G/SPS/GEN/1889  
 
11 March  2021 
(21-2043) Page: 1/3 
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 10 March  2021, 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 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 through safe  intra-SADC and international trade th rough the application of relevant  
international standards.  
1.2.  Plant pests and animal diseases can inadvertently be transported along with commodi ties 
thereby threatening the agricultural production and environment of the importing country. Food and 
feed may be contaminated with pesticide residues or other chemical toxins. To reduce these risks 
without unduly restricting regional or international tr ade in food and agro -products, 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 th e implementation of the requirements of the World Trade Organization (WTO) 
Agreement on the Application of SPS Measures, International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), 
World Organi sation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC ). 
2  UPDATES ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SPS ANNEX 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 on the 
SADC Protocol on Trade. The annual meeting of the SADC SPS Coordinating Committee held in 
March  2021 was attended by : SADC member States ; the Southern Africa Sub -Regional Office of the 
Food and Agriculture Organisation ; the Sub -Regional Office of the World Organisation for Animal 
Health (OIE) ; and CAB Internationa l. The meeting deliberated on reported 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 OIE and FAO aimed at facilitating safe t rade. 
2.2  Harmoni zation of SPS measures  
2.2.  The SADC secretariat , in collaboration with regional Centres of Excellence , is facilitating the 
development of harmoni zed pest management strategies focusing on fruit flies, Maize Lethal 
Necrosis Disease (MLND), Tomato Leaf minor ( Tuta absoluta ), Banana Fusarium Disease (Foc TR4) 
and Fall Armyworm (FAW). The following are the centres of excellence: Eduardo Mondlane University 
(Mozambique) – Fruit flies; Agriculture Research Council (South Africa) – MLND, FAW and T omato 
Leaf minor; and Stellenbosch University (South Africa) – Foc TR4. The centres of excellence have 
conducted pest diagnostic training on the respective plant pests.  G/SPS/GEN/1889  
 
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  2.3.  Furthermore, for animal health, SADC secretariat is working with two Centres of Excelle nce, 
CIRAD and University of Pretoria to review and update SADC regional animal disease management 
strategies and align them with global strategies. The prioritised diseases are Foot and Mouth Disease 
(FMD), Peste des Petits Ruminants  (PPR) and Highly Path ogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). The Centres 
of Excellence are also providing confirmatory diagnostic services for FMD, PPR and HPAI, and training 
of experts from member States, and facilitating accreditation of selected national diagnostic 
laboratories, cou ntries will be facilitated to conduct national trainings on diagnostic skills.  
2.3  Transparency  
2.4.  The SADC secretariat is in the process of developing a database for non –tariff measures 
(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 systematic 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 collection of information to formulate important national strategies that will assist the m 
in measuring if they are meeting their obligations under the United Nations ' Sustainable 
Development Goals as well as WTO SPS Agreement transparency provisions.  
2.5.  SADC secretariat urges member States to notify any changes in their SPS measures to enhance 
facilitation of safe cross border trade in food and agro -products.  
2.4  Specific Trade Concerns  
2.6.  The SADC secretariat is facilitating resolution of online  reported NTBs  
(https://www.tradebarriers.org/about ). Currently there are three active SPS -related NTBs.  
3  UPDATES ON SPS RELATED EU SUPPORTED PROGRAMMES  
3.1  The SADC -EU Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP)  
3.1.  The programme focuses its attention on the SADC Protocols on Trade and Trade in Services to 
support implementat ion of the EU -SADC Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). The TFP addresses 
regional implementation issues in the areas of Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and Sanitary 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 SADC Free Trade Area while at the 
same time reducing the cost of doing business. It also ens ures that goods from the SADC region are 
traded competitively in the global market. In the current  financial year, the  TFP has commissioned 
studies several activities  which include the development of a regional database on TBT and 
SPS-related non -tariff me asures; the prioritization of standards and technical regulation  with the 
associated conformity assessment requirements for regional harmonization in the advent of the 
operationalization of the Africa Free Trade Area, as well as the investigation of the st andards and 
conformity assessment needs along key SADC economic corridors. The training of small -scale famers 
on SPS compliance and the capacity building of laboratory staff on the main conformity assessment 
standards will also be delivered to enhance the regional awareness of the global SPS  requirements 
and to promote mutual acceptance of conformity assessment results between SADC member States.  
3.2  Project on the Support Towards Operationalisation of the SADC Regional Agricultural 
Policy (STOSAR)  
3.2.  The goal of STOSAR is to support implementation of the SADC Regional Agricultural Policy for 
improved production, productivity, competitiveness, food and nutrition security and agro -industry 
development. It is envisioned that meeting the objectives of this project wil l result in the 
development of trade opportunities and competitiveness of animals, animal products, plants and 
plant products in regional and international trade, as well as food and nutrition security in all member 
States in the SADC region. The STOSAR Pr oject has also supported the development of regional pest 
and disease management strategies.  G/SPS/GEN/1889  
 
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  3.3  The SADC -EU Trade Related Facility (TRF)  
3.3.  The TRF aims to improve the participation of SADC member States in SADC regional integration 
activities in order to improv e intra -SADC and international trade so as to contribute to sustainable 
development in the region. Currently 12 member States , namely Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, 
Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe , are implementing 
TRF activities on SPS issues, largely aimed at enhancing their policy and regulatory frameworks as 
well as developing requisite institutional and technical capacities to effectively implement the 
SPS measures which will ensure that imports and exports from the region meet the required quality 
standards.  
3.4.  The contribution of SADC member States to the sub -regional, Tripartite, Continental and 
international SPS agendas would greatly benefit from the formalization and adequate resourcing of 
national SPS committee s, which is an area that still needs considerable attention and is highly 
prioritized.  
Report by: Mr. Chiluba Mwape  
SADC Key Expert on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  
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