification to: Pesticides or animal remedies Biological compounds Develop as appropriate: Food safety Border Standards Post-clearance pests Pesticides or animal remedies Biological compounds In New Zealand’s case we have one list that is set-up in our SPS address book as SPS info group. Networking is the key here and communication. In your workbook is a table to add your own key organisations. Could I ask Bangladesh to share with the committee how they went about building their stakeholder list.

Following up notifications made by Other Members Initiating a request for further information Making the request for further information Recording A country notifying an SPS regulation is obliged to supply, on request, copies of the proposed regulation. All requests from should be made through the National Notification Authority (NNA) to avoid duplication. 2) All requests for notified documents will be made to the notifying country’s NNA, unless the NEP is specified or an alternative address is listed in the final box 13 of the notification. Current NNA and NEP addresses are on the SPSIMS WTO site Any requests for the documents notified should give the number of the notification, and specify exactly which documents are needed. If the notifying member is not in your language, then ask for a translated document or at least a summary. NNA should operate a bring-up system to ensure that requests not fulfilled are made again. If there is no response to two requests, the best course of action is to ask for assistance from the accredited member embassy or high commission (if there is one). 3) Recording can be either a separate excel sheet that notes who made the request and when from within the members system. When the request was made of the specific member, when it was received from the member and acknowledgement of document. Another method is to use your email inbox.

HANDLING COMMENTS NOTIFIED DOCUMENTS acknowledge receipt of comments; discuss comments if requested to; explain to all commenter's on how their comments are being considered in the final SPS measure; provide extra information on the measure if requested; and, in all cases, send to all commenter's a copy of the final SPS measure when it is adopted.

Which documents to send Filing Method of delivery Which documents to send Filing Where possible documents should be sent as an e-mail attachment. The second preference is fax. Use airmail only if the document is too large to fax. Documents to be sent may include the following: a cover fax responding to the request ; the document to be notified (as specified in section 4 of the routine or emergency notification form); an explanatory note (if one has been prepared). Any documents which are still at a draft stage should be clearly stamped DRAFT on each page. Each document sent should be marked with the relevant WTO notification number. Member countries which do not use your WTO working language may ask for a list of other countries which have previously requested a notified document; this is to assist them to share the costs of translation. If asked, add this information to the cover fax. The notification faxes and all supporting documents should be filed in NA & NEP/ Info requests/International/ member country/ Notification number of request (see workbook).

National Enquiry Point The National Enquiry Point is responsible to provide answers to all reasonable questions from interested (WTO) members as well as for the provision of relevant documents regarding: any sanitary or phytosanitary regulations adopted or proposed within its territory; any control and inspection procedures, production and quarantine treatment, pesticide tolerance and food additive approval procedures, which are operated within its territory; risk assessment procedures, factors taken into consideration, as well as the determination of the appropriate level of sanitary or phytosanitary protection; the membership and participation of the Member, or of relevant bodies within its territory, in international and regional sanitary and phytosanitary organisations and systems, as well as in bilateral and multilateral agreements and arrangements within the scope of this Agreement, and the texts of such agreements and arrangements.” The NEP is listed by the WTO as having this responsibility, and will respond to any requests made of it.

WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION APPROPRIATE AUTHORISED ORGANISATION WTO members Other countries Stakeholders Industry Other Government Agencies International organisations WTO Information Comments Requests for information WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION SPS National Enquiry Point Responsibilities Answer all reasonable questions from interested (WTO) members Ensure information is accurate and sent a timely and efficient manner Record keeping Technical Information APPROPRIATE AUTHORISED ORGANISATION

National Enquiry Point Receipt of request Acknowledging, recording and filing Which documents to send Method of delivery In practice requests for information will also originate from other interested parties (such as government departments or industry groups) in WTO member, and from non-member. Members should treat all such enquiries equally, and respond to all reasonable requests for information about SPS measures. Acknowledging - Requests should be responded to within five working days. If the request cannot be fulfilled, then an acknowledgment estimating the delay for a full reply should be sent. Recording & Filing - All relevant emails coming into and being sent from the SPS mailbox are categorised and saved into email folders, and then archived when memory space becomes limited. Requests will often be very general, e.g. “Send me all your regulations for plant health”. In such cases the best course of action may be to respond with a request for more detail (pointing out the scope of such a request), or to send a list of available information. Email, diplomatic mission or post.

As you will note this is a combination of the roles and responsibilities of both the NNA and NEP.