WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/GEN/363
22 November 2002
(02-6486)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  Spanish
REPLIES BY HONDURAS TO QUESTIONS POSED BY COSTA RICA
Statement by Honduras at the Meeting on 7-8 November 2002
1. The Government of Costa Rica requests the Government of Honduras to explain how
the measure notified in document G/SPS/N/HND/3 is consistent with the provisions of the WTO
Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Agreement and
international standards recognized by the Orga nization for the sanitary control of animal
products.
In document G/SPS/N/HND/3, Honduras informed the international community of its
Programme for the Prevention, Control and Eradication of Avian Diseases, the aim of which was:
"To declare Honduras a country free of the following diseases:  Newcastle Disease, Avian Influenza
Disease, Avian Laryngotracheitis Disease and Pullorum-Typhoid Disease", notifying the legal,
administrative, technical and scientific instruments for a consistent, credible, systematic and constantprogramme and at the same time, a strengthening of epidemiological control of the avian species.  In
that document, we communicated to our trading part ners the following:  "Only poultry, products and
by-products thereof, from countries with equivalent legally-established animal health programmes for
the prevention, control and eradication of avian diseases may be imported and the exporting country
must be able to guarantee that its farms are free of Newcastle disease and avian Salmonellosis
(S. gallinarum and S. pullorum) and that the country is free of avian influenza and avian infectious
laryngotracheitis".
This shows that the document in question is a notification that Honduras will start a campaign
to prevent, control and eradicate those avian diseases, which is our country's right and obligation
under SPS Agreement Article 7, relating to transparency, and Annex B.1, which states that "Members
shall ensure that all sanitary and phytosanitary regulations which have been adopted are publishedpromptly in such a manner as to enable intere sted Members to become acquainted with them".
Later, once Honduras has succeeded, through the programme for the prevention, control and
eradication of avian diseases, and has technically and scientifically maintained its status as a country
free from the four diseases mentioned, it will notify its situation as such a country, and the descriptionin this regard is found in Information Bulletin No. 6 of the International Organization of Epizootics
(OIE).
This declaration was sent to all member countries directly through the National Agricultural
Health Service of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, with the relevant technical and scientificinformation papers, with a request for countrie s to come to Honduras to conduct the requisite
inspections to verify that status.  Those countries included Costa Rica, which said nothing, despite
repeated notes in this connection.
At the present time, Honduras, as a free country is requesting relevant information to enable it
to maintain its health level and logically cut down the risks from imports.  Costa Rica has not been
able to establish an equivalence in the procedures  for the prevention, control and eradication of itsG/SPS/GEN/363
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avian diseases and we are also faced with the problem that we are not allowed to conduct a tour of
inspection to verify certain sanitary procedures that  Costa Rica's official health authorities say they
have carried out.
2. The Government of Costa Rica requests the Government of Honduras to provide
scientific evidence showing that the measure, which is restricting poultry meat imports from
Costa Rica, is the least trade-restrictive measure necessary to ensure the protection of avian
health in Honduras and therefore does not constitute an unnecessary and disguised barrier to
trade, in accordance with WTO disciplines.
Again, we would reiterate that Honduras has on a number of occasions called on Costa Rica
to provide the technical and scientific documents to prove its poultry health situation, and it has notpresented them nor does it permit an on-site inspection of its companies, as specified in Article 6 of
the Agreement.  In these circumstances, no transparency has been displayed in the technical
procedures Costa Rica has used and, on the basis of our present sanitary status, we are producing
evidence that Costa Rica has not proved its real sanitary status regarding the diseases from which
Honduras has declared that it is free.  Accordingly, Costa Rica cannot officially certify its presentsanitary situation.  Moreover, not allowing on-site verification is a hindrance to risk assessment.  In
this case, it is not possible to trust the veracity of a country that is not transparent in its technical and
scientific documentation.
3. In particular, the scientific evidence which the Government of Honduras is requested to
provide must include evidence showing that the di seases avian infectious laryngotracheitis and
avian salmonellosis can be introduced through th e trade in poultry meat from Costa Rica, in as
much as the International Office of Epizootics (OIE) does not require these diseases to be
subject to sanitary control for the purpose of authorizing international trade in poultry meat.
We confirm that our procedures have at all times complied with the WTO Agreement on the
Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, on the basis of the present poultry health
situation in Honduras;  that a request for information has been made to the Costa Rican sanitary
authority, which has not answered;  that we cannot discount the possibility of cross contamination at
any production phase;  and furthermore, that we do not know its sanitary status for the four diseases
from which Honduras is free, something we are unable to verify as we are not allowed to conduct an
on-site inspection.
Honduras is entitled to ask its trading partners about their sanitary situation, above all for
those diseases which are not native to our country.  Our status as a free country is published in
Information Bulletin No. 6 of the International Organization of Epizootics (OIE).  As for avian
infectious laryngotracheitis, pullorum and typhoid, the fact that the OIE does not require a sanitarycontrol to authorize international trade in poultry meat does not mean Honduras is not entitled to
introduce control measures to preserve its present sanitary status.
Moreover, Honduras has always been ready for any country to come and ascertain its sanitary
status.
4. The Government of Costa Rica requests the Government of Honduras to show that the
restriction imposed on the entry of its products has been applied on the same terms to imports
from other trading partners with similar sanita ry conditions, in accord ance with the principles
of non-discrimination and most-favoured-nation treatment established by the WTO in theSPS Agreement.  This implies that the Government of Honduras has authorized imports of
poultry meat only from countries that have declared free of the four avian diseases.G/SPS/GEN/363
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In accordance with the present sanitary status in Honduras, imports of fresh poultry products
will be permitted only from those countries which can demonstrate that they have an equivalent
sanitary status or that they have access on regional conditions pursuant to the WTO SPS Agreement.
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