RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/ACC/DZA/19
22 April 2002
(02-2269)
Working Party on the Accession of Algeria Original:  French
ACCESSION OF ALGERIA
SPS AND TBT ISSUES
The following communication on SPS and TBT issues has been received from the Mission of
Algeria.WT/ACC/DZA/19
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SUMMARY OF TBT REQUIREMENTS AND PREQUISITES FOR COMPLIANCE
(Table I)
Commitments (by the time of accession) WTO Reference
1. Standstill: the introduction of new standards,
technical regulations and conformity assessmentprocedures should be fully compatible with theTBT Agreement1. Generally agreed principle in WTO accession
negotiations
This matter of principle will be dealt with in the draft law amending the current law on standardization, whichwill serve as a framework law for the development and adoption of technical regulations, standards andconformity assessment procedures (see item 5).  It will also incorporate all obligations stemming from the TBTAgreement.
2. Submission of Statement on Implementation 2. Article 15.2 and TBT Committee Decision
(G/TBT/1)
While this notification obligation is not covered by any of the provisions of the texts currently in force, the
programme of legal transformations required to address this issue will be implemented along the lines describedunder item 4.
3. Establishment and operation of a single contact
point for information ("enquiry point")3. Article 10
This obligation will be dealt with in the draft law on standardization.  The TBT enquiry points indicated in
Annex 5 of the Memorandum on Algeria's Foreign Trade Regime, i.e.
Standards:
INSTITUT ALGERIEN DE NORMALISATION
05-07, Rue Abou Hamou Moussa, 16000 Algiers, AlgeriaTel:  213.21.64.20.75Fax:  213.21.64.17.61
http://www.ianor.org
E.mail:  ianor@wissal.dz,
Technical barriers to trade:
CENTRE ALGERIEN DE LA QUALITE ET DE L'EMBALLAGE
RN N°5 Bab Ezzouar DAR EL BEIDA - AlgiersTel:  213 21 24 30 35Fax:  213 21 24 30 11
E.mail:  cacqe@mail.wissal.dz,
will be merged to form one enquiry point located at th e Ministry of Trade.  The designation, organization and
actual setting up of this single enquiry point will take place in July and August 2002.  The setting up of thedatabase will begin in July and will end in December 2002.  It will be fully updated during the followingmonths, which should enable the enquiry point to be operational towards the end of the first quarter of 2003.
4. Identification of authority responsible for
notifications, publications and other internal
procedures to ensure tran sparency obligations are
met on an ongoing basis:4. Articles 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 15.2, Annex 3 and
G/TBT/1WT/ACC/DZA/19
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Commitments (by the time of accession) WTO Reference
(a) Identification of publication where notices
of proposed technical regulations andconformity assessment procedures willappear;(a) Articles 2.9.1, 3.1, 5.6.1, 7.1, 10.1.5
(b) identification of authority responsible for
making notifications to the WTO;(b) Article 2.9.2, 2.10.1, 3.2, 3.3, 5.6.2, 5.7.1,
7.2, 7.3, 10.7, 10.10
(c) guidance/law to ensure regulatory
authorities afford non-discriminatoryconsideration of comments in the
preparation of a final regulation;(c) Articles 2.9.4, 2.10.3,  3.15 3.3, 5.6.4, 5.7.3,
7.1, 7.3
(d) guidance/law to ensure regulatory
authorities allow a reasonable period oftime between the final publication of atechnical regulation and conformityassessment procedure and its entry intoforce so that suppliers can adapt;(d) Articles 2.11, 2.12, 3.1, 5.8, 5.9, 7.1
(e) publication and notification of work
programme for standards and non-
governmental conformity assessmentprocedures, including publication of noticesof draft standards and an opportunity forpublic comment.(e) Article 4, Annex 3 (J, K, L, N, 0);  Article
8.1
The official designation will be made through the legislative and regulatory adaptations described in item 5
below.  The organization and setting up of this notification authority will take place in July and August of 2002(for regulation and other procedures pertaining to the notification process, see item 5 below).  The setting up of
the database and the organization of the redistribution of information from the notifications will take place
according to the process applie d to the database in item 3.
5. Development and Application of Technical
Regulations and Conformity AssessmentProcedures: Existence of legal and/oradministrative underpinnings (or reasonablemeasures" as appropriate) to ensure ongoing
compliance with provisions of the agreement
concerning, in particular:5. Articles 2, 3, 5, 6, 7
(a) non-discrimination with respect to the
treatment of products;(a) Articles 2.1, 3.1, 5.1, 5.2, 7.1
(b) the prohibition of unnecessary obstacles to
international trade and the consideration ofless trade-restrictive alternatives tofulfilling legitimate objectives;(b) Articles 2.2, 3.1, 5.1, 5.2, 7.1
(c) the ongoing review of technical regulations
to ensure they are appropriate to achieve the
desired legitimate objective;(c) Article 2.3, 3.1, 7.1WT/ACC/DZA/19
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Commitments (by the time of accession) WTO Reference
(d) the consideration of appropriate
international standards, guides andrecommendations as a basis for technicalregulations and conformity assessmentprocedures;(d) Article 2.4, 3.1, 5.4, 7.1
(e) the consideration of equivalent technical
regulations of other Members;(e) Article 2.7, 3.1, 7.1
(f) the acceptance of the results of conformity
assessment procedures conducted by bodies
in an exporting Member country;(f) Article 6, 7.1
(g) non-discriminatory and cost-based fee
structure.(g) Article 5.2, 7.1, 10.4
Working groups have been set up in the Ministries of Trade, of Agriculture, of Industry (Standardization) and of
Health to review the legislation and regulations in force in order to identify all of the provisions that would beinconsistent with their international counterparts.  This process of alignment of the legislative and regulatoryframework should be completed towards the end of September 2002.  The legislative process should produce,by the end of the first half of 2003, the main elements of a new legislation.  The working groups operate on the
basis of the principles set forth in item 5 (a) to (g) above.  The framework law will include this obligation.
6. Development and Application of Standards and
Conformity Assessment Procedures: Existence of
legal and/or administrative underpinnings (or "reasonable measures" as appropriate) to ensureongoing compliance with provisions of theagreement concerning, in particular:6. Article 4 and Annex 3, Article 8
(a) non-discrimination with respect to the
treatment of products;(a) Annex 3 (D), Article 8.1
(b) the prohibition of unnecessary obstacles to
international trade;(b) Annex 3 (E), Article 8.1
(c) the consideration of appropriate
international standards, guides and
recommendations as a basis for standards;(c) Annex 3 (F), Article 8.1
(d) non-discriminatory and cost-based fee
structure.(d) Annex 3 (M), Annex 3 (P), Articles 8.1,
10.4
See item 5 above.WT/ACC/DZA/19
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SUMMARY OF SPS REQUIREMENTS AND
PREREQUISITES FOR COMPLIANCE
(Table II)
Commitments (by the time of accession) WTO Reference
1. Standstill:  the introduction of new standards, animal
health regulations and food safety regulations shallconform to SPS Agreement principles1. Generally agreed principle in WTO
accession negotiations
Algeria accepts that the procedure for the development and adoption of new standards and/or new regulations
concerning the protection of animals and food safety must comply with the provisions of the SPS Agreement.This principle will be incorporated in a legislative enactment.
2. Establishment and operation of a single Contact Point for
Information ("enquiry point")2. Article 7 and Annex B.3
The enquiry points for sanitary and phytosanitary measures indicated in Annex 5 of the Memorandum on
Algeria's Foreign Trade Regime, i.e.
Veterinary:
MINISTERE DE L'AGRICULTURE
DIRECTION DE S SERVICES VETERINAIRES
Boulevard Colonel Amirouche, Algiers
Tel:  213 21 74 63 33
Phytosanitary:
MINISTERE DE L'AGRICULTUREDIRECTION DES SERVICES PHYTOSANITAIRES
Boulevard Colonel Amirouche, Algiers
Tel:  213 21 42 93 49
have been merged to form one enquiry point located at the Ministry of Agriculture:
Sous Direction du Contrôle Sanitaire
(Direction des Services Vétérinaires - Ministère de l'Agriculture)
12 Bd Colonel Amirouche – Algiers – ALGERIATel : 213/ 21.71.17.12Fax: 213/ 21.74.34.34; et 213/ 21.74.63.33E-mail: dsval@wissal.dz
Algeria is a member of the Codex Alimentarius Commission and the OIE, and has joined the IPPC.Consequently, it is under obligation to inform and communicate with member States.  The enquiry pointobligation set forth in the SPS Agreement will be enshrined in various specific provisions (regulations,procedures, etc.)  The actual organization and setting up of this single enquiry point will take place in July andAugust 2002, like the TBT enquiry point.  The databa se will be implemented according to the process
described in item 3 of Table I for TBTs.
3. Transparency:  notification and access to documentation: 3. Articles 7 and Annex B, also G/SPS/7WT/ACC/DZA/19
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(a) identification of authority responsible for making
notifications to the WTO and ensuring transparencyobligations are met on an ongoing basis;(a) Annex B.5(b) and Annex B.10
(b) establish guidance or law requiring publication of
proposed measures at an early stage for comments;(b) Annex B.5(a)
(c) provision in law or administrative procedure to
provide copies of proposed measures to WTOMembers;  and(c) Annex B.5(a)
(d) require in law or administrative procedure, a
reasonable period of time for comment from
Members and the public, and establishment of a
process to take comments into account withoutdiscrimination(d) Annex B.5(d)
The obligations and relevant responsibilities will be assumed and implemented as described in item 4 of
Table I for the TBTs
4. Necessity:  measures are applied only to the extent
necessary to protect human, animal or plant health.4. Article 2:2
The actual fulfilment of this obligation initially requires a complete revision of the legislative and regulatory
texts in the light of international rules and WTO requirements (see item 5 of Table I).  As in the case of theTBTs, a database will be set up as described in item 5 of Table I
5. Regulations Based on Science:  regulations governing
animal and plant health and food safety shall be based on
scientific evidence.5. Articles 2.2, 3.3 and 5.2
See item 4 above
6. Harmonization:  to the extent possible, members shall
follow international standards, guidelines, andrecommendations in establishing SPS measures6. Articles 3.1, 3.3 and 3.4
Circular No. 006 of 20 May 2000 from the Head of Government on consistency between standards and
technical regulations requires the authorities responsible  for the development of technical regulations to base
their work on the standards in force.
7. Equivalence:  members shall recognize different
measures that achieve the same level of protection7. Article 4
See item 4 above
8. Risk Assessment:  developing scientific evidence and
conducting risk assessments to ensure that measures arebased on science and applied only to the extent necessary
to protect health.8. Article 55.1, 5.2 and 5.3
See item 4 aboveWT/ACC/DZA/19
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9. Regional conditions:  measures take into account the
regional characteristics both of the areas from whichproducts originate and the areas for which they are
destined.9. Article 6 and Annexes A.6 and A.7
See item 4 above
10. Non-discrimination:  measures do not arbitrarily or
unjustifiably discriminate between different members orbetween domestic and foreign suppliers10. Article 2.3, and Annex C.1(a) and (d)
See item 4 above
11. Control, inspection and approval procedures:  ensure that
procedures, including systems for approval of the use of
additives or for establishing tolerances for contaminants
in foods, beverages or feedstuffs comply with theAgreement.11. Article 8 and Annex C
See item 4 above
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