RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/SPS/W/8
19April 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-0949)
Committee onSanitary andPhytosanitary Measures Original: English/
French/
Spanish
DECLARATION BYTHE OFFICE INTERNATIONAL DESEPIZOOTIES
Meeting of29-30 March 1995
1. Byletter of8March 1995, theOffice International desEpizooties (OIE) wasinvited toattend
thefirstmeeting oftheWorld Trade Organization (WTO) Committee onSanitary andPhytosanitary
Measures. TheOIEwishes tothank theWTO forthisinvitation, which should allow thecollaboration
onmatters ofanimal health ininternational trade developed overanumber ofyears between theOIE
andtheGeneral Agreement onTariffs andTrade (GATT) tobecontinued.
2. Among theitems included ontheagenda forthismeeting, twoareofparticular interest tothe
OIE, namely riskassessment andtechnical assistance.
3. From 1990, theOIEbegan work ontheassessment ofhealth risks, especially those relating
tofoot-and-mouth disease, inresponse toarequest tothiseffect made bytheChairman oftheGATT
Negotiating Group onAgriculture inaletter dated 3April 1990.
4. Thiswork wasundertaken ontheinitiative oftheOIEInternational Animal Health Code
Commission andFoot-and-Mouth Disease andOther Epizooties Commission andthrough numerous
meetings ofexpert groups, withOIEMember Countries providing contributions andcomments.
5. Thismade itpossible todefine therecommendations onimport riskanalysis, which werethen
included intheInternational Animal Health Code (theCode) afterhaving beenadopted bytheOIE
International Committee (general assembly ofrepresentatives oftheMember Countries) inMay1993.
Inaddition toanumber ofgeneral considerations, inparticular relating totheaimsofriskanalysis,
thepresentation ofresults, andtheprocedure fordispute settlement within theOIE, these guidelines
statethatimport riskanalysis mayinvolve thefollowing:
- riskassessment, which maybefollowed byriskmanagement andriskcommunication;
- evaluation ofVeterinary Services;
- zoning andregionalisation ofcountries.
Each ofthese aspects hasbeendeveloped inspecific chapters oftheCode, which aretoolengthy and
detailed toinclude here. Itis,however, worth noting that,onthesubject ofevaluation ofVeterinary
Services, guidelines accompanied byamodel questionnaire havebeenpublished inanissueoftheOIE
Scientific andTechnical Review, details ofwhich aregiven below.
6. InMay1994, theOIEInternational Committee decided toaddafourth chapter following on
from those dealing withtheaforementioned aspects, toprovide theCode withrecommendations on
epidemiological surveillance andmonitoring ofanimal health.
7. Inparallel withthedevelopment andadoption ofrecommendations onimport riskanalysis,
modifications andadditions aremade annually totheCodeonspecific diseases. Thechapter onfoot-and-G/SPS/W/8
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mouth disease (FMD) isbeing substantially revised, ataskwhich hasyettobecompleted since new
proposals onthissubject willbesubmitted totheOIEInternational Committee bytheInternational
Animal Health Code Commission inMay1995. Themeasures relating totheprincipal commodities
likely tobetraded internationally (liveanimals, semen, embryos, meatandmilkproducts) havealready
beenrevised, totakeintoaccount thelatest scientific research, whether commodities originate from
anFMD freecountry oracountry infected withthedisease.
8. Theconcept ofzoning hasalsobeenincluded inthischapter, which nowspecifies theconditions
under which azonewhere vaccination against thedisease isnotpractised mayberecognised asFMD
free.NextMay, theOIEInternational Committee islikely toadopt measures relating totherecognition
ofFMD freezones where vaccination ispractised.
9. TheManual ofStandards forDiagnostic Tests andVaccines (theManual), published in1992,
should bementioned heresince itprovides anessential adjunct totheCode forinternational trade.
TheManual provides adetailed description ofthestandardised methods tobeusedfordiagnostic tests
andtheproduction andcontrol ofbiological products (principally vaccines) referred tointheCode
forverifying thehealth status ofanimals before theyareexported. Several standardised methods
recommended intheManual canbeimplemented using international reference reagents placed atthe
disposal ofOIEMember Countries bytheOffice 'sReference Laboratories.
10. TocompletethisshortoverviewoftheworkundertakenbytheOIEduringandsincetheUruguay
Round ofnegotiations itisalsoimportant tonotethatnewareas fordiscussion haverecently emerged.
These areas concern:
- OIErecognition oftheexistence ofcountries andzones freefrom specific animal
diseases (FMD, rinderpest, etc.);
- thedevelopmentofasystemforthecategorisationofsuchdiseasesthatismoreobjective
thanthatcurrently inuse,inorder todetermine, withtheaidofclearly defined criteria,
whether agiven disease should beconsidered torepresent adanger ininternational
trade and,ifso,thescale ofthedanger;
- theharmonisation ofprinciples ofcertification, accreditation ofveterinary diagnostic
laboratories andmutual recognition oftheresults ofthese analyses;
- theinternational harmonisation ofminimum conditions forveterinary drugregistration;
- theadoption ofaCode andaManual specific toaquatic animals (fish, molluscs and
crustaceans).
11. TheOIEhastaken anumber ofinitiatives tofacilitate theuseofimport riskanalysis methods
byMember Countries. Themost important ofthese are:
- thepublication ofaspecial issueoftheOIEScientific andTechnical Review (vol.12,
No14)inDecember 1993, dealing withriskanalysis, animal health andtrade. This
issue alsocontains theguidelines already referred toontheevaluation ofVeterinary
Services;
- theorganisation, inassociation withother partners, ofasymposium inArlington,
Virginia (United States ofAmerica) inDecember 1994, entitled "Assessment ofRisks
forVeterinary Biological Products: Next Steptowards Harmonisation";G/SPS/W/8
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- theorganisation ofaseminar, tobeheldatOIEHeadquarters inMay1995, onrisk
analysis, animal health andtradeinassociation withtheAgriculture andCommodities
Division oftheWTO, andwiththeaidofagrant fromtheFrench Ministry ofForeign
Affairs;
- theorganisation ofaninternational conference ontheprevention ofdiseases ofaquatic
animals ininternational trade tobeheldatOIEHeadquarters inJune1995.
12. Itwillalsobenoted thattheOIEmaintains contacts withtheCodex Alimentarius Commission
andtheSecretariat oftheInternational Plant Protection Convention, andexchanges information with
them ontheirrespective work onriskanalysis. TheOIEhas,inparticular, beenrepresented atthe
Eighth Session oftheCodex Committee onResidues ofVeterinary Drugs inFood (Washington, D.C.,
United States ofAmerica) thatincluded onitsagenda theimplementation ofriskanalysis methods,
theThird Session oftheCodex Committee onImport andExport Food Inspection andCertification
Systems(Canberra,Australia,27February-3March1995)andtheJointFAO/WHOExpertConsultation
ontheApplication ofRiskAnalysis toFoodStandards Issues (Geneva, Switzerland, 13-17 March 1995).
13. Thislinkbetween international organisations isessential toavoid differences inapproach to
riskanalysis principles arising inthedifferent areas covered bytheAgreement ontheApplication of
Sanitary andPhytosanitary Measures.
14. With regard totechnical assistance, theOIEiscontinuing toimplement itstraining and
information programmes onveterinary drugs. These areconducted through seminars andworkshops
relating toveterinary druglegislation andregulations atthenational andregional level. Themostrecent
were heldinBamako (Mali), Rabat (Morocco), Bogota (Colombia), Bogor (Indonesia) andHarare
(Zimbabwe). Theyareveryimportant foranumber ofdeveloping countries which areobliged toimport
themajor partoftheveterinary drugs needed forthecontrol ofanimal diseases inthenational livestock
populations.
15. Inorder tostrengthen thecapacity ofitsMember Countries toexercise effective quality control
oflocally produced orimported veterinary drugs, theOIECollaborating Centre inFougères (France)
hasconducted anumber ofaudits ofcontrol laboratories inAfrica, Latin America andAsia. Two
practical courses onthecontrol ofveterinary drugresidues willbeorganised byOIECollaborating
Centres, oneinSouth Africa andtheother inMalaysia.
16. Alsointhefieldoftechnical assistance todeveloping countries, theOIEhasorganised courses
ontheadministration andmanagement ofVeterinary Services aimed atFrench-speaking countries,
oneinFrance (1991) andtheother inAfrica (1994). These courses aredesigned toinform Chief
Veterinary Officers onchanges intheveterinary profession, bothinthepublic andprivate sectors,
especially within thecontext ofstructural adjustments andtheliberalisation ofworld trade.
17. Lastly,theOIEwishestoemphasiseitssatisfactionatparticipatingintheWTOregionalseminars
ontheSanitary andPhytosanitary Agreement (Bangkok, Thailand, November 1994, andMexico City,
Mexico, May1995).