G/SPS/GEN/2174  
 
14 November  2023 
(23-7673) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
  
SADC SECRETARIAT REPORT  ON SPS ACTIVITIES  
SADC REPORT TO THE WTO  COMMITTEE ON  SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES  
The follow ing communication, received on 14 November  2023, is being circulated at the request of 
the secretariat of the  Southern African Development Community  (SADC).  
 
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1  BACKGROUND  
1.1.  The Southern African Development Community (SADC) region consists of 16 member States 
namely Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho , 
Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique , Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia 
and Zimbabwe. The region has a population of 3 63 million people and therefore has a high 
responsibility to meet the international sustainable development goals for the betterment of the lives 
of the people  through safe  intra-SADC and international trade th rough the application of relevant  
international standards.  
1.2.  To reduce the risks associated with the movement food and agro -products without und uly 
restricting regional or international trade, the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Annex to the 
Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Trade allows SADC member States 
to adopt harmoni zed or scientifically justified SPS measures. This  is in line with the implementation 
of the requirements of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on the Application of 
SPS Measures , the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), the World Organi sation for 
Animal Health ( WOAH ) and the Codex A limentarius Commission (CAC).  
2  UPDATES ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SPS ANNEX TO THE SADC PROTOCOL ON 
TRADE  
2.1  SADC SPS Coordinating Committee  
2.1.  The SADC SPS Coordinating Committee is established by Article 14 of the SPS Annex to the 
SADC Protocol on Trade . However , this body has not met physically in the last five years due, in 
part, to the travel restrictions imposed by the COVID -19 pandemic and funding constraints. The  body 
is mandated under the SPS Annex to the SADC Trade protocol to report on SPS -related non -tariff 
barriers; the implementation of the Tripartite  Free Trade Area; the African Continental Free Trade 
Area; and the implementation of regional activities of WOAH  and FAO aimed at facilitating safe trade.  
2.2.  The SADC secretariat  managed to secure partial funding from the African Union to support a 
meeting of  the Food Safety Subcommittee of the SADC SPS Coordinating Committee, convened in 
Lusaka, Zambia in October 2023 to continue the coordination work in the field of food safety.  The 
meeting was attended by representatives of food safety focal points and the private sector in 13 of 
the 16 SADC member States. At the meeting two validation workshops were held to receive the 
work of short term experts dealing with Guidelines for the harmonization of SPS measures by SADC 
member States as they relate to food safety , and a Framework/Guidelines for imported products at 
the point of inspection (POI) sampling on -site resolution of trade barriers at ports of entry , 
respectively.  G/SPS/GEN/2174  
 
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  2.2  Transparency  
2.3.  The SADC secretariat is in the process of developing a database for non –tariff m easures 
(NTMs). It is often difficult and costly to find the NTMs of some member States whose trading 
partners might desire to access their market. Thus, the collection and classification of national NTMs 
into a database would provide an open and systemati c source of information for trading partners. 
The database would give information on each SADC member State in terms of the product category, 
associated regulations and conformity assessment requirements. It would also help a member State 
to use this colle ction of information to formulate important national strategies that will assist them 
in measuring if they are meeting their obligations under the United Nations' Sustainable 
Development Goals as well as WTO SPS Agreement transparency provisions.  The syste m was 
successfully piloted in five SADC member States in 2023 with full implementation planned for the 
latter half of the financial year.  
The SADC secretariat is facilitating resolution of online reported NTBs and the establishment and 
capacity development of National Focal Points (NFPs) is being supported as part of the development 
programmes mentioned in 3.1. below.  (https://www.tradebarriers.org/about ). Curren tly there are 
no active unresolved SPS-related NTBs.  
 
3  UPDATES ON SPS-RELATED DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES  
3.1  The SADC -EU Trade Facilitation Programme  (TFP)  
3.1.  The TFP addresses regional implementation issues in the areas of Technical Barriers to Trade 
(TBT) and Sanita ry and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures; Customs technical assistance support; and 
the EU -SADC Economic Partnership Agreement (EPAs). The Programme supports implementation of 
activities under these areas in order to improve free movement of goods within the SA DC Free Trade 
Area while at the same time reducing the cost of doing business. It also ensures that goods from 
the SADC region are traded competitively in the global market. In the last six months , the TFP has 
commissioned successfully concluded studies an d several short-term activities  of interest to 
SPS matters,  which include: the prioritization of standards and technical regulation s with the 
associated conformity assessment requirements for regional harmonization in the advent of the 
operationalization of the Africa Free Trade Area; the investigation of the standards and conformity 
assessment needs along key SADC economic corridors ( notably work on Fisheries and Aquaculture 
related standards and regulations)  and the development of  model regulations for possible alignment 
of the technical regulations required to support his fledgling industry ; the training of small -scale 
famers and far mer organisations  on SPS compliance to animal health related measures; training of 
medium and small enterprises and business development organisations on the identification,  
monitoring and resolving of non -tariff barriers to trade (NTBs) , and the establish ment of national 
focal points and information centres in all SADC member States. Work was also well advanced in the 
development of good regulatory practice with particular focus on SPS  measures by developing 
capacity in regulatory impact assessment and dev eloping a common, systematic approach to the 
development of necessary non -tariff measures to achieve regulatory objectives and a systematic 
approach to measuring and monitoring these measures to prevent them from becoming unintended 
barriers to trade.  
3.2.  Short term experts have been engaged for assignments in the next six months to train 
competent authorities in food safety, animal health and plant protection on the application of a 
scientific, risk -based approach to the implementation of protection measures o ften required to 
achieve their mandated objectives; the training of small scale farmers and food producers on the 
need for, and compliance to, food safety measures when accessing international markets; the 
development of and implementation of a common appr oach to the recognition of food safety 
certificates in support of intra -regional trade, and training for National Notification Authorities and 
national focal points with respect to their transparency obligations under the WTO SPS agreement 
and other region al and international trade agreements applicable to SADC member States.  
Report by: Dr. Geoff Visser  
SADC Key Expert on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  
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