G/SPS/GEN/1663  
 
20 Novemb er 2018 
(18-7271) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
SADC SECRETARIAT REPORT ON SPS ACTIVI TIES  
The follow ing communication, received on 14 November  2018, is being circulated at the request of 
the secretariat of the  Southern African Development Community  (SADC).  
 
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1  COORDINATION OF SADC  SPS ACTIVITIES  
1.  The end of the first phase of the EU -SADC Region al Economic Integration Support (REIS) 
Program me coincided with the restructuring of the SADC secretariat . In that regard, the posi tion for 
Sanitary and Phytos anitary matters became flexible and no t provided for in the subsequent financial 
year, albeit the SPS activities were provided for. Arrangements have been made for the position to 
be active in the 2019/2020 financial year. This has resulted in limited participation and reduced 
frequency of rep orting by the regional office at the international level.  
2  THE MEETING OF THE N ATIONAL ENQUIRY POIN TS AND THE NATIONAL NOTIFICATION  
AUTHORITIES  
2.  The meeting of the National Enquiry Points and the National Notification  Authorities was convened 
on 15 -17 Februa ry 2017 to promote awareness on the alignment between the WTO SPS Agreement 
and the SPS Annex to the SADC Protocol on Trade. The meeting was attended by 13 member States, 
namely Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo , Eswatini , Lesotho, Madagascar,  Malawi,  
Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The participants were able 
to identify and prioritize key issues regarding the transparency mechanism and to enhance the ability 
of the NEPs and NNAs to honor their regional and  internat ional transparency obligations.  
3  DEVELOPMENT OF PROPO SALS TO ACCESS THE S TANDARDS DEVELOPMENT  AND TRADE 
FACILITY (STDF)  
3.  The SADC SPS Coordinating Committee met on 6 -10 November 2018 to consider the progress 
on the work plans of the SADC Sub-Committ ees on Food Safety, Animal Health and Plant Protection. 
The other main deliverable of the meeting was for each of the groups to formulate a project proposal 
to apply for technical assistance funds to the STDF. Proposals were sent to the STDF secretariat , 
which yielded the guidance that further work needs t o be done on the proposals. The  guidance was 
sent to the Sub-Committee focal persons, which are still to convene the Sub-Committees to action 
the comments provided. One of the challenges that were faced by  the Food Safety Committee was 
the inconsistency of the constituency of the persons attending the meetings. Subsequent meetings 
have emphasized the inclusion of the National Codex Focal Points.  
4  DEVELOPMENT OF THE S ADC BEST PRACTICE GU IDELINES FOR SMALL S CALE FARMERS 
TO COLLECTIVELY ACCE SS MARKETS  
4.  Under the REIS program me, a consultant was commissioned to develop a manual that will be 
used by small -scale farmers to collectively access markets. The survey was based on the beef and 
sugar industries of Eswatini , Mauritius, Namibia and South Africa. This was the view to establish how 
small -scale farmers organized themselves to be in a position to link the bigger corporates, which 
participate in the specific product value chains. The validation meeting for t he man ual was held on 
20-21 June 2018, attended by Angola, Botswana, Eswatini , Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, 
Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The member States concurred that 
more work needed to be done on the manual to separately conside r the three aspects of SPS.  G/SPS/GEN/1663  
 
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  5  DEVELOPMENT OF THE S ADC REGIONAL EARLY W ARNING AND RAPID RES PONSE 
SYSTEM  
5.  Under the REIS program me a consultant was commissioned to do a survey on the development 
of a SADC Regional Early Warning and Rapid Response System. The re port of this survey was 
reported for validation to the SADC SPS Coordinating Committee meeti ng of the 6 -10 August 2017. 
The survey was based on three SADC member States and this caused the member States to resolve 
that the report be put on hold until furth er work could be done covering more SADC member States.  
6  DEVELOPMENT OF APPLI CATIONS FOR THE CODE X TRUST FUND  
6.  The SADC secretariat received a request for support from member States ' National Codex Contact 
Points to develop a regional application to the Code x Trust Fund. It was stated that member States 
of the SADC region ha d attempted countlessly with no success to secure assistance from the Codex 
Trust Fund. A meeting was convened on 26 -28 September 2018, attended by Botswana, Comoros, 
Democratic Republic o f Congo , Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania,  
South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe to facilitate the development of the regional application. 
Lessons learnt from the ECOWAS re gion at applying for the fund were  used as guidance. Upon fu rther 
reflection, the meeting concurred that due to the vast disparities between the Codex systems of the 
various member States, each member State should develop their own application, to be supported 
by the WHO and FAO office within the member State. Memb er States were expected to submit their 
applications by the closing date of 30 November 2018.  
7  THE EU -SADC ECONOMIC  PARTNERSHIP AGREEME NT 
7.  A survey was commissioned to investigate the current situation in selected SADC member States 
regarding their complianc e with the requirements of the WTO TBT and SPS Agreements . This was 
with regard their ability to facilitate WTO -compatible market access to EU market as catered for 
under the EU -SADC Economic Partnersh ip Agreement ( EPA). The validation meeting was held o n 22-
23 January 2017 and it was concluded that  the SADC -EPA member States need to be trained on the 
requirements of the export market. One of the key points made at that meeting was that export -led 
growth in the Southern African region was dependent on meeti ng certain international standards 
demanded on the export market and that without these being met, or technical requirements being 
respected, the promise of duty -free, quota -free market access to the E uropean Union held very little 
value. The  meeting was a ttended by Botswana, Eswatini , Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South 
Africa, the EU Delegation and the SADC Cooperation in Standards ( SADCSTAN ). The meeting 
endorsed the eleven recommendations of the survey, which advised the SADC secretariat on how 
the TBT/ SPS matters of the EPA should ideally be handled. The general approach is to align the EPA -
related TBT and SPS activities with the activities happening in the rest of the SADC member States.  
8  THE EU -SADC TRADE RE LATED FACILITY  (TRF)  
8.  A majority of the projec t proposals submitted to the TRF by twelve SADC member States are to 
do with the improvement of TBT and SPS systems in the member States. In the SPS area, the 
requests consisted of 41 consultancies, 25 procurements and 54 training sessions. Consultancy 
requests included institutional capacity building; profiling of certain aspects of the three -sisters, 
improvement of conformity assessment regimes and the development of standard operating 
procedures. Procurement was more to do with acquisition of farm infras tructure and testing 
equipment with accessories. Training requests included the attachment of staff to competent bodies, 
ways of complying with the various requirements of the TBT Annex to the SADC Trade Protocol and 
the execution and deployment of el ectronic information platforms.  From the regional viewpoint, the 
requests reflected the general crosscutting weaknesses in the SPS systems of the member States, 
which can be addressed with regional workshops that will allow for a cross -pollination of ideas 
amongst the member States. In view of the delayed commencement of the project, only the key 
consultancies and training sessions will be performed, with the member States having been called 
upon to reprioritize their training and consultancy needs.  
9.  For further information contact: Dr Lomkhosi Mkhonta -Gama ( lmkhonta@sadc.int ). 
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