G/SPS/ GEN/1561  
 
29 June 2017 
(17-3515) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
 REPORT ON SPS ACTIVITIES  
COMMUNICATION FROM  THE CARIBBEAN AGRICU LTURAL HEALTH  
AND FOOD SAFETY AGEN CY (CAHFSA)  
The followi ng communication, received on 28 June 2017, is being circulated at the request of the 
Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Age ncy (CAHFSA) . 
 
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1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  The Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA) was established by the 
Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to perform a coordinating and 
organizing role in the establishme nt of an effective and efficient regional sanitary and 
phytosanitary (SPS) regime and to execute on behalf of member States such SPS actions and 
activities that can be more effectively and efficiently executed through a regional mechanism.  
1.2.  CAHFSA is please d to provide this report to the 69th meeting of the SPS Committee 
summarising key activities and providing updates on CARICOM SPS standard -setting work 
programme for  the period March to July 2017.  
2  DEVELOPING LINKAGES WITH INTERNATIONAL S PS RELATED ORGANIZA TIONS  
2.1.  CAHFSA  participated in the 68th meeting of the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitar y 
Measures (Geneva, 22 -23 March 2017), the 12th Session of the Commission on Phytosanitary 
Measure s (Incheon, 5 -11 April 2017) and the 85th General Session of the Wo rld Organisation for 
Animal Health (Paris, 21 -26 May 2017).  
3  REGIONAL COLLOBORATI ON 
3.1.  CAHFSA has signed a letter of agreement (LOA) with the regional office of the Food and 
Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for provision of "Services towar ds 
strengthening agricultural quarantine capacities in Dominica, Grenada and St. Kitts and Nevis ". 
3.2.  The objective of the Agreement is to strengthen the plant and animal quarantine capacities of 
the three countries based on specific priorities identified by these countries in their respective 
Country Programming Frameworks . 
4  LEGISLATION  
4.1.  A draft Regional Model Food Safety Bill developed under the 10th EDF Project was recently 
reviewed by the Senior Officials of the Legal Affairs Committee (SOLAC) as well as the  Legal Affairs 
Committee (LAC) of CARICOM and will be recommended to the Heads of States for signing at their 
meeting in July 2017.  G/SPS/GEN/1561  
 
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  5  STAN DARD SETTING AND IMP LEMENTATION  
5.1  Market Access  
5.1.  A guideline for preparing market access proposals has been developed for u se by CARICOM 
member States.  
5.2.  A Draft Regional Biosafety Policy was developed by the University of the West Indies (UWI) 
with funds from UNEP/GEF with the intention of developing and implementing a harmonized 
biosafety system in 12 participating CARICOM cou ntries, based on the Cartagena Pro tocol. 
The Council of Ministers (COTED: Agriculture) at its 62nd Special Meeting agreed that member 
States should provide feedback to CAHFSA on this Draft Regional Biosafety Policy so that it can be 
fine-tuned and adopted at the CARICOM level to not only provide a clear CARICOM policy on GMOs 
and Biosafety but also to improve the competitiveness of the region in the global space.  
5.2  Regional Animal Health Protocols  
5.3.  Three regional animal health protocols have been reviewed by t he SOLAC and the LAC of 
CARICO M. These include:  
 Harmonized Protocols for the Movement of  Dogs and Cats in the Caribbean;  
 Conditions for a Permit Controlling the Importation of Live Caprine and Ovine from 
CARICOM countries ; 
 Protocol governing CARICOM Contro l, Inspection and Approval Procedures for Trade in 
Animals and Animal Products . 
6  CAPACITY BUILDING  
6.1  Risk Analysis  
6.1.  CAHFSA has conducted pest risk analysis training in several member States towards 
improving the competence of analysts in the region and in an e ffort to build a cadre of ris k 
assessment professionals.  
7  TECHNICAL RESOURCES AND INFORMATION EXCH ANGE  
7.1.  An Information Portal  has been developed on CAHFSA 's website which provides a weekly 
update on WTO notifications as well agricultural  health and food safe ty alerts.  
7.2.  Several databases related to agricultural heath and food safety have been developed to 
improve the delivery and sharing of information across the region. These databases, which are still 
in the developmental stage, are available from the CAHFSA website and provide information on:  
 List of pesticides registered by CARICOM member States;  
 Risk analyses completed ; 
 Regionally regulated pests ; 
 Regional trade issues;  
 Import and export requirements of the member States ; 
 Food safety, animal and plant heal th practitioners in the region . 
8  DISPUTE RESOLUTION  
8.1.  The prevalence of SPS -related disputes among member States and the protracted 
timeframes for their resolution was largely behind the initiative by CAHFSA to focus on the 
development of a draft procedure fo r resolving SPS disputes as a means of facilitating intra -
regional trade. The draft document has been circulated for member State consultations.  
 
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