G/SPS/GEN/1682  
 
28 February 2019  
(19-1176) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English/French/Spanish  
 
74TH MEETING OF THE SPS C OMMITTEE  
COMMUNICATION FROM T HE WORLD ORGANISATIO N FOR ANIMAL HEALTH (OIE)  
The following communication, received on 27 February 2019, is being circulated at the request of 
the OIE. 
_______________  
 
 
The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) is pleased to provide this report for the information 
of WTO Members attending the 7 4th meeting of the SPS Committee.  
The report summarises key activities in the OIE 's standard -setting work programme, along with 
updates on OIE capacity building activities.  
1  DEVELOPMENTS IN THE OIE STANDARDS FOR TE RRESTRIAL AND AQUATI C ANIMALS  
1.1.  The four Specialist Commission s met during February 2019 at the OIE Headquarters to continue 
work to review existing, and develop new, OIE international standards in  the Terrestrial Animal 
Health Code, the Aquatic Animal Health Code, the Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for 
Terrestrial Animals and the Manual of Diagnostic Tests for Aquatic Animals, along with other activities 
relevant to each Commission 's terms  of reference.  
1.2.  As the outcomes of these meetings were not available at the time this report was compiled , a 
verbal update will be provided to the Committee on key outcomes.  
1.3.  Reports of these four meetings, including new and revised standards to be proposed for 
adoption at the 87th OIE General Session in May 2019 or circulated for member  comment, will be 
available on the OIE website during April 2019. The links to these reports, once available, are 
provided below:  
 Biological Standards Commission  February 2019 meeting report;  
 Scientific Commission for Animal Diseases  February 2019 meeting report;  
 Aquatic Animal Health Standards Commission  February 2019 meeting report;  
 Terrestrial Animal Health Commission  February 2019 meeting report . 
2  PROVISION OF SCIENTI FIC ADVICE TO THE OI E AND ITS MEMBER COU NTRIES  
2.1  OIE ad hoc Groups  
2.1.  The Director General establishes ad hoc Groups to provide specific technical and scientific 
advice requi red to support the work of the OIE and the OIE Specialist Commissions. The OIE 
publishes information on its website providing the dates and terms of reference of proposed ad hoc 
Groups as well as reports once these have been validated and considered by the  relevant Specialist 
Commissions.  
2.2.  This information is available on the OIE website at: ad hoc Groups informat ion. G/SPS/GEN/1682  
 
- 2 - 
 
  3  MONITORING IMPLEMENT ATION OF OIE INTERNA TIONAL STANDARDS – 
OBSERVATORY PROJECT  
3.1.  The OIE has initiated the creation of an Observatory to monitor the implementation of its 
standards in order to identify the difficulties and constra ints faced by member countries . 
3.2.  Through the Observatory, the OIE will be better able to determine the effectiveness and 
practicability of its standards in order to propose solutions to member countries . The expected 
outcomes include more effective implementation of OIE standar ds and information to assist the OIE 
to develop a more strategic focus to its capacity building activities.  
3.3.  The project for the establishment of the Observatory follows a phased -approach. The first 
phase was aimed at understanding the problem and advocatin g to member countries  the need for a 
new mechanism of monitoring and evaluation (2017 -2018). This first phase was achieved through 
the adoption by the World Assembly of OIE Delegates of Resolution N°36  at the 86th General Session 
in May 2018.  
3.4.  The OIE is currently implementing the second phase of the project which aims to define the 
design of the Observatory (2018 -2019). To achieve this purp ose, the OIE is collaborating with the 
Organisation for Economic Co -operation and Development (OECD). The OECD , in the context of the 
Partnership of International Organisations for effective international rule -making , is conducting an 
analysis of the conce pt of "implementation " of OIE standards and a review of the existing 
mechanisms supporting the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of OIE 
standards. Based on this work, the OECD will provide the OIE with recommendations and scenarios 
for the design of the Observatory.  
3.5.  The third phase of the project will be the development of a roadmap to build the Observatory 
(2019 -2020).  
3.6.  A specific governance for the Observatory project has been established. The OIE Council 
provides strategic decisions w hile a Reference Group provides technical advice to support the project. 
The Reference Group was formally launched in January 2019 and is composed of experts from 
member countries  (Canada, China, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa, Tunisia), Regional Economi c 
Communities (European Commission, Eurasian Economic Commission, Gulf Cooperation Council) 
and relevant international organisations (Codex Alimentarius, IPPC, FAO, OECD, STDF and WTO).  
3.7.  Further information regarding the OIE Observatory project is available  on the OIE website . 
4  ANIMAL HEALTH INFORM ATION  
4.1.  The World Animal Health Information Syste m (WAHIS) is becoming OIE -WAHIS.  
4.2.  WAHIS is an intrinsic and fundamental part of the OIE 's mandate and a vital tool for the 182 
OIE member s to continue 'Ensuring Trust through Transparency and Communication ' of the global 
animal disease situation in a timely manner. WAHIS enables the collection and the dissemination of 
data on animal diseases of epidemiological significance in both domestic species and wildlife and is 
vital for the global dissemination of inf ormation on animal disease events, including zoonotic 
pathogens. The sustainability of this platform and its continued use by national Veterinary Services 
is at the core of the OIE Sixth Strategic Plan 2016 -2020 and will continue to rem ain a key priority 
for the OIE.  
4.3.  Since 2016 the OIE has embarked on a ten -year process of modernising its existing animal 
health information system (WAHIS). The new system will be called OIE -WAHIS and will be launched 
in the second semester of 2019.  
4.4.  OIE-WAHIS will constitute a  completely redesigned platform and will incorporate a 
transdisciplinary and holistic approach to data collection, analysis and dissemination – not only 
addressing animal diseases – but also public health. Moreover, as OIE -WAHIS moves forward, it will 
progressively incorporate climate and environmental data sources. OIE -WAHIS will have a faster 
and more intuitive user -friendly system with new features, which will include extended data 
analytics, customisable data queries and enhanced mapping and data visual isation capabilities. G/SPS/GEN/1682  
 
- 3 - 
 
  The dynamic, interactive, ergonomic national dashboards will have integrated analytical capabilities 
and enable data to be extracted and uploaded in a wide range of formats (e.g. PDF, Excel, CSV and 
as an image). Building bridges betw een OIE -WAHIS and national/regional databases will support 
this endeavour and regional initiatives are already underway.  
5  OIE DATA COLLECTION ON ANTIMICROBIAL AGE NTS INTENDED FOR USE  IN ANIMALS  
5.1.  The OIE publishes an annual report on the use of antimicrobial agents intended for use in 
animals following an annual round of data collection fr om OIE member s. 
5.2.  The Third OIE Annual Report  was published in February 2019 and presents findings of the third 
annual data collection on the use of antimicrobial agents in animals, providing global and regional 
analysis for the period from 2015 to 2017. Members reporting data ha ve grown from 130 member s 
for its fi rst report in 2016 to 155 member s for this third report. The third report also includes 
evidence on the barriers that some countries experienced in reporting quantitative data on 
antimicrobial agents intended for use in animals. Additionally, this report p rovides calculations of 
animal biomass for food -producing species from 91 member s reporting quantitative data for the 
year 2015, and allowed for an analysis of antimicrobial quantities reported adjusted by a 
denominator.  
5.3.  The fourth data collection round of  the OIE Glob al Database has also commenced.  
6  INTERNATIONAL ACTIVI TIES  
6.1  OIE Global Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance and Prudent Use of Antimicrobials 
in Animals: Putting Standards into Practice – Marrakesh (Morocco), 29 –31 October 2018  
6.1.  The second OIE G lobal conference brought together government Ministers, Ministers, OIE 
Delegates and National Focal Points for Veterinary Products, as well as experts, professionals, policy 
makers, international organisations and donors. The aim was to increase understand ing of the global 
situation on antimicrobial resistance in a One Health approach and to develop recommendations for 
future sustained control of AMR while ensuring animal health, animal welfare, veterinary public 
health and food security. It provided a foru m to examine how to best support OIE member s to 
continue to meet the objectives of the OIE Strategy on Antimicrobial Resistance and the Prudent 
Use of Antimicrobials and the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance. The recommendations 
of the Confere nce further encourage OIE member s to contribute to the OIE annual collection of data 
on antimicrobial agents intended for use in animals, and to publish, whenever possible, their own 
national reports on the sales or use of antimicrobials agents in relation  to the animal population of 
the country . 
6.2.  The programme, presentations and recommendations from the Conference are available on the 
OIE website . 
6.2  OIE Global Conference on Aquatic Animal Health, Santiago (Chile) , 2-4 April 2019  
6.3.  The fourth OIE Global Conference on Aquatic Animal Health will bring together OIE National 
Delegates and National Focal Points for Aquatic Animals, other national government representatives, 
representatives of the OIE Reference Centres, re presentatives of relevant International 
Organisations and international and national private sector representatives. The Conference will 
highlight the critical contribution of aquatic animal health programmes to improving aquaculture 
productivity and susta inability, and consequently the availability of high -quality protein to feed the 
world. It will also raise awareness of the need for good governance of Veterinary Services and 
Aquatic Animal Health Services, including both governmental and private sectors,  promoting 
collaboration between veterinarians, aquatic animal health professionals, and other partners in 
assuring safe and sustainable aquaculture production. The Conference programme will focus on four 
key themes: Managing transboundary and emerging dis eases; Biosecurity in aquaculture; Advances 
in disease management; Supporting implementation of t he OIE International standards.  
6.4.  Further information on the Conference is available on the OIE website . 
__________