WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/GEN/353
1 November 2002
(02-6047)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English/
French
CONCLUSIONS OF THE WORLD VETERINARY CONGRESS
HELD IN TUNIS ON 27-28 SEPTEMBER 2002
Submission by the Office international des Epizooties (OIE)
1. Conclusion regarding collaboration with the world veterinary profession:
Whereas:
− The veterinary profession in all its components is an essential partner for the
Veterinary Services and international orga nisations involved in animal health and
food safety, with which dialogue must be maintained and developed;
− The World Veterinary Congress provides a unique opportunity for exchanges in this
field;
− An official agreement was concluded in 2002 between the World Veterinary
Association and the OIE;
The seminar participants conclude on the need for:
− The OIE, with the support of the other organisations, which signed the Doha
Declaration and other interested donors, to do everything in its power to facilitate the
participation of representatives from developing countries in the next World
Veterinary Congress in the United States in 2004 – and in particular a significant
representation of national Delegates to the OIE;
− An action plan to be drawn up to gradually implement the agreement concluded
between the OIE and the World Veterinary Association.
2. Conclusion regarding the participation of the Veterinary Services in international
health negotiations and raising awareness amongst political decision-makers:
In view of:
− The undertaking made by the international organisations in Doha in 2001;
− The urgent need for the developing countr ies to comply with international health
standards in order to access regional and international markets for animals and animal
products;
− The need to bring the Veterinary Services of the World Trade Organization’s member
countries in line with OIE standards in order to access these markets;
− The positive impact that such compliance may have on improving food safety;
− The difficulties many developing countries encounter in mobilising political decision-
makers on such issues;G/SPS/GEN/353
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− The introduction of funding mechanisms to help achieve such compliance (the Codex
Alimentarius Trust Fund and the WTO’s "Standards and Trade Global Facility");
The seminar participants conclude that there is a need:
− To facilitate the participation of Veterinary Service representatives from developing
countries in the health negotiations taking place in the Codex Alimentarius, the OIE
and the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, through targeted supportfrom the international community for the natio nal representatives of these Services, in
particular by appointing the national Delegates to the OIE;
− To support the scientific community in these countries in order to provide competent
negotiators when preparing new health standards in the Codex Alimentarius or theOIE;
− To consider it a public investment priority to bring about the compliance of the
organisation of the Veterinary Services;
− For the competent regional or sub-regional organisations to hold meetings at the
highest level (ministers), in order to raise awareness amongst political decision-makers concerning economic, public health, animal health and food safety issues.
3. Conclusion regarding the proceedings of the international organisations:
In view of:
− The growing burden of standards adopted by the OIE and Codex Alimentarius for
international trade in animals and animal products;
− The fact that international standards should be used as a means for continual
improvement, especially for developing countries, meaning that their specific
situation and constraints must be taken into consideration;
The seminar participants conclude that there is a need for:
− The concerns of developing countries to be effectively taken into consideration when
drawing up international standards and other texts;
− The practical aid arrangements for such countries to be based on an analysis of needs
and expected impacts, in which the Veterinary Services must participate directly;
− The international organisations to ensure that there is no divergence or conflict
between the definitions, concepts and prescriptions used and adopted in theirrepresentative bodies, especially between the OIE International Animal Health Code
and Codex Alimentarius standards.
4. Recommendation regarding the organisation of the Veterinary Services of developing
countries:
In view of the fact that:
− There is no universal model for organising a country’s health system;
− The structures and organisation are the means to support a policy;
The seminar participants conclude that there is a need for:G/SPS/GEN/353
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− The country concerned to carry out an economic and functional analysis of its
situation (problems and possible solutions) before deciding on any changes in itshealth organisation;
− A small structure of inter-ministerial coordination to be established in cases where
responsibilities for animal health and food safety are shared between severalministries, in particular when preparing the positions to be defended by delegates to
international bodies;
− Each OIE Member Country to appoint a single person responsible for veterinary
public health;
− The responsibilities for controlling and monitoring the Veterinary Services to be
extended to the entire production chain of animal foodstuffs, from stable to table, in
particular to foster dialogue with all levels of the sector and to avoid conflicts of
interest between consumers and producers;
− The creation of new structures, in particular institutional authorities responsible for
risk assessment, to be decided only if the other national priorities have already been
met.
5. Conclusion regarding training for Veterinary Service agents:
In view of:
− The requirements of the OIE International Animal Health Code  concerning the
competence of the agents of official Veterinary Services;
− The complexity and rapid changes in the professional environment of the Veterinary
Services;
The seminar participants conclude that there is a need for:
− A policy to be drawn up, based on an analysis of the Veterinary Services’ missions
and associated responsibilities, for training veterinarians and other managers of the
official Veterinary Services, as well as agents working under their responsibility, both
within government departments and within a contractual framework; this should take
into consideration initial as well as in-service training needs, not only in the field oftechnical knowledge, but also policies, standards, organisation and resource
management.
6. Conclusion regarding the Veterinary Services’ collaboration with private veterinarians:
In view of:
− The fact that some of the problems encountered by the developing countries in
complying with the rules of the OIE International Animal Health Code , particularly
with regard to certification, are linked to a shortage of veterinarians in rural areas;
− The development of policies for privatising the veterinary profession in these
countries;
− The need for support from agents working under the control of the official
veterinarians;G/SPS/GEN/353
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The seminar participants conclude that there is a need:
− In line with each country’s specific conditions, to envisage delegating the Veterinary
Services’ activities to private veterinarians, within a contractual framework, in
particular through a ‘sanitary mandate’ or any equivalent system;
− In order to achieve this, for all the appropriate provisions to be made to facilitate the
establishment and maintenance of private veterinarians in rural areas, in particular
through a policy for providing them with a satisfactory income;
− For a permanent health surveillance netw ork complying with OIE standards, which
relies in particular on contracted veterinarians, supported where necessary by non-veterinary auxiliaries, to be sustained by recognising the public service missions of
such agents; this recommendation relies in particular on remunerating such
veterinarians from public funds and allowing them to supplement their income by
administering and selling authorized veterinary products.
7. Conclusion regarding the Veterinary Service partners:
In view of:
− The essential delegation function that the different private professional partners
exercise for the Veterinary Services, especially where resources are limited;
− The possibility for expanding the number of activities by making such agents
responsible for conducting some public service missions;
− The proven effectiveness of livestock health auxiliaries, particularly in certain
isolated rural areas;
The seminar participants conclude that there is a need for:
− The role of health auxiliaries in the countries concerned to be recognised, defined and
controlled and for such agents to be supervised by veterinarians, who themselves
come under the authority of the official Veterinary Services when carrying out public
service missions;
− The Veterinary Services to encourage the organisation and recognition of the
different players in the animal health and veterinary public health field, based on an
analysis of their environment, in particular by:
• Creating national organisations to represent private veterinarians and by
drafting a Veterinary Code of Professional Conduct on a regional level;
• Setting up livestock producers’ organisations, as close as possible to the field,
united under a national association; such livestock producers’ associationsparticipate in solving in particular the problem of sustaining projects
involving health auxiliaries;
− The public service missions entrusted to these different players to be carried out
under the responsibility and control of the competent Veterinary Authority, in theform of a single chain of command and pai d, at least in part, out of public funds;
− The OIE to start work in preparation for the inclusion in the International Animal
Health Code  of provisions covering possible recourse to health auxiliaries.
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