SPS COVID-19 RELATED ACTIONS

REPORT TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS BY THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE SPS COMMITTEE

The following report is being submitted by the Chairperson of the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Committee), Mr Tang-Kai Wang, under his own responsibility, at the request of the Chairperson of the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG).^[1] The report was prepared with the assistance of the Secretariat.

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1  COMPILATION OF INFORMATION FOR THE CTG REPORT ON SPS COVID-19 RELATED ACTIONS

1.1  Dedicated COVID-19 information sessions

1.1.  In June 2020, the SPS Committee held an informal information-sharing session on COVID-19. The programme was circulated in document _G/SPS/GEN/1795. The WTO Secretariat presented an overview of documents submitted by Members in relation to COVID‑19. The STDF presented on its COVID-19 response, underscoring the importance of building food safety and animal and plant health capacity to enable the public and private sectors, especially in developing countries, to respond to crises. WTO Members, the three relevant international standard setting bodies (Codex Alimentarius, the World Organisation for Animal Health [WOAH] and the International Plant Protection Convention [IPPC]), WHO and other observers provided information on their activities undertaken since the beginning of the pandemic. WTO members stressed the importance of providing a coordinated response to global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuring that trade in agricultural and food products was not unduly disrupted. The standard-setting bodies stressed the importance of enhanced global networks in effectively tackling emergency situations and warned against the temptation of relying solely on national measures, to avoid further trade disruptions. WHO explained the role of the International Health Regulations in facilitating information exchange on public health responses, ensuring that the responses are commensurate to the risk and avoiding unnecessary interference with international trade and transportation. The WHO also referred to COVID-19 related guidance, produced with FAO, for food businesses and food safety control systems. The report of the session is contained in document _G/SPS/R/98 and a news item on the discussions held in the session is available here.