WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/GEN/333
24 June 2002
(02-3476)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English/
Spanish
ACTIONS AIMED AT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AGREEMENT
ON SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES
Information presented by the Inter-American Institute
for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA)
The observer organizations are asked to present reports on the activities implemented to
promote greater understanding and implementa tion of the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and
Phytosanitary Measures.  IICA wishes to present information about a number of activities that have
already been carried out for that purpose, or are due to be implemented in the near future.  These
activities are as follows:
International Seminar on Animal Health Equivalence and Risk Analysis
1. An International Seminar on Animal Health Equivalence and Risk Analysis was held 25-
26 March in Bolivia.  The event involved officials of the health systems of Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil,
Chile, Peru and Paraguay.
2. The objectives were to harmonize animal health equivalence and risk analysis concepts
among the zoosanitary authorities of the countries taking part, and to develop concepts for thepreparation and interpretation of studies on equivalence and zoosanitary risk.
Andean System of Studies on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Risk Analysis and Equivalence
3. IICA, the ICA (Colombian Institute of Agriculture), APHIS (Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service, of the USDA) and USAID (United States Agency for International Development)signed an agreement for the implementation of th e Andean Center for Risk Analysis Studies, in
Bogotá, Colombia.
"Agrifood Chain" Module of the Executive Series on Leadership in Food Safety:
4. The Third Module of the Executive Series on Leadership in Food Safety was held 15-
19 April.  Some of the topics covered were: food safety and the development of the agrifood chain;
virtual frontiers in phytosanitary inspection of agricultural products; Leadership: coping with
competition in the marketplace and unfair barriers to trade; and Increasing exports: specific cases.
The Government of Chile collaborated and played an active role in this module, through the
Agricultural Service and the Undersecretariat of Agri culture.  The fourth and last module will be held
in the Caribbean in September.G/SPS/GEN/333
Page 2
Activities to be implemented in th e Caribbean region in the short term
5. In order to improve compliance with the S PS Agreement, IICA will be implementing the
project “Strengthening of Agricultural Quarantine Services in the Caribbean," with financing provided
by the European Union.  The project will la st 30 months and will begin in August 2002.
6. A training workshop on pest risk analysis will be held 24-28 June in Trinidad & Tobago, for
plant protection officials from the Caribbean.  Organized by IICA, the event is being funded and
training services provided by the USDA-APHIS.
7. The second meeting of the Canada/CARICOM Alliance on food control systems will be held
3-7 July in Belize.  The activity is being sponsored and organized jointly by IICA, the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency, the Department of Health of Canada and the Belize Agricultural Health Authority.
8. To promote the harmonization and modernization of the regulatory framework in the
Caribbean region, the draft International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures will be studied at a
meeting in Trinidad & Tobago in  October.  The IPPC will provide financing for the activity, which
will be organized by IICA.
Seminar on SPS in Central America9. IICA took part in the "Seminar on the Implementation of Sanitary and Phytosanitary
Measures", held 3-5 June in Panama City.  The 47 participants were from Panama, Costa Rica,
Nicaragua, Belize, Cuba, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Dominican Republic.  The WTO, the
Inter-American Development Bank and Central American Bank for Economic Integration organized
the event, in collaboration with the Government of Panama.  It was used to discuss the countries’strengths and weaknesses vis-à-vis proper implementation of the WTO SPS Agreement.  The main
recommendations were as follows:
• Coordinate SPS issues among the stakeholders in the Agricultural Health and Food
Safety System;
• Enhance transparency processes and actions at both the domestic and international
levels;
• Step up the harmonization processes;
• Promote coordination among regional and international organizations that facilitate
technical and financial cooperation;
• Participate actively in the international reference organizations and ask them and their
member countries to establish institutional, financial or other mechanisms that wouldfacilitate the active participation of developing countries.
Information
10. Information on animal health, plant protection and food safety is provided by the Andean
Agricultural Health Information Network ( http://www.iicasaninet.net/ ) and the AgriHealth XXI
Network ( www.infoagro.net/salud ) by means of press releases, publications and weekly bulletins.
Users are kept up to date about the work of the "three sisters" and the WTO, and active participation
in these organizations is encouraged.  At the moment, there are almost 3000 daily accesses, within thenetworks 3,900 registered users, and have a  coverage of 48 countries.G/SPS/GEN/333
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11. For further information about any of the events mentioned, contact:
ebolanos@iica.ac.cr (Eric Bolaños) or kwalker@iica.ac.cr (Kevin Walker)
Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA)
Agricultural Health and Food Safety
http://infoagro.net/salud
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