sixth Review of the Operation and Implementation of the Agreement

on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures

DRAFT report of the committee

Note by the Secretariat[1]

Revision

Article 12.7 of the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the SPS Agreement) provides that "[t]he 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 was completed in March 1999.^[2] At the Fourth Ministerial Conference, Ministers instructed the Committee to review the operation and implementation of the SPS Agreement at least once every four years.[3] The Fifth Review of the Operation and Implementation of the SPS Agreement (the Fifth Review) was completed, and the corresponding report adopted ad referendum in July 2020.^[4]

At its November 2023 meeting, the Committee adopted a process to undertake the Sixth Review of the Operation and Implementation of the SPS Agreement (the Sixth Review).^[5] In accordance with this process, Members are invited to consider this draft report of the Sixth Review for adoption at the March 2025 Committee meeting.

The draft report of the Sixth Review is comprised of two parts:

·_        PART A – Sixth Review Discussions – containing, by key topics[6], information on Sixth Review proposals, related discussions and thematic sessions, as well as recommendations for further work. [Note: the recommendations will be added at a later stage.] Part A also outlines previous Committee decisions, guidelines, and recommendations that Members were invited to review or update as part of the Sixth Review.

·_        Part B – Committee work during the review period – containing information regarding the Committee's main areas of work from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2024.

The present document contains Part A of the report; Part B can be found in addendum 1 to this document.