Strategies for Handling Notifications at National Level

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Strategies for Handling Notifications at National
Level the Experience of China

• Yang Song
• Deputy Division Director
• WTO/SPS National Enquiry Point of China

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the Experience of China on Transparency

• 1. SPS System
• 2. Notifying SPS Measures of China
• 3. Handling Notifications from Other Members
• 4. Dealing with SPS Enquires
• 5. The Website of SPS Notification Enquiry
• 6. Difficulties faced

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the Experience of China on Transparency

• 1. SPS System

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1. SPS System of China

• government authorities involved
• General Administration of Quality Supervision,
  Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ)
• Ministry of Commerce
• Ministry of Agriculture
• Ministry of Health
• Certification and Accreditation Administration of
  China
• The State Food and Drug Administration
• The State Forestry Administration

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1. SPS System

• The Inter-Ministerial Coordination Mechanism on
  TBT and SPS Measures
• Established in 2002
• Led by AQSIQ
• To promote coordination on
• The implementation of SPS Agreement
• SPS related training
• Commenting on notifications that have crucial
  impact on the trade (Positive List,
  Anti-terrorism, etc.)

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1. SPS System of China

• The SPS National Enquiry Point
• Established in AQSIQ to coordinate the
  notification, enquiry and comment issues
  domestically
• The Notification Authority
• Established in the Ministry of Commerce to submit
  notifications

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the Experience of China on Transparency

• 1. SPS System

2. Notifying SPS Measures of China
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2. Notifying SPS Measures of China

• Drafting of new SPS measure - competent
  authority
• Deciding whether to notify or not - competent
  authority
• Filling out the notification form in both English
  and Chinese - the competent authority
• Submitting the notification to SPS Enquiry Point
• Reviewing the notification - SPS Enquiry Point
• Submitting to the Notification Authority
• Submitting to WTO - through the Permanent Mission
  of China in Geneva

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2. Notifying SPS Measures of China

• 241 SPS notifications including
• 140 notifications according to the Accession
  Commitment
• 95 notifications on new SPS measures
• 6 addendum notifications
• Improvement
• The awareness of the importance of notification
  is increasing among competent authorities

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the Experience of China on Transparency

• 1. SPS System

2. Notifying SPS Measures of China
3. Handling Notifications from Other Members
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3. Handling Notifications from Other Members

• Receiving and translating notifications - SPS
  Enquiry Point
• Selecting notifications to comment- SPS Enquiry
  Point
• Distributing notifications to relevant
  authorities
• Both electronic version and paper version
• SPS Notification Newsletter including all
  notifications, published every two weeks
• Notifications and their Chinese translation also
  available on the website of the SPS Enquiry Point

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3. Handling Notifications from Other Members

• Studying and making comments on notifications -
  Expert group established by relevant Chinese
  government authorities related to SPS issues
• Collecting comments - SPS Enquiry Point
• Examining comments AQSIQ
• Translating the final comments into English and
  submitting to the notification Member - the
  Enquiry Point
• Coordination
• Important notifications
• Disagreement on comment

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3. Handling Notifications from Other Members

• Receiving responses - SPS Enquiry Point
• Feedback for reference or further comment

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the Experience of China on Transparency

• 1. SPS System

2. Notifying SPS Measures of China
3. Handling Notifications from Other Members
4. Dealing with SPS Enquires
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4. Dealing with SPS Enquires

• The SPS Enquiry Point is responsible to answer
  reasonable questions asked by domestic and
  foreign government authorities, industries and
  other stakeholders.
• During the 4 years after the Accession, it have
  received and answered more than 1100 enquiries
  and the number of enquiries is increasing year by
  year.

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the Experience of China on Transparency

• 1. SPS System

2. Notifying SPS Measures of China
3. Handling Notifications from Other Members
4. Dealing with SPS Enquires
5. The Website of SPS Notification Enquiry of
China
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5. The Website of SPS Notification Enquiry of
China

• Functions
• Provide information on proposals notified by all
  WTO Members including China
• Provide information on SPS measures of China and
  other Members, including laws, regulations,
  decrees, standards and etc.
• A channel for comment online
• A channel for enquiry online

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5. The Website of SPS Notification Enquiry of
China

• Contents
• Dozens of databases
• Notifications from China
• Notifications from other members
• Laws, regulations, decrees, standards and etc.
• Risk alert system
• Analysis reports

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5. The Website of SPS Notification Enquiry of
China

• The website is established in 2003, and available
  to government authorities, industries and other
  stakeholders
• Feed back by users - informative and useful
• 630,000 visits total, 270,000 in 2005
• www.tbt-sps.gov.cn

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the Experience of China on Transparency

• 1. SPS System

2. Notifying SPS Measures of China
3. Handling Notifications from Other Members
4. Dealing with SPS Enquires
5. The Website of SPS Notification Enquiry of
China
6. Difficulties faced
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4. Difficulties faced

• Translation
• Large amount notifications and full texts
• Costly for both money and time
• Unpopular languages
• Solution - share informal translations
• Problem - not a common practice

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4. Difficulties faced

• Commenting period
• Some notifications less than 60 days
• Request for extending with no answer

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4. Difficulties faced

• The initiative to make comments
• As a new Member of WTO, there is not much
  awareness of the importance of making comments on
  notifications from other Members. Especially
  industries should be involved more deeply.
• the training of industries should be
  strengthened.
• Experience sharing on commenting encouraged.

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Thank You