costa ricas suspension of the issuing of phytosanitary import certificates for avocados in july 2015 mexico raised concerns regarding the emergency measure taken by costa ricas phsytosanitary service in april 2015 through resolution dsfe 03-2015 notified to the wto under g sps n cri 160 and g sps n cri 160 add.1. costa rica had temporarily suspended the issuing of import certificates for avocados of various origins because of the supposed presence of the sunblotch viroid in imported avocados. costa rica had affirmed that the nature of the problem was urgent but according to mexico there was no international regulatory basis for this view. indeed the fact that costa rica had declared that its territory was free of a pest could not be a basis for the implementation of the emergency phytosanitary measure. the consequence was a complete interruption of trade and mexico did not believe that the measure was legitimate. mexico requested a demonstration of the absence of the pest in line with ispm 04 requirements for the establishment of pest free areas. the interruption of trade meant that costa ricas measure was not proportional to the risk especially because there has been no notification of the pest in mexico for 21 years. mexico noted that the measure contravened the sps agreement and the sps chapter of the free trade agreement between mexico and latin america. mexico finally requested several documents from costa rica showing that costa rica was actually free of the pest and information on shipments of avocados from mexico that had shown positive results for the pest. guatemala south africa and the united states shared mexicos concern. guatemala also requested information about costa ricas pest free pest status. the united states worried that this suspension of the issuance of import permits for avocados from eight countries and florida was part of a larger attempt to use sps measures to protect sensitive domestic industries. in the us view the measure raised concerns regarding its consistency with international standards and guidelines its scientific justification and its level of trade restrictiveness. south africa was concerned that it appeared on the list of countries affected by the suspension despite the fact that it was not exporting avocados to costa rica. south africa requested to be removed from the list. costa rica reaffirmed its commitment to transparency and to to the multilateral system. it referred to measures taken to protect the country from the virus and repeated that this pest could cause considerable damage to the phytosanitary status of its crop. studies carried out in 2014-2015 by its sps authorities had established that costa rica was free from the virus. as a result the country had taken sps measures against peru and california to avoid the introduction of the pest. costa rica indicated that mexico was its main provider of avocados and had reported the presence of the pest which demonstrated the presence of an imminent risk. the current measure was temporary and a risk assessment was under way. costa rica indicated that its authorities were in close contact with mexico. in october 2015 mexico again raised concerns regarding the emergency measure taken by costa ricas phytosanitary service in april 2015 through resolution dsfe 03-2015 notified to the wto under g sps n cri 160 g sps n cri 160 add.1 and g sps n cri 162. costa rica had temporarily suspended the issuing of import certificates for avocados of various origins because of the supposed presence of the sun blotch viroid in imported avocados. costa rica had affirmed that the nature of the problem was urgent but according to mexico there was no international regulatory basis for this view. indeed the fact that costa rica had declared that its territory was free of a pest could not be a basis for the implementation of the emergency phytosanitary measure. the consequence was a complete interruption of trade and mexico did not believe that the measure was legitimate. in mexicos view the measure was in breach of