Under the SPS and TBT Agreements, WTO Members have the obligation to notify, through the WTO Secretariat, draft measures on sanitary, phytosanitary or other agricultural and industrial product requirements. This obligation covers all measures that may have a significant effect on trade of other Members and are not based on relevant international standards. Notifications are brief info sheets containing a summary of the proposed measures, information on products covered, objective and proposed date of entry into force, links to the regulation(s), etc.

The SPS and TBT Agreements are “sister” agreements, similar in many ways, but also bear important differences. When a measure aims at the protection of human, animal and plant life or health from certain risks, it must be notified under the SPS Agreement. Other measures on product requirements must be notified under the TBT Agreement.

WTO Members regularly raise questions in the SPS and/or TBT Committees with respect to each other's measure on sanitary, phytosanitary or other agricultural and industrial product requirements. Members can discuss these measures with the Member(s) maintaining the measure and other WTO Members can indicate their support to a given concern. More information on trade concerns discussed in WTO Committees can be found in the Trade Concerns Database.

Enquiry point: 

In the context of the SPS Agreement, Members must establish at least one enquiry point, which is an institution responsible for answering all reasonable questions from Members and providing relevant documents, upon request. Members can designate one or more enquiry points, which can be the same, or a different institution as the national notification authority.

In the context of the TBT Agreement, enquiry points are responsible for answering all reasonable enquiries from other Members and from interested parties on matters covered by the TBT Agreement such as regulation on product requirements and standards. In practice, the enquiry point often serves to connect Members, the private sector, trade officials, standards officials, regulators and any other domestic and international stakeholders, in all matters relating to the implementation of the transparency provisions of the TBT Agreement.

National notification authority:

In the context of the SPS Agreement, a national notification authority is a central government authority responsible for the implementation of the notification obligations at the national level. Members can only designate one national notification authority. Under the TBT Agreement, this role is often carried out by the enquiry point.

By registering on the ePing SPS&TBT Platform, users can sign up to receive email alerts on upcoming changes in product requirements for products or markets of interest. Registered users can also save search filters and favourite notifications and can interact with national users through the national forum (provided an outreach admin (typically the enquiry point) of the country/territory has activated this forum).

Yes. Once you register using your WTO credentials, you can easily navigate between the various WTO systems.

Upon registration on the ePing SPS&TBT Platform, users can set up alerts to receive daily or weekly emails about changes in product requirements for products and markets of interest. These preferences can be updated at any time by clicking on your username on the top right corner of the page (once logged on).

Yes, you can create as many alerts as you wish. This can be done by saving search filters on the ‘Search notifications’ page. For each saved filter, an additional table will be included in your email alert listing new notifications that match the saved filter. For more info on how to save filters, click here.

Your profile can be updated at any time by clicking on your username on the top right corner of the page (once logged on).

Click on ‘Forgot your password?’ on the top right corner of the page to reset your password.

Three types of information can be searched.

First, there are the SPS and TBT notifications. These are brief info sheets submitted by WTO Members on upcoming changes in sanitary, phytosanitary or other agricultural and industrial product requirements. More info about notifications can be found here.

Second, there are specific trade concerns raised by WTO Members in the SPS and TBT Committees on sanitary, phytosanitary or other agricultural and industrial product requirements. More information about trade concerns can be found here.

Third, there are other SPS and TBT-related documents circulated by the WTO. More information about other documents can be found here.

Yes, search queries for notifications can be saved when you are logged onto the ePing SPS&TBT Platform. To save a search query, click on ‘Save filter’ after you have entered your search criteria on the ‘Search notifications’ page. You will be prompted to give the filter a name. 

Saved filters can be accessed in the ‘Filters and favourites’ box on the ‘Search notifications’ page when logged on. New notifications matching your saved filter criteria will be included in your email alert in a separate table.

There are several ways to find out more about a notified measure, for instance, sometimes additional information is provided on the ePing SPS&TBT Platform in the international or national forum linked to the notification. To access these fora, click on the text balloon icon on the right side of the notification on the ‘Search notifications’ page. If the text balloon is highlighted in green, there has been activity on either the international or national forum. You can also indicate in the registration form that you would like to receive email updated whenever a message is posted on the national forum of notification of your interest.

You can also contact the SPS or TBT enquiry point of your country/territory to request information, discuss the notification or convey concerns about the (draft) measure. It is also possible to contact the SPS or TBT enquiry point of the notifying Member to request additional information. A list of enquiry point contact details per country/territory can be consulted here 

You can contact the SPS or TBT enquiry point of your country/territory, who can reach out to the notifying Member to follow up on your questions. Alternatively, you can also contact the SPS or TBT enquiry point of the notifying Member. A list of enquiry point contact details per country/territory can be consulted here.

If a national outreach admin (typically the enquiry point) has activated the SPS or TBT national forum, you can also post your questions or comments on the national forum of the relevant SPS or TBT notification. Messages posted on this forum are only visible to fellow registered users from your country/territory. National outreach admins will receive an email alert that you posted a message.

Yes, provided the national forum has been activated by an outreach admin (typically the enquiry point). Once activated, a forum will be available for each notification on the ePing SPS&TBT Platform where users from the same country/territory can discuss the notification. This feature needs to be activated for SPS and TBT notifications separately. National outreach admins on the ePing SPS&TBT Platform will receive an email alert that you posted a message.