G/SPS/GEN/2204  
 
28 February  2024 
(24-1875) Page: 1/6 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English/French/Spanish  
 
  
88TH MEETING OF THE SPS COMMITTEE  
COMMUNICATION FROM THE WORLD ORGANISATION FOR ANIMAL HEALTH ( WOAH ) 
The following communication, received on 27 February 2024 , is being circulated at the request of 
the WOAH . 
 
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The World Organisation for Animal Health  (WOAH)  is pleased to provide this report for the 
information of WTO Members attending the 88th meeting of the SPS Committee.  
The report summari ses key activities in WOAH standard -setting work programme , animal health 
information,  capacity building activities  and other relevant topics . 
World Organisation for Animal Health turns 100 years.  
2024 is a significant year for WOAH as the Organisat ion proudly commemorates 100 years of 
unwavering commitment and achievements in advancing animal health and welfare worldwide. 
The journey leading up to WOAH becoming the global authority on animal health is marked by a 
long history of pivotal moments. To read more about WOAH and highlights since its founding on 
25 January 1924 please go to the WOAH website . 
1  WOAH GENERAL SESSION  
1.1.  The 91st Annual General Session of the WOAH World Assembly of Delegates will take place 
from 26 to 30 May 2024 in Paris. This General Session will include the adoption of administrative 
and technical resolutions as well as electing the WOAH Director General, the members of the 
governing bodies of the WOAH (members of the Council and of the Bureaux of the Regional 
Commissions), and the members of the Specialist Commissions.  
1.2.  The provisional programme will be available on the WOAH website in Mar ch 2024. 
With exception of the administrative session reserved to elections, all daily sessions of the General 
Session will be webcasted live via the WOAH website.  
1.3.  The General Session will include a Forum focused on "Future -ready governance for a resilient  
WOAH ". At the Forum, the results of a commissioned review of WOAH 's institutional texts along with 
foresight scenarios depicting possible futures that the Organisation may face will be explored to 
address the needs and gaps within WOAH 's current governanc e structure.  
1.4.  Side events and kiosk exhibition stands will take place before and after the daily plenary 
sessions. These activities will allow delegations to interact with experts on a number of specific 
initiatives relevant to WOAH and its missions.  
1.5.  As has  been done in recent years Pre -General Session Information Webinars will be held in 
virtual mode to provide an opportunity for the Presidents of the four Specialist Commissions to share 
information with members on the standards to be presented for adoption  at the General Session. 
They will take place on 16 April 2024 for the Biological Standards Commission, the 17 April 2024 for 
the Terrestrial Animal Health Standards Commission (Code Commission) with support of the 
Scientific Commission for Animal Diseases  (Scientific Commission) and the 18 April 2024 for the G/SPS/GEN/2204  
 
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  Aquatic Animal Health Standards Commission (Aquatic Animals Commission). Each webinar will be 
conducted with simultaneous interpretation in English, French and Spanish and will be recorded and 
uploaded  on the WOAH website.  
2  WOAH INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR TERRESTRIAL AND AQUATIC ANIMALS  
2.1.  The four Specialist Commissions met during February 2024 to continue work to review existing, 
and develop new, WOAH international standards in the Terrestrial Animal Hea lth Code , 
the Aquatic  Animal Health Code , the Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals  
and the Manual of Diagnostic Tests for Aquatic Animals , along with other activities relevant to each 
Commission 's terms of reference.  
2.2.  The meeting reports of the Code Commission, the Aquatic Animals Commission and the 
Biological Standards Commission provide information about the new and revised texts that will be 
proposed for adoption at the 2024 General Session as well as information about other top ics 
discussed during these meetings including texts circulated for comment and other information. 
The report of the Scientific Commission provides information about the evaluation of dossiers for 
official status.  
2.3.  The official reports of these four Commissi on meetings will be uploaded onto the Delegates 
website and the WOAH public website simultaneously for each language (English, French and 
Spanish) once finalized . 
2.4.  From March 2024 WOAH will start to implement a step -wise process for the publication on the 
Delegate 's website of comments submitted on new and revised texts circulated for comments. 
This process will eventually include the publication of comments and Commission responses on both 
the Delegate 's and WOAH websites.  
2.5.  The links to the February 2024 rep orts, once available, are provided below:  
• Biological Standards Commission : February 2024 meeting report  
• Scientific Commission for Animal Diseases : February 2024 meeting report  
• Aquatic Animal Health Standards Commission : February 2024 meeting report  
• Terrestrial Animal Health Standards Commission : February 2024 meeting report  
2.6.  WOAH would like to highlight to th e Committee the following work undertaken during the 
February meetings:  
2.1  Terrestrial Animal Health Code  
2.7.  The Terrestrial Animal Health Standards Commission continued its ongoing work to update and 
revise the Terrestrial Code . The Commission reviewed draft st andards and considered comments 
received, considered the progress of different ongoing projects, and discussed upcoming work.  
2.8.  The Commission agreed to propose 16 texts for adoption at the 91st General Session in 
May 2024 (including glossary definitions and  new and revised chapters). Revised chapters that will 
be proposed for adoption at the 91st General Session include, among others, a revised Chapter 4.6. 
General hygiene in semen collection and processing centres; a revised Chapter 6.10. Responsible 
and pr udent use of antimicrobial agents in veterinary medicine; a revised Chapter 7.5. Slaughter of 
animals; a revised Chapter 8.8. Infection with foot and mouth disease virus; and a new Chapter 8.Z. 
Infection with Trypanosoma evansi  (surra).  
2.9.  The Commission also  agreed to circulate some revised draft chapters for comments and 
requested experts to continue with the ongoing development of a new Chapter 4.X. Biosecurity and 
the revision of Chapters 5.4., 5.5., 5.6. and 5.7. related to the measures and procedures app licable 
in the exportation, importation and transit of commodities. The Commission, in close collaboration 
with the Scientific Commission, agreed to start work to review the chapter on scrapie, five chapters 
related to horse encephalitides, and start work on the development of a new chapter on the 
implementation of zoning.  G/SPS/GEN/2204  
 
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  2.2  Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals  
2.10.   The Biological Standards Commission continued its ongoing work to ensure that chapters in 
the Terrestrial Manual  are up -to-date and are relevant in the face of important outbreaks of 
terrestrial animal diseases worldwide. The Commission circulated 13 updat ed disease chapters in its 
February 2024 report that will be proposed for adoption at the 91st General Session in May 2024, 
including updated or new vaccine sections for the chapters on lumpy skin disease and African swine 
fever, respectively.  
2.3  Aquatic Anim al Health Code  
2.11.   The Aquatic Animal Health Standards Commission continued its work to progress items on its 
work programme. The Commission will propose for adoption at the 91st General Session in May  2024, 
thirty -five revised texts of the Aquatic Code , notably the revision of Article X.X.3. of all amphibian, 
fish and mollusc disease -specific chapters and most crustacean disease -specific chapters, and the 
revision of Article X.X.2., susceptible species, for three disease -specific chapters, as well as the 
listing of infection with infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus species.  
2.12.   The Commission also progressed work on new and revised chapters that will be circulated for 
comments in its February 2024 report, including a discussion paper on the revision of  Chapter 4.3. 
Application of compartmentalisation and new chapters: Chapter 4.X. Emergency disease 
preparedness; Chapter 4.Y. Disease outbreak management; Chapter 4.Z. Control of pathogenic 
agents in traded milt and fertilized eggs of fish; and Chapter 5.X . Movement of ornamental aquatic 
animals.  
2.4  Manual of Diagnostic Tests for Aquatic Animals  
2.13.   The Aquatic Animals Commission continued its work to update and reformat the disease -
specific chapters of the Aquatic Manual  to ensure they provide current guidance. T he Commission 
will propose five comprehensively revised chapters (Chapter 2.2.2. Infection with 
Aphanomyces  astaci ; Chapter 2.2.6. Infection with Macrobrachium rosenbergii nodavirus ; 
Chapter  2.2.9. Infection with yellow head virus genotype 1; Chapter 2.4.1 . Infection with abalone 
herpesvirus; Chapter 2.4.4. Infection with Marteilia refringens ) for adoption in May 2024. One new 
Chapter 2.2.X. Infection with decapod iridescent virus 1 [DIV1] will also be proposed for adoption.  
3  WOAH STANDARDS ONLINE NAVIGATION  TOOL  
3.1.  WOAH has launched a project aimed at improving how WOAH Standards are displayed and 
made available to members and other users. The project will enhance the display of 
the Aquatic  Code, Terrestrial Code , Aquatic Manual  and Terrestrial Manual on the WO AH website. 
The project will also include a specific tool aimed at providing specific search functions for the 
visualisation of sanitary measures recommended for the international trade of commodities.  
3.2.  The project is aligned with WOAH's 7th Strategic Plan and will provide significant benefits for 
WOAH members , including enhanced accessibility to WOAH Standards and efficiency in information 
retrieval, supporting the implementation of WOAH Standards. The project will also bring benefits to 
the Organisation it self, by improving the efficiency of internal processes and the interoperability 
across various datasets related to WOAH Standards. The project is expected to be completed by 
July 2024.  
4  PROVISION OF SCIENTIFIC ADVICE TO THE WOAH AND ITS MEMBERS  
4.1.  The Directo r General establishes ad hoc Groups to provide specific technical and scientific 
advice required to support the work of the WOAH and the WOAH Specialist Commissions. WOAH 
publishes information on its website providing the dates and terms of reference of pr oposed ad hoc 
Groups as well as reports once these have been validated and considered by the relevant Specialist 
Commissions. This information is available on the WOAH website at: ad hoc Groups information . 
4.2.  Two permanent WOAH Working Groups, Wildlife and AMR, also provide specific technical and 
scientific advice required to support the work of WOAH and the WOAH Specialist Com missions. G/SPS/GEN/2204  
 
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  Information and report of these Working Groups is available on the WOAH website at: Working 
Groups & Reports: OIE - World Organisation for Animal Health . 
5  SELF -DECLARED DISEASE STATUS  
5.1.  In accordance with the provisions of the Terrestrial Code  or the Aquatic Code , WOAH members 
may wish to self -declare the freedom of their country, zone or  compartment from an OMSA listed 
disease. A member wishing to publish its self -declaration for disease -freedom, should provide the 
relevant documented evidence of compliance with the provisions of the relevant chapters of the 
Codes . WOAH screens any applic ations and considers them for publication in accordance with its 
Standard Operating Procedure . 
5.2.  All published self -declarations are avail able on the WOAH website at: Self-declared Disease 
Status - WOAH - World Organisation for Animal Health . 
6  OFFICIAL WOAH RECOGNITION OF ANIM AL HEALTH STATUS AND CONTROL 
PROGRAMMES OF MEMBERS  
6.1.  WOAH members can apply to be granted official recognition of animal health status for foot 
and mouth disease (FMD), African horse sickness (AHS), classical swine fever (CSF), contagious 
bovine pleuropneumo nia (CBPP), peste des petits ruminants (PPR) and bovine spongiform 
encephalopathy (BSE) risk status as well as the endorsement of official control programmes for 
CBPP, FMD, PPR and dog -mediated rabies.  
6.2.  The full list of countries and their recognised status for AHS, BSE, CBPP, CSF, FMD, and PPR 
can be accessed  on the WOAH website.  
7  MONITORING IMPLEMENTATION OF WOAH INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS – WOAH 
OBSERVATORY  
7.1.  The WOAH Observatory is delighted to announce that its first thematic study on zoning  
(regionali zation) was published in January 2024. Following a survey answered by 65% of its 
members , this doc ument shares a descriptive analysis of the use, challenges and impact of zoning 
for three priority diseases: avian influenza, African swine fever and foot and mouth disease. 
The report  is accompanied by a one-page executive summary . More in -depth analysis is ongoing to 
further explore th e factors influencing the acceptance of zones by trade partners; it should be 
published later in 2024.  
7.2.  The Observatory thematic studies collect and use new and existing data to provide a detailed 
understanding of the level of implementation of one or more standards and challenges WOAH 
members may face when implementing them. This allows WOAH to identify the specific needs of 
members and propose targeted recommendations to meet these. Two other topics are currently 
under study: the use, challenge and impact of compartmentalisation, and animal welfare during 
transport by land and by sea.  
7.3.  These thematic studies complete a regular monitoring report which provides a global 
perspective of members ' implementation of standards. The first report  was published in early 
January  2023. The second edition is expected early 2025 and will then be published every five years, 
coinciding with the preparation of WOAH 's five -year Strategic Plan.  
8  GLOBAL STRATEGY FOR PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF HPAI  
8.1.  WOAH in collaboration with FAO through the Global Framework for the Progressive Control of 
Transboundary Animal Diseases (GF -TADs) mechanism established a HPAI Task Force to initiate a 
revision of the Global strategy for prevention and control of HPAI, which was last updated in 
October  2008. The draft HPAI Global strategy (2024 to 2033) is currently undergoing a consultation 
and commenting process with WOAH members and stakeholders. Once finali zed, communication 
and launch options will be agreed and implemented by WOAH and FAO.  G/SPS/GEN/2204  
 
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  9  GLOBAL INITIATIVE FOR THE GLOBAL CONTROL OF AFRICAN SWINE FEVER  
9.1.  In January 2020, WOAH, in collaboration  with FAO under the Global Framework for the 
Progressive Control of Transboundary Animal Diseases (GF -TADs), launched a joint initiative for the 
Global Control of African Swine Fever (ASF GI) aimed at bringing stakeholders from multiple sectors 
together to  improve coordination and galvanise the sustained effort and political will needed for the 
global control of ASF. WOAH is also implementing a monitoring and evaluation framework to measure 
the progress of the ASF GI.  
9.2.  Important activities under the ASF GI include ongoing meetings of the regional Standing Group 
of Experts (SGE) in Africa , Europe  and Asia-Pacific  to enhance regional coordination of ASF control 
activities. To facilitate cooperation and dialogue across the SGE -ASF, the Global Coordination 
Committee for ASF was launc hed at the margins of the 90th General Session where priority areas 
were identified to guide future activities.  
9.3.  Noting the interest and use by countries of candidate vaccines for ASF, WOAH has drafted an 
international standard for the development and manufacture of safe and effective ASF vaccines 
which was circulated for comments in the Biological Standards Commission 's September 2023 
report. WOAH advocates for the importance of using only high -quality vaccines with proven efficacy 
and safety, which have been subject to regulatory evaluation and approval in accordance with WOAH 
international standards.  
10  ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE  
10.1.   As a complement to the eighth WOAH annual report on antimicrobial agents intended for use 
in animals , published in May 2023, WOAH carried out a survey among the 20% of WOAH members 
still using antimicrobials as growth promoters. Results suggest that 76% of them did not carry  out 
any preliminary risk analysis, despite this type of analysis being indicated in the Global Plan of Action 
on AMR , and the recommendations of WOAH 's list of Antimicrobials of Veterinary Importance . 
Of concern was that 11% of WOAH members still use as growth promoters at leas t one of the highest 
priority critically important antimicrobials for human medicine, such as colistin. Given these findings 
and the commitments made by WOAH members in 2016, WOAH released a statement  during the 
World AMR Awareness Week in November 2023, calling on its members to restrict t he use of 
antimicrobials solely to veterinary medical use, and to actively engage in dialogue with the concerned 
parties to achieve a total ban on the use of antimicrobials as growth promoters, starting with those 
that are critically important for human he alth. 
10.2.   WOAH has released the publication WOAH/FAO regional guidelines for monitoring 
Antimicrobial Use  at the farm level for the Asia and the Pacific Region. W OAH has also launched 
work to develop guidelines on monitoring antimicrobial use in aquaculture at field level, in line with 
WOAH standards with the final version expected to be published later in 2024.  
11  EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT  
11.1.   WOAH has been working jointly wi th INTERPOL and FAO to build national, regional, and 
international capacity in emergency management against all hazards. Initial findings have found that 
many countries do not have access to adequate resources to implement emergency response plans; 
in many  countries, cross government emergency management mechanisms do not include 
Veterinary Services; what is considered an emergency varies between countries depending on its 
level of development, livestock industry structure and if any export markets.  
11.2.   WOAH is  currently working on the development of an incident management system (IMS) to 
support WOAH HQ and regional/sub -regional representations with consistent, coherent, and optimal 
response to international emergencies that impact animal health. Once the IMS i s developed WOAH 
will develop guidance for WOAH members for the design and implementation of an IMS at national 
level.  
11.3.   WOAH continues to work on tools to support members with specific elements on biological 
threat reduction and guidance on how to manage misinformation and disinformation.  
11.4.   WOAH will be hosting a Global Conference on Biological Threat Reduction in November 2025.  G/SPS/GEN/2204  
 
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  12  THE PERFORMANCE OF VETERINARY SERVICES PATHWAY (PVS PATHWAY) FOR THE 
SUSTAINABLE IMPROVEMENT OF NATIONAL VETERINARY SERVICES  
12.1  PVS Information System  
12.1.   WOAH has launched the innovation PVS Information System (PVS IS) which will provide easy 
access to historical data and insights contained in PVS reports. For the first time WOAH is using 
natural language processing and machine learn ing, and a key result of this novel approach is insight 
into the most common recommendations, strengths, and weaknesses of the Veterinary Services 
across the globe.  
12.2.   WOAH has migrated all essential information from more than 210 PVS Evaluation and 
Follow -up Reports to its secure transactional database that allows for a systematic analysis of PVS 
trends.  
12.3.   From May 2024, all WOAH Delegates will have access to the newly developed PVS IS.  
12.2  PVS Pathway Impact Evaluation Survey  
12.4.   WOAH developed an evaluation survey to  assess the performance of the PVS Pathway 
Programme. Preliminary results show that 93% of Delegates surveyed were satisfied with the 
recommendations made in PVS Reports. Preliminary results can be accessed at PVS Pathway 
Recommendations Impact Evaluation . 
12.3  PVS Pathway during 2023  
12.5.   During 2023, the PVS Pathway Programme undertook 64 PVS activities, including a successful 
pilot of a newly developed methodology for specific ASF content; an increase in PVS Aquatic 
Evaluations or Follow -Up missions; Targeted Support programmes for Workforce Development; 
Public -Private -Partnerships; Vet erinary Paraprofessional curricula analysis missions and IHR -PVS 
National Bridging Workshops; and one rabies focused NBW was conducted.  
12.6.   More details can be found on the WOAH website at PVS Pathway . 
13  WOAH TRAINING PLATFORM: VETERINARY SERVICES COMPETENCIES FOR TRADE  
13.1.   In the ongoing development of the WOAH Competency -based Training Fram ework, progress 
has been made with the completion of the first of ten e -learning modules on the International Trade 
Regulatory Framework.  
13.2.   WOAH is also in the process of developing a framework for assessing the educational 
requirements of the global veterin ary workforce to ensure that WOAH trainings align with current 
needs and the strategic objectives of WOAH members that facilitate a systematic approach to 
enhance the capabilities of Veterinary Services worldwide.  
 
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