. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/COL/75 
5 February 2004 
 (04-0435) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   Spanish 
   
NOTIFICATION OF EMERGENCY MEASURES 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  COLOMBIA
 
If applicable, name of local government involved:        
2. Agency responsible:  Ministry of Social Welfare  
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):  Mechanically extracted meats of bovi ne, ovine and caprine origin, raw 
materials, inputs and finished products containing specified risk materials (SRMs)  
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable:  United 
States of America  
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:  Resolution No. 0004315 
of 26 December 2003 adopting Public Health Measures for the Prevention, Monitoring and 
Control of Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob (vCJ) Disease (available in Spanish, 3 pages)  
6. Description of content:  Ban on the importation and mark eting of SRM products;  re-
export, destruction and evaluation of sanitary status  
7. Objective and rationale:  [    ] food safety,  [    ] animal health,  [    ] plant protection,
[ X ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease,  [    ] protect territory from 
other damage from pests       
8. Nature of the urgent problem(s) and reasons for urgent action:  Report by the United 
States Department of Agriculture on a pr eliminary diagnosis of bovine spongiform 
encephalopathy in an adult Holstein  cow in the State of Washington  
9. International standard, guideline or recommendation: 
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission,  [ X ] Office International des Epizooties, 
[   ] International Plant Protection Convention,  [   ] None 
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate 
reference and briefly identify deviations:  In order to protect human health, the World 
Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that no part or product of any animal that has shown symptoms of transmissible sub acute spongiform encephalopathy (TSSE) should 
enter the human food chain  
10. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  Decree No. 2257 of 
1986 (available in Spanish)  
11. Date of entry into force/period of application (as applicable):  Following publication in 
the Official Journal  G/SPS/N/COL/75 
Page 2  
 
12. 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:   
National Enquiry Point
 
E-mail:  javiermi@mincomercio.gov.co 
Tel.:  (571) 3505500 Ext. 703 
Fax:  (571) 3505211 or  Ministry of Social Welfare  Directorate General of  Public Health  
Promotion & Prevention Group  
Carrera 13 # 32-76  Bogotá, D.C., Colombia Tel.:  (571) 3365066 Ext. 1415 Fax:  (571) 3360182 
Website:  http://www.minproteccionsocial.gov.co
 
 
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:        
Ministry of Commerce, Industry & Tourism  
Regulation Directorate  Calle 28 No. 13A - 15, First Floor  Bogotá, D.C., Colombia 
E-mail:  jcrondon@mincomercio.gov.co 
Enquiry Point:  danielrico@mincomercio.gov.co
 
Tel.:  (571) 3505500 Ext. 713 Fax:  (571) 3509564 Website:  http://www.mincomercio.gov.co