1 INTRODUCTION
1.1. Article 12.7 of the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
("the Agreement") provides that "the Committee shall review the operation and implementation of
this Agreement three years after the date of entry into force of the WTO Agreement, and
thereafter as the need arises". A First Review of the Agreement was completed in March 1999.2
1.2. At the Fourth Session of the Ministerial Conference, Ministers instructed the Committee to
review the operation and implementation of the Agreement at least once every four years. The
Second Review of the Agreement was completed in July 20053 and the Third Review in May 2010.4
At its October 2013 meeting, the Committee adopted a procedure and timetable to undertake the
Fourth Review of the Agreement.5 The Review process provided a number of opportunities for
Members to identify issues to be addressed as part of the Fourth Review, and submit specific
proposals on the identified issues. Since October 2013, the Committee has held informal and
formal meetings to consider the issues and proposals identified by Members. The draft report of
the Review6 was discussed at the July 2014 meeting of the Committee and Members were invited
to submit written comments on the draft report by 31 July 2014.
1.3. In accordance with the procedures for the Fourth Review, the Committee considered the
revised report of the Review7 for adoption at its October 2014 meeting. The report was further
revised8 based on Members' comments and suggestions at the October 2014 meeting, and
Members were invited to submit comments in writing by the end of 2014, with a view to its
adoption during the March 2015 regular meeting. Members accepted the inclusion of the first two
suggestions contained in document G/SPS/W/282. However, the Committee did not reach
consensus on the report's adoption and Members continued discussions during 2015 and 2016 to
bridge differences particularly on a recommendation under section 14 on SPS-related private
standards. At its July 2017 regular meeting, the Committee agreed on the inclusion of new
language in section 14, circulated in document RD/SPS/15 and adopted the report on the Fourth
Review of the Operation and Implementation of the SPS Agreement.
1.4. As in the preceding reviews, in the Fourth Review the Committee has considered operation
and implementation issues related to:
Monitoring the use of international standards (Article 3.5 and 12.4);
Equivalence (Article 4);
Consistency (Article 5.5);