RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/ACC/SAU/17
21May1997
ORGANIZATION(97-2110)
Original: English
ACCESSION OFTHE KINGDOM OFSAUDI ARABIA
Communication from Saudi Arabia
ThePermanentMissionoftheKingdomofSaudiArabiahastransmittedthefollowingbackground
paper onSaudi Arabia 'ssanitary andphytosanitary measures withtherequest thatitbetransmitted
tomembers oftheWorking Party.
_______________
BACKGROUND PAPER ONSAUDI ARABIA 'S
SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES
Introduction
ThisPaper aimsatexplaining Saudi Arabia 'sregime onSanitary andPhytosanitary Measures
andhowitcomplies withtherequirements oftheWTO Agreement onSanitary andPhytosanitary
Measures. ThePaper hasthefollowing sections:
I. Regulations ofSaudi Arabia pertaining toSPSmeasures
II. Classification oftheSPSmeasures oftheKingdom ofSaudi Arabia
III. Procedural Formalities
IV. Transparency ofSaudi Arabia 'sSPSmeasures.
I. Regulations ofSaudi Arabia pertaining toSPSmeasures
A. Theapproved standards issued pursuant totheRoyal Decree number M/10 on3/3/1392 H
developed bythecompetent standardization body(i.e.Saudi Arabian Standards Organization, SASO).
Among these requirements Saudi standards cover thesanitary measures offoodproducts andthe
following sanitary elements:
(i) measures following thestandards andguidelines ofCodex Alimentarius;
(ii) measures notcovered bythestandards andguidelines ofCodex alimentarius arebased upon
scientific studies orthemost appropriate measures ofother WTO members states.
B. Veterinary quarantine bylaw issued bytheDecree oftheCouncil ofMinisters number 208
dated 26/1/1396 H.Thisbylaw covers sanitary andveterinary requirements andmeasures pertaining
toanimalsandanimalproductsconformingtotherulingoftheInternationalZoo-sanitarycodespecifying
theregulations recommended forinternational tradewithregard toanimals andanimal products issued
bytheOffice International desEpizootics.WT/ACC/SAU/17
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C. Agricultural quarantine bylaw issued bytheDecree oftheCouncil ofMinisters number 207
dated 26/1/1396 Hcovering therequirements andmeasures ofphytosanitary conforming totherules
issued from IPPC initially based onFAO publications.
D. Theperiodic preventive health circulars issued bytheMinistry ofHealth pursuant basically
totheweekly epidemiological circular issued bytheWHO.
II. Classification oftheSPSmeasures oftheKingdom ofSaudi Arabia
A. Sanitary andquarantine measures foranimal health, living plants andseeds, besides measures
fortheprevention ofepidemic diseases spread andthecontrol ontheuseofveterinary medicines and
pesticides. TheMinistry ofAgriculture andWater ismainly concerned withthesemeasures inaddition
totheMinistries ofCommerce andMunicipalities through coordination withtheMinistry ofAgriculture
andwater.
B. Sanitary measures forfresh vegetables andfruits. Inthisregard, Saudi Arabian Standards
Organization (SASO) haslaidrelevant standards tobeapplied bytheMinistry ofAgriculture andWater.
When there isnoapproved international standards forthese products, theKingdom ofSaudi Arabia
approves thestandards applied inECstates andmembers oftheWorld Trade Organization (WTO).
Thus, theKingdom 'sabidance bytheAgreement isthrough itsapplication ofarticles 7and5thereof.
C. Sanitary measures forfoodcommodities (meat, meatproducts andprocessed foods). SASO
saysunified standards forthose products buttheirapplication isthrough theMinistries ofIndustry
andCommerce onthelocally made products. TheMinistry ofCommerce fullycontrols theimported
products. TheMinistry ofMunicipalities participates intheinternal control onproducts inthemarkets
which aremainly controlled bytheMinistry ofCommerce.
D. Measures relating toeffects onthehuman health anditsrelation withtheanimal sanitary and
phytosanitary andfoodsafety areassumed tobytheMinistry ofHealth through issuing theperiodic
preventative circulars toinform andcaution theother concerned bodies about therelevant risks.
III. Procedural Formalities
TheKingdom ofSaudi Arabia 'ssanitary measures forfoodproducts, commodities andrelated
consumer products cover thefollowing elements:
A. Measures thatabide bytheCodex standards andguidelines are:
(i) Health Certificate;
(ii) hygienic rules applied onallplants, stages ofproduction andtheirpersonnel;
(iii) permissible foodadditives andtheirmaximum limits, besides themandatory information on
theproduct label;
(v) requirements formaximum limits oftoxins;
(v) requirements forpesticides andveterinary medicine residues andtheirmaximum levels.;
(vi) requirements forhormones andantibiotic levels;
(vii) regulations forthetransportation andstorage ofchilled andfrozen food;
(viii) packaging.WT/ACC/SAU/17
Page3
B. MeasuresnotcoveredbyCodexinternationalstandardsandguidelines.Inthiscase,theKingdom
ofSaudi Arabia prescribes itsmeasures onascientific basis, orfollows theguidelines ofotherspecialized
international bodies ormeasures adopted byother countries whoaremembers oftheWTO. Itchooses
andadopts guidelines thatprovide themost appropriated levels ofprotection suchas:
(i) maximumlimitsofrequirementsofmicrobiologicalcontaminatione.g.forSalmonellainchicken
andfresh meat(frozen orchilled), themaximum limitpermitted according tothemeasures
adopted bytheKingdom ofSaudi Arabia iszero. These specifications aretaken from the
InternationalCommissiononMicrobiologicalSpecificationsforfoods.Thislimitisalsoadopted
byNewZealand, Canada andFrance.
(ii) expiry periods: Todetermine expiry periods wedepend ontherecognized references andthe
internationalstandardswiththeexecutionofscientificstudiesonexpiryperiodsofsuchproducts,
taking intoconsideration theconditions ofstorage andtransportation intheKingdom ofSaudi
Arabia. Asforotherfoodproducts, SASO usestheinternational references suchasInternational
Refrigeration Institute (inFrance) andtheAmerican Military Corporation. Asforthe
requirement thattheremaining expiry period bemore thanhalfofthevalid period onentry
ofimported products intotheKingdom, thisaimsatallowing sufficient timefordistribution
andmarketing oftheproduct within theKingdom. Thisisalsoprescribed asbyGulfStandards.
C. Issuing phytosanitary andanimal sanitary certificates forSaudi exports.
D. Applying quarantine procedures onplants andanimals andtheirproducts whether imported
orexportedwithoutdiscriminationbetweenthem,applyingstandardcriteriaduringquarantineprocedures
withregard tohygiene, phytosanitary, animal sanitary andfoodsafety measures.
E. Sanitary measures ofSaudi Arabia agree with theSPSAgreement andalsowith the
recommendations andguidelines issued bytheinternational andregional organizations.
F. Saudi Arabia isapermanent andactive member intheinternational organizations onplantand
animal regulations, including FAO andtheInternational Office desEpizootics (IOE).
G. Saudi Arabia 'sSPSmeasures donotarbitrarily orunjustifiably discriminate between different
countries where identical orsimilar conditions prevail. Alsotheydonotdiscriminate between the
territory ofSaudi Arabia andother countries where identical orsimilar conditions prevail.
SaudiArabia'sSPSmeasuresarenotappliedinamannerwhichconstitutesadisguisedrestriction
oninternational trade.
IV. Transparency ofSaudi Arabia 'sSPSMeasures
Saudi Arabia 'sSPSmeasures arepublished inadvance. TheKingdom ofSaudi Arabia has
anestablished system forinformation governments andStandards Organizations ofchanges, andthe
concerned parties havefullsetsofguidelines detailing allrequirements andtheyarefreely available
toanyparty.
Saudi Arabia 'sSPSmeasures andrequirements arenotified totheEmbassies intheKingdom
andtoChambers ofCommerce.