G/SPS/GEN/1845  
 
20 October 20 20 
(20-7249) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
SADC SECRETARIAT REPORT  ON SPS ACTIVITIES  
2020 REPORT TO THE WTO  COMMITTEE ON  SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES  
The follow ing communication, received on 16 October  2020, is being circulated at the request of the  
secretariat of the  Southern African Development Community  (SADC).  
 
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1  BACKGROUND  
1.  The Southern African Development Community (SADC) region consists of 16 member States 
namely Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswat ini, Lesotho , 
Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique , Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia 
and Zimbabwe. The region has a population of 345 million people and therefore has a high 
responsibility to meet the international sustainable development goals for the betterment of the lives 
of the people and to increase intra -SADC trade though the application of appropriate international 
standards.  
2  THE SADC SPS COORDINATING COMMITTEE  
2.  The SADC SPS Coordinating Committee is established by Article 14 of the SPS Annex on the 
SADC Protocol on Trade. The SADC SPS Coordinating Committee met in the fourth quarter of 2019 
with the support of the SADC -EU Trade Facilitation Program and the SADC Regional Office of the 
Food and Agriculture Organisation. The technical committees for plant protection, for animal health 
and for food safety met to deliberate on regional issues of interest to each subject matter.  
3  THE PL ANT PROTECTION TECHNICAL COMMITTEE  
3.  The Plant Protection Technical Committee resolved on the following:  
a. Member States to create awareness on the IPPC Strategic Plant Health Framework;  
b. Member States to align national work plans with the IPPC Strategic Plant Health Framework;  
c. Member States were encouraged to regularly check the IPPC website and  make comments 
on documents requiring attention;  
d. Member States should comply with import regulat ions when sending samples to Centres of 
Excellence;  
e. Member States requested that SADC mobilize the Committee of Ministers of Trade to 
encourage them  to support the institutionalisation of the National SPS Committee through 
dedicating resources to it;  
f. That activities of successor programmes and projects should build on regional initiatives that 
have started rather than starting from scratch,  and therefore continue with what was  already  
being done in preceding programmes e.g. regional pest lists; and  
g. The meet ing requested that other pests should also be included on the regional priority pest 
list so that they are also paid some attention e.g.  false codling moth  (FCM). 
4  THE ANIMAL HEALTH TECHNICAL COMMITTEE  
4.  The Animal Health Technical Committee resolved on the following:  G/SPS/GEN/1845  
 
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  a. The implementation o f the STOSAR1 project must be accelerated in order for the region to 
benefit from its positive outcomes;  
b. Member States should validate the rabies strategy and start its implementation;  
c. Member States require support for t heir disease surveillance activities and maintenance of 
their disease -free status;  
d. There is a necessity for annual animal disease information -sharing sessions for SADC 
member States to be followed by the publication of the SADC Animal Health Yearbook; and  
e. The upgrade of the Livestock Information Management System ( LIMS) and its intended 
integration into the Agricultural Information Management System ( AIMS) must be preceded 
by a comprehensive needs  assessment in the member States to allow  for their input.  
5  THE FOOD SAFETY TECHNICAL COMMITTEE  
5.  The Food Safety Technical Committee resolved on the following:  
a. SADC member States need technical assistance on the development of national food safety 
policies and the development of food safety laws;  
b. Reiterated the point raised in the Plant Protection Technical Committee on the need for 
member States to be assisted with the general formulation of how a national SPS committee 
must be composed and how it needs to be operated ; and  
c. Member States ' need for technical assistance on how to handle the influx of food 
supplements which the Ministry of Health or the Nutrition Organisation do not know how to 
categorize and control. This challenge extends to imported food commodities that are 
donated in res ponse to natural disasters in the member States.  
6  THE SADC -EU TRADE RELATED FACILITY  
6.  The SADC -EU Trade Related Facility which is aimed at strengthening the SPS systems at the 
national level will close in the first quarter of 2021. Twelve ( 12) member States  are implementing 
activities related to the SPS and TBT intervention areas.  The main activities under SPS involve: 
(1) capacity -building for WTO notification structures; (2) preparation of Pest Risk Registers; 
(3) automation of databases related to plant an d animal diseases; and (4) upgrading of facilities for 
managing food safety, animal health and plant protection.  The Secretariat  TBT/SPS Unit  has 
provided the technical expertise in the review  of terms of reference for the  engagement of technical 
experts to develop legislation, IT systems, and to conduct capacity building.  Information on regional 
and international experts on SPS issues has also been pro ffered to member States . 
7.  In the area of SPS, substantial progress has be en made in several  member States in achieving 
some of the desired outputs, especially on capacity -building, development of regulations and 
procurement of equipment to refurbish the  SPS laboratories.  There has been notable success in  
Eswatini, Lesotho, Moza mbique, Namibia, Tanzania (equipment only), Zambia and Zimbabwe  
(systems and equipment) . Other member States have been slow in leveraging the program due to 
project administrative challenges.   
8.  Like in other regions of the world, the SADC programs have been  affected by the need to adjust 
to the new mode of operation brought about by the need for social distancing. It has taken a while 
to fully switch to the virtual mode of operation as there was the initial thought that the current 
pandemic would be temporar y. The activities under the Trade -Related Facility were the hardest hit 
as member States were still hoping to use the final semester of the program to do a final sprint on 
their projects. It is envisaged that most service providers will have acquired the t echnology to 
remotely provide their services.  
Report by: Lomkhosi Mkhonta -Gama (PhD Chemistry ) 
SADC Senior Programme Officer -Technical Barriers to Trade  
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1 "Support towards operationalization of the SADC Regional Agricultural Policy " (STOSAR).