FOLLOW-UP
TO THE SIXTH REVIEW OF THE OPERATION AND IMPLEMENTATION
OF THE
SPS AGREEMENT
MENTORING
SYSTEM - CONCEPT NOTE
Note by
the Secretariat[1]
Revision
The report of the Sixth Review of the
Operation and Implementation of the SPS Agreement, under "Technical
assistance and special and differential treatment", includes the following
recommendation:
The Committee
will work with the Secretariat to explore a mentoring system to assist
developing and LDC Members, including with respect to transparency and their
timely engagement on SPS matters, taking into account lessons learned from
previous experiences with mentoring systems.[2]
This concept note reflects a proposal,
prepared by the Secretariat for discussion with Members, to roll out a pilot
mentoring system, in light of lessons learned from the 2008-2010 SPS
transparency mentoring system. A draft concept
note was circulated for Members' consideration at the informal meeting of the
SPS Committee of 15 May 2025; the note was revised to take into account
comments made by Members at that meeting.
[1] This document has been prepared under the Secretariat's own
responsibility and is without prejudice to the positions of Members or to their
rights and obligations under the WTO.
[2] _G/SPS/74, para. 2.24 (italics original). This recommendation was based on an initial proposal by New Zealand
to revisit a previous transparency mentoring system to address some of the
concerns raised in the G-90 document for the CTD-SS on 10 Agreement-specific
special and differential treatment proposals (_G/SPS/W/348).
Mentoring and coaching, including through South-South cooperation, had also
been discussed in the Work Programme of the MC12 SPS Declaration on Responding
to Modern Challenges (_G/SPS/W/335
and _G/SPS/W/343).
Other mentoring initiatives include one by Morocco on South-South coordination
at continental level on SPS transparency matters.