tolerance levels for soil content on potato tubers in june 2006 canada stated that it had been negatively affected by the unacceptably low tolerance levels set by the dominican republic for soil content on potato tubers which were ten times lower than those indicated in the international standard. this measure seemed to target canada as other exporters were not subject to the same requirement which was impossible to meet and was not based on a risk assessment. despite numerous efforts at the bilateral level and an invitation extended to the dominican republic to visit the potato production sites the issue remained unresolved. canada urged the dominican republic to amend its tolerance level to bring it in line with international practice. the dominican republic explained that the measure was not discriminatory as it applied to all countries exporting to the dominican republic where there was a risk of introduction of nematodes. an official communication had been sent to canada in this regard and they hoped to resolve the issue promptly. in october 2006 canada reported that it had held bilateral meetings to discuss canadas concerns with the dominican republic requirements for canadian potato. in september 2006 the dominican republic sent representatives to canada to get first hand information on canadian potato production distribution and transportation systems and to take samples for testing. at the conclusion of the visit canada thought they had reached an agreement on the conditions for canadian potato to be exporter to the dominican republic. canada reiterated that there had been no agreement on acceptable soil tolerance level as a result of miscommunication of the results of the september meeting and indicated their interest to continue the technical discussion on the issue while hoping that the issue could be resolved on the basis of acceptable international practices for soil tolerance. the dominican republic observed that following the recommendations of a multidisciplinary team of experts working on potato certification and working on phytosanitary measures they had agreed on a soil tolerance level of 1g of soil per kg of potato for consumption and 5g of soil per kg of seed potato. canadian and dominican republic experts were right and agreed that over the next 2 years the situation was to be carefully monitor and possibly could agreed to increase to the soil tolerance level to 85g of soil per kg of potato. however the dominican republic agreed with canada that there had been miscommunication and expressed their desire to continue monitoring the situation while hoping that an understanding could be reached at a bilateral level. in november 2017 the secretariat informed that in september 2017 it had contacted all members who had raised specific trade concerns stcs that had not been discussed in the previous year to request an update on their status. in furtherance of this request information was received from canada on the resolution of this stc. the secretariat indicated that the information received had been circulated in document rd sps 28 of 31 october 2017 and that the sps ims would be updated on this basis using the date of the november 2017 sps committee meeting as the date of resolution of the relevant stcs.