G/SPS/GEN/1659  
 
26 October 2018 
(18-6736) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
INFORMATION ON SPS A CTIVITIES OF THE AFR ICAN UNION COMMISSION  
 
The following submission , received on 26 October  2018, is being circulated at the request of the 
African  Union . 
 
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1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  The sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) activities at the African Union Commission have been 
driven from the agriculture front on the need to safeguard human, animal or plant life or health and 
from the trade front on the need to eliminate non -tariff barriers (NTBs) to trade arising from t he 
implementation of SPS measures. The African Union Commission supports, SPS initiatives and work 
at the national and Regional Economic Community (REC) level.  
2  AGRICULTURE  
2.1.  Cognizant of the challenges and opportunities of agriculture and its positive contri bution to 
economic transformation on the African Continent, African Union (AU) leaders adopted the 
Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) in the Maputo Declaration in 
2003. CAADP remains Africa 's policy framework for agriculture an d agriculture -led development and 
was specially formulated to stimulate the necessary reforms in the agriculture sector and bring 
agriculture to bear on the socio -economic  growth and sustainable development.  
2.2.  Central to the success of Africa 's agricultural development strategies is the ability of member 
States to meet sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards for both the assurance of food safety, 
plant and animal life or health, as well as market access. Amongst the seven Malabo thematic areas 
of performan ce commitment was "Boosting intra -African trade in agricultural commodities and 
services ". 
3  THE AFRICAN CONTINEN TAL FREE TRADE AREA  
3.1.  The Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community (also referred to as the Abuja Treaty 
of 1991) envisaged several stage s of integration including formation of a continental free trade area 
and customs union as steps towards realization of full African economic integration. With this in 
mind, African Ministers of Trade at their meeting in December 2014 called upon the Afric an Union 
Commission (AUC) and Pan African Quality Infrastructure (PAQI) institutions to assess the status of 
Quality Infrastructure in Africa. The purpose was to give a summarized and easy to understand 
picture of where African countries stand in terms of their capacity to implement standards/measures 
for safety, agricultural and industrial development and market access. This was re -emphasized at 
the start of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) negotiations where cooperation in the 
area of stan dards and addressing NTBs was identified as important for the successful implementation 
of the hist oric free trade area agreement.  
3.2.  Under the leadership of the AUC Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Pan African 
Quality Infrastructure (PAQI) secretariat an assessment of the standardization, metrology and 
accreditation capacities of African countries was carried out i n 2014 and updated in 2017. 
The findings are captured in a report named PAQI Stocktaking Document for Technical Barriers to G/SPS/GEN/1659  
 
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  Trade (TB T) which was a useful reference for the TBT situational analysis in Africa at the start of 
AfCFTA negotiations. The report c an be accessed at http://www.paqi.org . 
3.3.  A similar exercise is now being undertaken for SPS measur es and has been tuned to respond 
to the requirements of the AfCFTA Protocol on Trade in Goods Annex on SPS measures. AU member 
States capacity to meet the SPS Measures Annex requirements will be assessed and scored against 
a set of pre -determined indicator s. This will enable policy makers and development partners to see 
at a glance where SPS capacity gaps exist and to accurately direct investments to achieve the 
necessary corrective capacity development measures. The assessment will cover the legislative 
framework; capacity to conduct risk a ssessment on human health for setting or updating SPS 
measures; capacity to conduct risk assessment on animal health for setting or updating sanitary 
measures; capacity to conduct risk assessment on plant health for setti ng or updating phytosanitary 
measures; capacity to implement the concept of regionalization; equivalence ; harmonization 
(phytosanitary standards); harmonization (sanitary standards); harmonization (sanitary and 
phytosanitary standards); audit and verification; inspection; transparency; and em ergency 
procedures.  
3.4.  This work is being led by the Pan African Quality Infrastructure secretariat and the AUC 
Department of Trade and Industry in collaboration with the Department of Rural Economy and 
Agricu lture (DREA) and its Technical Offices; the African Union Inter -African Bureau for Animal 
Resources (AU -IBAR) and the Inter Africa Phytosanitary Council (IAPSC) , including the programme 
addressing aflatoxin, the Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA), and other organizations 
dealing with SPS issues on the continent including  the Codex Committee for Africa . The work is 
expected to be concluded in early 2019.  
3.5.  The SPS stocktaking outcomes are expected to inform the development of an AU Continental 
SPS Policy framework that was requested by the AU Specialized Technical Committee on Agriculture, 
Rural Development, Water and Environment 2nd ordinary session of October 2017. The policy 
framework will help to facilitate harmonization of AU member States SPS policy framework in general 
and to inform the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the expected establishment of 
a Pan African Food Safety Laboratory.  
4  COORDINATING FALL AR MYWORM MANAGEMENT IN  AFRICA  
4.1.  The voracious fall armyworm ( Spodoptera f rugiperda ), first formally reported in Africa in 
January 2016, has since been reported in 44 countries in February 2018. It is a pest that poses a 
serious threat to the food security and livelihoods of millions of African smallholders and their 
families. T he pest also poses a serious threat to the achievement of goals that African countries have 
committed to, in the CAADP Malabo Declaration of halving poverty by 2025 and the 2030 agenda of 
Sustainable Development Goals. Africa needs a strong and a coordinat ed response for effective 
action to address the outbreak of fall armyworm.  
4.2.  The main challenge currently is inadequate early warning systems in many countries. For the 
common pest outbreaks, farmers rely heavily on the use of agrochemicals , particularly pes ticides, 
which result in increased production cost and negative impact on public health and the environment. 
In addition, intensive pesticide use increases the risk of pesticide residue s in the produce, thus 
conceding competitiveness of Africa' s agricultur al products in the regional and global trade. 
Moreover, increased trade and mobility of people increases the probability of pest introduction in 
new areas , more so with the relatively weak national plant protection and quarantine services in 
many African c ountries.  
4.3.  The African Union Commission is taking policy and political leadership and working with 
partners (USAID, CIMMYT, ICIPE, IITA etc.) to raise awareness at the highest policy -making level. 
The fall armyworm challenge has been a rolling agenda item f or discussion for the AU  2018 January 
and July Summits.  
4.4.  The African Union and the FAO are currently implementing a Technical Cooperation Project 
(TCP) on reinforcing plant health governance in Africa through coordinated management of the fall 
armyworm . The  TCP is supporting the development of a coordinated early warning and rapid 
response systems at national and regional levels and to address technical capacity gaps. It will also 
help to strengthen phytosanitary systems further, given the FAO 's comparative advantages G/SPS/GEN/1659  
 
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  especially; its broad global knowledge and experience across elemen ts of food and agriculture. 
The Commission values FAO 's specific roles of advocacy and awareness raising, strengthening 
governance frameworks, supporting the establishment of nat ional and regional surveillance and 
monitoring systems for early warning, developing tools and capacity building efforts. As part of the 
TCP, the African Union Inter African Phytosanitary Council (AU -IAPSC) organized meetings the 
African Union member state s on "Fast tracking and Harmonizing pesticides registration for Fall 
Armyworm control in Africa";  to understand and harmonize position s in preparation for the 
13th Session of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM); to discuss strategic issues for 
Africa, particularly the rapid spread and infestation of fall armyworm in the margins of CPM; and on 
using biological control and IPM methods as alternatives to using chemical materials for protection 
of human and plant health besides protecting the env ironment.  
5  ADDRESSING THE FAW R ESEARCH FOR DEVELOPM ENT (R4D)  
5.1.  CIMMYT and IITA are coordinating an International Consortium of diverse institutions to explore 
ways to synergistically work on short -, medium - and long -term solutions to tackle the challenge of 
FAW i n Africa. Currently, has more than 35 global institutions. The FAW R4D International 
Consortium is expected to complement and contribute to the coordination efforts of FAO and national 
FAW task forces on sustainable management of FAW in Africa. The inaugur al Conference of the FAW 
R&D Consortium will be hosted by the African Union Commission i n Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 
29-30 October 2018.  
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