G/SPS/GEN/1416  
 
23 June 2015  
(15-3232)  Page: 1/7  
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
 COMMUNICATION FROM ISO 
(REPORT OF ACTIVITIES) 
The following communication, received on 19 June 2015, is being circulated at the request of the 
International Organization for Standardization (ISO). 
 
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 The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has prepared this information paper as part of ongoing updates and communication between the SPS Committee and the ISO Central 
Secretariat. It provides a summary of current work undertaken by ISO that may be of interest to 
Members of the WTO SPS Committee and is intended to support and enhance dialogue and coordination between the two organizations. 
Any general information regarding the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) can be 
found on http://www.iso.org/ . ISO counts more than 20,600 international standards, 227 technical 
committees and 500 subcommittees managing some 2,564 working groups. 
1  ISO'S INTERNATIONAL STATUS 
1.1.  ISO has a specific status with many UN agencies, including the WHO and FAO. It is also an 
observer at the WTO Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE), the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (WTO TBT), the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and 
also at the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) and the World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE). ISO entered into a liaison relationship with the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC). 
2  ISO STRATEGY 2016-2020 
2.1.  The ISO Council asked in 2013 the ISO Stra tegy and Policy Committee to develop the future 
ISO Strategic plan 2016-2020. A wide consultation was performed in 2014 among the ISO 
members and stakeholders, and international organi zations. The final ISO Strategy 2016-2020 will 
be presented for approval at the ISO General Assembly in September 2015. 
3  ISO ACADEMY 3.1.  An "ISO Academy" has been established to  strengthen and build from the work being done 
for developing countries under the Action Plan for Developing Countries (APDC) framework. The 
Academy is building on ISO's Institutional Strengthening (INS) projects conducted in over 50 countries worldwide, as well as research on the economic value of standards and links between 
standards, innovation and education. 
3.2.  The ISO Academy work plan also includes customized training and services linked with ISO 
projects currently being implemented under donor funding for developing countries.  
3.3.  The ISO Academy also manages ISO's revi sed sponsorship programme to further increase 
the participation of developing countries in the ISO technical work. G/SPS/GEN/1416 
 
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  4  ISO AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES 
4.1.  ISO/DEVCO, the policy development committ ee that deals specifically with the needs of 
developing countries in ISO, assists developing countries to focus both on acquiring world-class technological competence and on achieving a good  understanding of the technical requirements 
underlying global trade. DEVCO's membership comprises 153 national standards institutes from 
industrialized as well as developing countries. (Find out more about DEVCO on http://www.iso.org/iso/home/about/i so-and-developing-countries.htm ). 
4.2.  In 2014, ISO/DEVCO carried out two projects  in relation to ISO 22000 technical assistance 
including sponsorships to technical committee meetings (see Annex 1). With the objective of improving awareness of key stakeholders in developi ng countries of the role of such standards in 
economic growth, world trade and their contributi on to sustainable development, one national 
seminar on ISO 22000 was organized in Bolivia. Another event was organized with the objective of 
building capacity: a regional workshop on the Role of International Food Standards in Trade in Bangkok, Thailand, inviting other international organizations such as the Codex Alimentarius 
Commission, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the Global Food Safety Initiative 
(GFSI) to participate. In addition, 14 sponsorships were provided to individuals from developing countries to attend several ISO committee meetings (in the field of Service activities relating to 
drinking water supply systems and wastewater systems; Management systems for food safety; 
Clean cooking; Cereals and pulses; Fisheries; and Spices, culinary herbs and condiments ). 
5  ISO TECHNICAL WORK UPDATES 5.1.  The priority areas of mutual interest on which ISO would like to maintain and nurture 
dialogue with the SPS Committee are the work of  ISO/TC 34 on food products and the generic 
work of the ISO Committee on conformity assessment (ISO/CASCO). 
6  ISO'S CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE 
6.1.  The 30
th CASCO plenary was held in Geneva on 24 and 25 September 2014 and brought 
together 102 participants. Besides the review of the technical programme, roundtable discussions were organized to encourage interactions among the participants and collect ideas on important 
conformity assessment issues.  
6.2.  The workshop on Conf ormity Assessment 2015-2020, Future Opportunities, Challenges and 
Priorities , organized on 26 September, covered a wide range of issues such as food safety, the use 
of the CASCO Toolbox by private schemes, challenges  for laboratories and the use of standards in 
the humanitarian sector. 
6.3.  Topical issues currently being addressed in ISO/CASCO: 
 CASCO experts finalized an interactive online t ool that introduces the basics of conformity 
assessment and the CASCO toolbox, explaini ng why and how conformity assessment can 
be used by regulators, providing concrete exampl es from various fields. The tool is publicly 
available on the ISO website ( http://www.iso.org/sites/ca scoregulators/index.html ) and is 
a valuable source of information for anyone looking for practical information on conformity 
assessment. It has been used as reference material for training sessions organized by the ISO Academy in 2014 in Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. The sessions were attended by regulators from the region; 
 CASCO will also develop a similar deliverab le addressing the concept of suppliers' 
declaration of conformity (SDoC). This will become an additional chapter of the CASCO online tool mentioned above; 
 An educational brochure identifying what should be considered when developing personnel 
certification schemes will be drafted by a group of experts. The aim is to provide a 
resource for those developing personnel certification schemes to ensure they are aware of 
the requisites of ISO/IEC 17024 specific to scheme development; 
 CASCO is collecting useful information to compile a FAQ document on the difference 
between management system and competence based standards; G/SPS/GEN/1416 
 
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   Following the development of several sectorial documents on validation and verification, 
CASCO will analyze the need to develop a generic document by drafting a position paper for discussion; 
 A project proposal has been drafted on the organization of Stakeholder Forums on 
conformity assessment that will be discussed at the next CASCO Strategic Alliance and 
Regulatory group (STAR) meeting. These forums would allow CASCO to engage with a broad range of stakeholders on key conformity assessment matters; 
 CASCO completed its seventh year of managing the ISO Survey of Certifications 
(http://www.iso.org/iso/iso-survey ). The 2013 survey results show a growth in the 
number of certificates for the 7 standards covered by the survey; 
 CASCO is coordinating with IEC and ITU the organization of WSC Workshop on conformity 
assessment that will be held on 1-2 December 2015, in Geneva, Switzerland. The 
workshop aims to inform on and explore im portant international conformity assessment 
issues and share practical experiences. Further details can be found online 
http://wsccaworkshop.com/ . 
6.1  ISO/CASCO membership and next plenary meeting 
6.4.  ISO/CASCO has 128 members, including 80 P members and 40 O members. 
6.5.  Two organizations have become new liaisons to CASCO in 2014, the National Conference of 
Standards Laboratories (NCSL International) and Quest Forum. These new liaisons will contribute 
to increasing the stakeholder participation in CASCO technical work. The Committee maintains liaison with 22 international organizations, including IEC. 
6.6.  More information about the scope, the structure and the membership as well as a quick link 
to the work programme of ISO/CASCO is available on the ISO website (http://www.iso.org/iso/home/stand ards_development/lis t_of_iso_technical_committees/iso_tech
nical_committee.htm?commid=54998 ). 
6.7.  The next CASCO plenary, workshop and associated meetings will be held in April-May 2016 in 
Unites Arab Emirates (dat es to be fixed soon). 
7  ISO/TC 34 COOPERATION WITH CODEX, OIE AND OTHERS 
7.1.  There is a long history of collaboration  between the Codex Committees and ISO/TC 34, Food 
products . ISO/TC 34 supports the establishment of an ongoing and sustainable framework for 
collaboration between Codex and ISO, in order to  enhance the mutual coordination of work and 
the elimination of duplication and contradictions. This also includes interest to support any joint or 
collaborative communication on each others' work. 
7.2.  ISO's observer status to the CAC provides an opportunity for the coordination of issues 
related to a variety of ISO standards that are ad opted and used by Codex in its work. ISO methods 
have been endorsed in the document " Recommended methods of analysis and sampling " 
(CODEX STAN 234-1999 ) which is updated each year during the CCMAS meeting. 
7.3.  Codex and ISO activities are complement ary. Codex, as a governmental organization, 
prepares documents to assist governments in their statutory and regulatory work to protect their citizens from health hazards caused by food consumption. ISO, as a non-governmental organization, prepares standards in particular on test methods to assist stakeholders along the 
whole food chain to fulfil both the statutory and regulatory requirements, as well as the 
requirements of consumers of these products. ISO/TC 34 also works on how to involve more 
developing countries in the work. 
7.4.  ISO/TC 34 will continue to offer its full support and cooperation to the Commission with a 
view to avoiding duplication of work and will ad opt, for its own documents, the conclusions of the 
Commission on all matters concerning food hygiene requirements. G/SPS/GEN/1416 
 
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  7.5.  Annex 2 lists the projects that might be of interest to the SPS committee. It is to be noted 
that project ISO/TS 34700 Animal welfare management  — General requirements and guidance for 
organizations in the food supply chain , is developed with the participation of OIE and other 
international organizations and is based on OIE codes. 
8  USING AND REFERENCING ISO AND IEC STANDARDS TO SUPPORT PUBLIC POLICY — 
CONFERENCE AND TRAINING 
8.1.  To learn about the many ways in which International Standards can support public policy 
goals, ISO, IEC and UNECE will organize a full-day conference on 2 November 2015, at the Palais 
des Nations, Geneva. This will be followed by a half-day training course at ISO Central Secretariat premises on 3 November. 
8.2.  ISO and IEC will be inviting their members (national standards bodies) and asking them to 
invite and bring their policymakers. UNECE will also bring in regulators. This event is back to back 
with the WTO TBT meeting in Geneva on 4-5 November. It is hoped to have a good mix of standardizers and policymakers. 
8.3.  Focus will be on how to reference standards in regulations, how standards can help 
implement policy commitments taken at the global level (e.g. sustainability, resilience and development goals), and much more. The event is a unique opportunity to connect national and 
international policymakers with standards developers, in order to share experience and best 
practices. To learn more on how standards can help you : "Using ISO and IEC standards to support public policy" ( http://www.iso.org/iso/PUB100358.pdf ). 
9  CONCLUSION 
9.1.  It is recognized that the SPS Committee's Members, as governments, have the authority to 
regulate at the national level and that ISO, as a producer of voluntary International Standards, 
does not. In the framework of good regulatory pr actice, as promoted at international and regional 
levels, international standards and guides may be considered useful by regulators as effective and 
efficient tools to achieve important regulatory mandates, manage risk and address market confidence. 
9.2.  ISO considers that by using its international standards, regulatory authorities will achieve 
their aims in public health and safety at less cost to manufacturers and consumers. Using international standards also assists countries to meet their WTO TBT and SPS Agreement obligations. 
9.3.  For any further information on technical deve lopments within ISO that have been reported in 
this paper, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs. Marie-Noëlle Bourquin at ISO Central Secretariat (bourquin@iso.org ). G/SPS/GEN/1416 
 
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  ANNEX 1 
OVERVIEW OF ISO 22000 TECHNICAL ASSISTAN CE PROJECTS CARRIED OUT IN 2014 
Objective 1: Improve awareness of key stakehol ders in developing countries of the role 
of standardization in economic growth, world trade and sustainable development 
Title Venue/ 
Host Dates Total 
participants Sponsored 
participants Beneficiary 
countries 
National seminar 
on ISO 22000  
Food safety 
management 
systems La Paz, 
Bolivia, Plurinational 
State of 21-23 May 2014 48 0 Bolivia, 
Plurinational State of 
 
Objective 2: Build capacity of ISO members an d stakeholders involved in developing the 
standardization infrastructure and participat ing in international standardization work 
Title Venue/ 
Host Dates Total 
participants Sponsored 
participants Beneficiary 
countries 
Regional 
workshop on the 
Role of International Food Standards 
in Trade Bangkok, 
Thailand 22-23 April 
2014 56 18 Bhutan; 
Cambodia; 
Fiji; Indonesia; Myanmar; 
Mongolia; 
Lao People's Democratic 
Republic; 
Papua New Guinea; 
Philippines; 
Thailand; and Viet Nam 
Sponsorships to 
plenary meeting 
of ISO/TC 
224/WG 8 
Service activities 
relating to 
drinking water 
supply systems 
and wastewater 
systems  Helsinki, 
Finland 2-4 June 2014  1 Kenya 
Sponsorships to 
plenary meeting of ISO/TC 
34/SC 17 
Management systems for food 
safety  Copenhagen, 
Denmark 15-19 
September 2014
  8 Argentina; 
Bolivia, Plurinational 
State of; 
Brazil; Ethiopia; 
Montenegro; 
Nigeria; Thailand; and 
Zimbabwe G/SPS/GEN/1416 
 
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  Title Venue/ 
Host Dates Total 
participants Sponsored 
participants Beneficiary 
countries 
Sponsorships to 
meeting of 
ISO/TC 285 
Clean cooking  La Antigua, 
Guatemala 13-16 October 
2014  2 Malawi, 
Bangladesh 
Sponsorships to 
37th meeting of 
ISO/TC 34/SC 4, 
Cereals and 
pulses  Lisbon, 
Portugal 5-6 November 
2014  1 Ethiopia 
Sponsorships to 
meeting of 
ISO/TC 234 
Fisheries  Trondheim, 
Norway 17-19 
November 2014  1 Thailand 
Sponsorships to 
meeting of 
ISO/TC 34/SC 7 Spices, culinary 
herbs and 
condiments  Madrid, 
Spain 18-20 
November 2014  1 Sri Lanka 
 
 
 G/SPS/GEN/1416 
 
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  ANNEX 2 
SELECTED CURRENT ISO WORK ITEMS AND PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST TO SPS COMMITTEE 
HAVING CHANGED STATUS DURING THE P AST TWELVE MONTHS (AS OF JUNE 2014) 
Project number Title Status 
ISO 22004:2014  Food safety management systems - Guidance 
on the application of ISO 22000 1st edition published in 
September 2014 
ISO 22000 Food safety management systems - 
Requirements for any organization in the food 
chain Revision started in 
September 2014 
ISO/TS 22002-6 Prerequisite programmes on food safety - 
Part 6: Feed production Under development 
ISO/NP 19381-1 Sustainable and traceable cocoa - Part 1: 
Sustainability management system – 
Requirements Under development 
with CEN 
ISO/NP 19381-2 Sustainable and traceable cocoa - Part 2: 
Performance requirements Under development 
with CEN 
ISO/NP 19381-3 Sustainable and traceable cocoa - Part 3: 
Traceability — Requirements Under development 
with CEN 
ISO/WD 19657 Definition of criteria for a food ingredient to be 
considered as "natural" - Guidelines on 
technical definitions and criteria for natural food ingredients Under development 
ISO/WD TS 34700 Animal welfare management - General 
requirements and guidance for organizations in 
the food supply chain Under development 
(with OIE participation 
and based on OIE 
codes) 
ISO/AWI 19565 Minimum requirements for the certification of 
products from sustainable marine fishery Under development 
(with FAO participation) 
ISO 16140-2 Microbiology of the food chain - Method 
validation - Part 2: Protocol for the validation of 
alternative (proprietary) methods against a 
reference method Publication July 2015 
  
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