G/SPS/GEN/1574  
 
3 October  2017 
(17-5309) Page: 1/5 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
 
OUTLOOK ON ECOWAS IM PLEMENTED SANITARY A ND PHYTOSANITARY ACT IVITIES 
DURING THE PERIOD OF  JULY -OCTOBER 2017  
COMMUNICATION FROM E COWAS -USAID SENIOR SANITAR Y AND PHYTOSANITARY (SPS)  
STANDARDS ADVISOR  AND ECOWAS HEAD OF LIVES TOCK DEVELOPMENT  
The followi ng communication, received on 29 September  2017, is being circulated at the request 
of the Economic Community of West African States  (ECOWAS) . 
 
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1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  The USAID/W est Africa Regional Mission works to support the Economic Community of West 
African States (ECOWAS) to advance their vision to create an economic union and common 
market. In line with this objective ECOWAS is implementing many agreements designed to suppor t 
the free movement of goods and people throughout the region. In standards, a USAID/West 
Africa: Cost Reimbursement Implementation Letter no 2 was signed between CILSS and 
USAID/West Africa. Through this agreement there will be a focus on Sanitary and  Phytosanitary 
(SPS) standards.  
1.2.  With reference to the approved 2017 work plan and in view of improving and strengthening 
SPS activities in the ECOWAS region , the following activities were implemented during the period 
of July -October 2017 . 
2  PLANT HEALTH AND PLA NT PROTECTION  
2.1.  As a follow -up to the regional meeting held from 6 -7 June 2017 to develop a West Africa 
(ECOWAS) comprehensive plant pest and disease prevention, surveillance and mitigation 
Framework that was validated by all stakeholders, and with the suppo rt of USDA -APHIS, bureau of 
Dakar, Senegal, a regional meeting was held from 7 -8 August 2017 to establish a Regional 
Taskforce for Surveillance, Prevention and Control of Crop Pests. The composition, organigramme, 
objectives and missions of the regional Ta skforce (RTAF) are as following:  
 Composition  
o NPPOs of the 15 member States of ECOWAS;  
o Regional re search and capacity building institutions (CABI, CORAF, IITA, CILSS 
(INSHA, CSP), FARA, AGRA);  
o Technical and financial partners (CEDEAO -UEMOA , FAO, USAID, USDA, World 
Bank, EU, WHO, ICIPE);  
o Regional farmers organization (ROPPA);  
o Private sector (CropLife); and  
o Each member State shall establish a  national taskforce : NPPO, national extension 
services, national research institutes, financial and technical partners, farmers 
organization, private sector . G/SPS/GEN/1574  
 
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   Organigramme  
 
 
TFP = Technical and Financial Partners  
 Objective  
o Contribute to the strengthening of the community phytosanitary system against 
the negative impact on agricultural crops production an d trade . 
 Missions  
o Develop a synergy between national phytosanitary risk prevention mechanisms 
measures in the Community ; 
o Promote appropriate methods of control, best practices ; 
o Facilitate capacity -building activities of member States in the areas of preven tion, 
surveillance and control ; 
o Conduct monitoring and evaluation of actions ; 
o Ensure communication and information sharing within space . 
3  FOOD SAFETY AND CAPA CITY BUILDING  
3.1  First ECOWAS member States capacity strengthening on Codex related activities  
3.1.  In view  of strengthening national food safety and quality system s, National Codex Contact 
Points were  appointed and in -country SPS committees were created in ECOWAS member States 
through the support of previous projects , including the PanAfrican Standards Setting  project led by 
African Union -Interafrican Bureau for  Animal Resources (AU -IBAR) with the support of the 
European Union. Further, the Codex Trust Fund (CTF) was created in 2003 to enhance Codex 
members physical participation in Codex meetings and build in -country capacity.  
3.2.  The phase 1 of the CTF contributed immensely to widening and strengthening participation of 
developing and transition countries in the work of Codex and helped improve awareness of Codex  
in most beneficiary countries.  
3.3.  Based on the success es of CTF1, the CTF secretariat launched CTF2. Globally, the secretariat 
received 41 applications through the on -line system by deadl ine of 3 May 2016. 38 out of 
41 applications were accepted after meeting pre -screening criteria. Therefore, 38 (24 from Afr ica 
region) applications were sent to FAO/WHO Regional Food Safety Advisors for comments ; 
thereafter they were submitted to the Technic al Review Group for assessment.  
3.4.  It was noticed that many ECOWAS member States were not able to apply for the first round 
of application due to many reasons , including the application process, difficulties in conducting 
ECOWAS -UEMOA
Department Industry and Private Sector Promotion & 
Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
ECOWAS -UEMOA
Executive Secretariat
RTAF
Regional farmers 
organizationsRegional Research and 
Capacity building 
InstitutionsNPPOs 15 MS Private sector
TFPG/SPS/GEN/1574  
 
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  national consultation and scientific assessment and be able to fill the application form. Most 
importantly, the low rate of success is mostly due to the lack of real and functional national Codex 
structures in Africa in general and in ECOWAS m ember countries in particular.  
3.5.  After the first round of application it was observed that only two (13.33%) countries from the 
ECOWAS region namely Senegal and Ghana were s uccessful. H ence, they benefited from the 
funds.  
3.6.  At the last Codex Alimentarius Commission meeting held from 17-22 July 2017 in Geneva, a 
progress report of the first year implementation of the activities was presented by delegates from 
Senegal and Ghana. Both countries presented success stories that need to be capitalized and 
information shared between member States and other relevant stakeholders.  
3.7.  Furthermore, one of the cardinal pillars for effective participation in Codex is to establish 
strong national  Codex structures such as a functional Codex Contact Point (CCP), a National Codex 
Committee (NCC), a consultation mechanism for engaging stakeholders on Codex issues, etc. 
Strong national Codex structures are necessary for presenting coordinated and unifi ed regional 
positions on Codex issues.  
3.8.  In 2015, a Food Safety Actors Network in ECOWAS countr ies to develop synergy of actions in 
the field to better protect the interests of member countries was created. An interim committee 
was established to coordinate activities as follows: Chairman (Sene gal); Vice -chairman (Nigeria); 
two secretariat : Secretary general (Ghana) and Deputy secretary (Benin).  
3.9.  However, it was observed that since creation the coordination unit and the network have not 
been functional. There were no coordination meetings held, no up to date activities conducted, no 
feedba ck to members regarding status.  
3.10.   It is in view of addressing the above gaps that a regional capacity building workshop was 
held from 11 -15 September 2017 in Banjul, The Gambia.  The o bjectives of this workshop are:  
 To capitalize success stories of 1st year implementation of CTF2 activities in Ghana and 
Senegal;  
 To share information and lessons learnt among member States;  
 To build capacity of member States in order to submit a ban kable CTF2 application ; 
 To review activities of the national codex committees as well as the food safety actors 
network ; 
 To identify challenges faced by the food safety actors network ; 
 To define strategy to alle viate the identified challenges; and  
 To defin e mechanism for financing an d sustainability of the network.  
3.11.   At the end of this workshop, the following were achieved:  
 Success stories of first year implementation of Codex Trust Fund 2 (CTF2) activities in 
Ghana and Senegal documented;  
 Information and lessons learnt shared among member States;  
 Capacity of member States built to have a bankable CTF2 application submitted before 
the deadline of 15 October 2017 ; 
 Member States committed to submit online appl ication before the set deadline;  
 Applications for the National Codex activities as well as for the food safety actors network 
reviewed ; 
 Food safety actors network revitalized and coordination bureau confirmed with clear 
activities to be implemented in the short term as following:  
o the transmission of o fficial correspondence to the ECOWAS Commission for  the 
recognition of the network;  
o the necessary support to countries for the submission of appl ications to the CTF2;  
o the development of t he statute texts of the network;  
o the proposal of a road map presentin g the activities of the bureau.  G/SPS/GEN/1574  
 
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  3.2  Joint trade Africa border inspection workshop  
3.12.   Further, in the framework of Trade Africa initiative, USDA -FAS is providing technical 
expertise to the government of C ôte d'Ivoire to support buildin g capacity to implement the 
WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and to 
strengthen Côte d'Ivoire 's SPS regime. Supported activities include the "Phytosanitary Border 
Control Protocols Project (PBCP)" . Through its PASA with USAID, USDA -FAS also developed a 2017 
West Africa Work Plan to help West Africa countries develop and implement harmonized 
phytosanitary border procedures, including risk -based inspection protocols, pest identification, 
border operations, etc. It is in line with the objectives  of this framework that a joint FAS/APHIS 
regional training workshop on "Practical tools and procedures for Phytosanitary Inspection and 
Sampling for Pest detection and Introduction to basic tools for Pest Identification " was held from 
28-31 August 2017 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire . 
3.13.   The main objective was to strengthen the capacity of inspectors and phytosanitary 
departments with focus on border inspection. Specifically, the training workshop aim ed to build 
capacities on practical tools for plants and p lant products inspection, sampling procedures and pest 
identification, to help promote plant quarantine operations and safe trade of plants and plant 
products in West Africa and beyond.  
3.14.   Fourty NPPOs were trained and capacitated to conduct proper plants and  plant products 
inspection at borders. It shall be noted that key recom mendations were made including:  
 To member States: Harmonize regulatory texts; strengthen and build human capacity, 
material, logistics, infrastructures, and financial resources; support  specialization  of plant 
protection personnel;  
 To ECOWAS and UEMOA Commissions: Support member States in harmonizing 
regulatory texts particularly the list of quarantine and non -quarantine pests; support 
member States in capacity -building initiatives for i nspectors and ensure refresher 
training; organize frequent experience and success stories sharing sessions between 
inspectors; in collaboration and with the support of technical and financial partners train 
and equip plant health inspectors on inspection a nd sampling procedures; updating and 
making available to the inspectors the lists of regulated and quarantine pests; proposing 
a simple hygro -metric of ISPM 31 table in relation to the determination of the sample 
size; equip border inspection posts with th e adequate phytosanitary inspection 
equipment; develop formal frameworks between government and univers ities for pest 
identification.  
4  ANIMAL HEALTH AND SA NITARY STANDARDS  
4.1.  The extensive transhumant animal production systems in the ECOWAS region pose major 
challenges to efforts in the prevention and control of transbound ary animal diseases (TADs). 
The European Union funded veterinary governance (VETGOV) project that was implemented by the 
African Union -Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) and E COWAS supported the  
review of the ECOWAS regulation on disease prevention and control. Animal health management 
has been organized with the establishment of regional epidemiological surveillance (RESEPI) 
network, and veterinary laboratory (RESOLAB) network  to boost disease prevention and control. 
The annual animal health network workshop aims at reviewing animal disease control strategies 
and peer review among ECOWAS member States. ECOWAS funded the assessment of its two 
regional veterinary laboratories to enable supporting needed improvement for effe ctive animal 
disease diagnosis.  
4.2.  The annual workshop of the Regional Veterinary Committee (RVC) established as provided 
under the ECOWAS harmonized SPS regulations, aimed at reviewing progress of member States 
on the implementation of the regulations, peer review, and proffer solutions to challenges faced on 
the front. The implementation of the harmonized regulations of veterinary drugs has been a 
challenge. The institutional arrangements differ in the English, Fr ench, and Portuguese speaking 
member States. ECOWAS funded a study to understand the differences and make the following 
recommendations for alignment  of the implementation agencies:  (i) to strengthen institutional 
arrangements that will enable the seamless  implementation of the harmonized SPS regulations in 
non-francophone ECOWAS member States;  (ii) to encourage a review of outdated laws in the 
member States to align with the ECOWAS harmonized regulations with regards to authorized G/SPS/GEN/1574  
 
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  enforcement agencies;  (iii) to provide continuing training on sanit ary measures to producers; 
(iv) to develop policy briefs and sensitize decision makers on the need to support sanitary 
standards for trade ; (v) to advocate for needed political support in member States to ensure 
implementation of regulations. The study has been concluded and submitted to ECOWAS for 
further action including funding mechanism for implementat ion. 
5  ATTENDANCE AT R EGIONAL, INTERNATION AL SPS FORA  
5.1.  The ECOWAS Commission were represented at regional and in ternational meetings including:  
 SPS Committee meeting of the World Trade Organization, Geneva, 11 -14 July 2017 ; 
 40th session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission meeting held from 17 -22 July in 
Geneva ; 
 Participation to the workshop on transparency organized b y the WTO -SPS Committee 
from 30 -31 October 2017 in Geneva as well as to the WTO -SPS Committee meeting from 
1-3 November 2017 ; 
 Participation to the Codex Committee on Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (CCFFV) meeting to 
be held from 2 -6 October 2017 in Kampala, Uganda; and  
 Participation to the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) meeting to be held from 
13-17 November 2017 in Ch icago, United States of America.  
6  CONCLUSION AND WAY F ORWARD  
6.1.  The ECOWAS Commission take this opportunity to thank USAID, USDA, USDA -APHIS  and all 
partners and donors for their support in advancing SPS issues in the region and beyond , and  call 
for more collaboration and  support for the implementation of actions to better addr ess 
SPS matters in the region.  
 
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