G/SPS/GEN/2157  
 
25 October 2023  
(23-7165) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
INFORMATION TO MEMBERS  
EMPOWERING LEARNING AND IMPACT: BTSF IN YOUR LANGUAGE  
COMMUNICATION FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION  
The following communication, received on 24 October 2023, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the European Union . 
 
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1. The European Union is hosting a hybrid SPS side event, " Empowering Learning and Impact: 
BTSF in your la nguage " which will be held on 14 November 2023 at 14:00 (CET), during 
which the European Commission will introduce its Better Training for Safer Food (BTSF) 
initiative, its impact, the BTSF ACADEMY, and multilingual options to access training materials 
from both face -to-face and eLearning courses.  
 
2. Better Training for Safer Food is a European Commission training initiative  to improve the 
knowledge and implementation of EU rules, taking into account international standards, 
covering food and feed safety, plant, animal, and human health. It also provides trainings on 
One Health, and animal welfare.  
 
3. Since it started in 2005 , BTSF has held over 3 ,000 training events and trained over 85,000 
participants. 20 % of BTSF activities are dedicated to non -EU activities.  
 
4. BTSF courses, available to competent authority officials, are a powerful tool for training 
regulators, and then disseminating that information to farmers, food and agricultural sector 
business operators, international agricultural development professionals, and other 
stakeholders.  
 
5. BTSF ACADEMY  is the European Commission 's single learning and information portal on BTSF 
training activities for competent authority staff and stakeholders in member States and non -EU 
countries with over 19,000 registered users. Here you can find relevant information on over 
120 thematic trainin g courses (eLearning, face -to-face courses, and virtual classrooms), 
training material ( BTSF library ), training providers and contact information. eLearning courses 
are hosted on the BTSF ACADEMY platform. There have been over 21,000 enrolments for 
eLearning since 2018, with a third originating in non -EU countries.  
 
6. BTSF face -to-face courses may be, depend ing upon topic, geared to officials from EU member 
States, non -EU countries, or a mixture of both. Officials may apply for face -to-face training 
through their BTSF National Contact Points  (NCPs) or their hierarchy if no NCP has been 
designated . All the training material from the face -to-face courses is available to officials for 
further learning and dissemination in multiling ual format on BTSF ACADEMY.   
 
7. BTSF also offers short duration sustained training missions, geared to an individual country 's 
needs, and developed in cooperation with European Commission and technical experts to 
address a specific topic e.g., developing re sidue monitoring or contingency plans.  
 G/SPS/GEN/2157  
 
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  8. There are 14 eLearning courses (more in development) on BTSF ACADEMY. To apply for a 
course, please use the BTSF eL earning application form  and select your choice of language.  
 
9. The event will give an overview of BTSF activities, highlighting the scope of training material 
available, its training impact, and offering a demonstration o n how to use the online resources 
and the multilingual  facilities in the ACADEMY.  
 
10. The European Commission welcomes th e opportunity to share more information about BTSF at 
the side event on 14 November.  
 
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