. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/NIC/14
17 November 2003
(03-6140)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  Spanish
NOTIFICATION
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  NICARAGUA
If applicable, name of local government involved:           
2. Agency responsible:  Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Forestry
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where
applicable):  Agricultural foodstuffs
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable:           
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document: Mandatory Technical
Standard on Ecological Farming (71 pages, in Spanish)           
6. Description of content:  In accordance with Law No. 291 – the Basic Law on Animal and
Plant Health – and its regulations, agricultural foodstuffs that have been produced,
processed, preserved and marketed without the use of products different to those mentioned
in Annexes A, B, C and D, and which also co mply with all the requirements set out in this
Nicaraguan Mandatory Technical Standard and with existing phytosanitary technicalregulations specific to each product, are protected by the name "organic, biological or
ecological farming".
Other agricultural foodstuffs and inputs that do not comply with the provisions of
this Nicaraguan Mandatory Technical Standard are prohibited from using the generic name
"ecological", "organic" or "biological" and other names, trademarks, expressions andsymbols that could mislead the consumer due to their phonetic or visual likeness to those
protected by this Nicaraguan Mandatory Technical Standard, even if used in conjunction
with the words "type" ("tipo"), "style" ("estilo"), "flavour" ("gusto") or other similar
expressions.
The defence of the name "ecological farming", the application of the Nicaraguan
Mandatory Technical Standard, the monitoring of compliance with this Standard and the
promotion and quality control of the products covered are the responsibility of the Ministryof Agriculture, Livestock and Forestry.
It shall not be possible to register or patent any product, activity, trademark or
industrial mark which makes use of the term "ecological" or one of its equivalents, in any
language, as private property.
The production, classification, processing, packaging, marketing, identification and
certification of ecological agricultural products, as well as research and extension aspects,
shall be subject to the corresponding legislation and to the provisions of this Nicaraguan
Mandatory Technical Standard.G/SPS/N/NIC/14
Page 2
7. Objective and rationale: [     ] food safety,  [     ] animal health,  [  X ] plant protection,
[ X ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [     ] protect territory from
other damage from pests           
8. International standard, guideline or recommendation:
[    ] Codex Alimentarius Commission,  [    ] Office International des Epizooties,
[    ] International Plant Protection Convention,  [ X ] None
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate
reference and briefly identify deviations:           
9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  NTON 11 011-03 –
Nicaraguan Mandatory Technical Standard on Ecological Farming (available in Spanish)
10. Proposed date of adoption:  December 2003
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  January 2004
12. Final date for comments:           
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [  X ] National notification
authority, [  X ] National enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if
available) of other body:
MIFIC, Km 6 carretera  a Masaya
Tel.:  (505) 267 0161  Ext. 1138
Fax:  (505) 267 2019
E-mail:  nsolano@mific.gob.ni
Website:  http://www.mific.gob.ni/docushare/dscgi/ds.py/View/Collection-174
13. Texts available from:  [ X ] National notification authority, [  X ] National enquiry
point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:
MIFIC, Km 6 carretera a Masaya
Tel.:  (505) 267 0161  Ext. 1130
Fax:  (505) 267 2019
E-mail:  nsolano@mific.gob.ni
Website:  http://www.mific.gob.ni/docushare/dscgi/ds.py/View/Collection-174