./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/MEX/151
20 October 1999
(99-4542)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original: Spanish
NOTIFICATION OF EMERGENCY MEASURES
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  MEXICO
If applicable, name of local government involved:
2. Agency responsible:  Ministry of the Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where
applicable). Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or
practicable:  Crustaceans
4. Title and number of pages of the notified document:  Emergency Mexican Official
Standard NOM-EM-001-SEMARNAP-PESC-1999, establishing requirements and
measures for the prevention and control of the introduction and spread of strains of the
disease-carrying causal agents of the disease White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV ) and
Yellow Head Virus (YHV ), which could endanger wild and cultivated populations through
importation into and movement within the national territory (12 pages).
5. Description of content:  The purpose of this Emergency Mexican Official Standard is to
establish the requirements and measures to prevent and control the introduction and spreadof strains of the disease-carrying causal agents of the diseases White Spot Syndrome Virus
(WSSV ) and Yellow Head Virus (YHV ), which could endanger wild and cultivated
populations through importation into and movement within the national territory (12 pages).
6. Objective and rationale:  [   ] food safety,  [   ] animal health,  [   ] plant protection,
[  ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [  X ] protect territory from
other damage from pests
7. Nature of the urgent problem(s):  The diseases known as White Spot Syndrome Virus
(WSSV) and Yellow Head Virus (YHV) mainly affect the species of penaeid shrimp, and
produce generalized lesions in various organs of the affected specimens causing massivemortality, with rates of up to 100 per cent mortality of cultivated shrimp populations,
without any available treatment for prevention and control to this date.  Records show that
these diseases affect other crustacean species and that the dispersion media of the viruses
causing them are varied, as the carriers are live and dead shellfish, their products or by-
products, as well as Artemia spp  which is used as food in the larval stages of shrimp and
other species of aquatic organisms.  There is also evidence that the causal agents of the
above-mentioned diseases are also spread through the water used in shrimp farming or thewaste-water and solid waste produced by shellfish processing.  WSSV   was detected in
shrimp farms and in natural penaeid shrimp populations along the coast of the Gulf of
Mexico in United States territorial waters and recently in Central and South America, while
WHV has affected shrimp farmed in countries of Asia and in the United States, causing
serious economic losses.  A strain of the virus causing WSSV was recently identified inMexico, different from those found in the United States, Central America and Asia.  ToG/SPS/N/MEX/151
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7. Nature of the urgent problem(s) (cont'd):
date, mortality has not exceeded 10 per cent in areas where this strain has been detected.
It has been shown that imports of frozen shrimp infected with the causal viruses of
WSSV and YHV from countries where viral partic les of these diseases have been detected
represent a major risk of introducing different strains of these pathogens, which are spreadthrough solid waste and waste-water from the plants reprocessing this product.  The
movement of live or dead shellfish and their products or by-products whether for the
purposes of farming, marketing, processing, research or consumption, represents a high risk
of spreading the causal agents of these diseases in the national territory, which could cause
losses to aquaculture or natural crustacean populations, thus representing a potential
environmental danger.
8. An international standard, guideline or recommendation does not exist [  X ].
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give its appropriate
reference and briefly identify deviations:  This Standard is partially in line with those
governing the importation of Panaeus  crustaceans from Venezuela for cultivation and
research purposes.
9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  Diario Oficial de la
Federación (Offical Journal) 24 September 1999 (available in Spanish)
10. Date of entry into force/period of application (as applicable):  The day following its
publication in the Official Journal (25 September 1999), valid for six months from
publication.
11. Texts available from/and agency or authority designated to handle comments:
[  ] National notification authority, [  X ] National enquiry point or address, fax number
and E-mail address (if available) of other body: