G/SPS/GEN/ 1633  
 
10 July 2018  
(18-4327) Page: 1/5 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English /Spanish  
 
72ND MEETING OF THE SPS C OMMITTEE  
COMMUNICATION FROM T HE WORLD ORGANISATIO N FOR ANIMAL HEALTH (OIE)  
The following communication, received on 15 June 2018 , is being circulated at the request of the 
OIE. 
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The World Organisation for Animal Health  (OIE) is pleased to provide this report for the 
information of WTO Members attending the 72nd meeting of the SPS Committee.  
1  86TH GENERAL SESSION  
1.1.  On 20 to 25 May 2018, the OIE held its 86th General Session. This is the annual event for 
OIE members t o examine and adopt new intergovernmental standards and guidelines aimed at 
preserving and improving animal health and welfare throughout the world. Around 900 
participants, representing  the National Delegates of 181 m ember c ountries, numerous scientists, 
and observers from some 62 international, intergovernmental, regional and national organi zations 
took part in this event. The Final Report s of the 86th General Session are available on the OIE 
website at: http://www.oie.int/en/about -us/key -texts/final -reports -of-the-general -session/ . 
1.2.  Thirty -four (34) Resolutions were adopted by the OIE Delegates including new and am ended 
international standards aimed at protecting and improving animal health and welfare.  
1.3.  In addition, the World Assembly welcomed its 182nd member c ountry to join the OIE, 
Saint Lucia, and pr oceeded to the election of the m embers of four OIE Specialist Commissions, of 
the Bureaus of the five Regional Commissions, as well as of the Council.  
1.4.  Dr. Mark Schipp, OIE Delegate for Australia, has been elected as new OIE President and will 
immediately start his mandate for a 3 -year term.  
1.1  Standard setting activitie s at the 86th General Session   
1.5.  The OIE Delegates adopted updated texts in its normative publications, including the Users ' 
Guide, Glossary and 26 new or revised chapters in the Terrestrial Animal Health Code (Terrestrial 
Code) and the Glossary and 17 new or revised chapters in the Aquatic Animal Health Code 
(Aquatic Code ).  
1.6.  In addition to the adoption of new and revised chapters, some Glossary definitions were 
amended in the two Codes  to ensure consistency and clarify any ambiguity.  
1.7.  Issues relevant to  the SPS Committee include:  
1.2  Terrestrial Code  
1.8.  Several chapters on various animal diseases were revised, as were some of the generic 
chapters including those relating to animal welfare.  G/SPS/GEN/1633   
 
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   The chapter on zoning and compartmentali zation was updated and comprehensively 
revised to incorporate new concepts or revise existing concepts for zoning in the Terrestrial 
Code, along with the revision of related glossary definitions.  
 The chapter on infection with lumpy skin disease  was updated to reflect the current 
disease outbreak situations and provide the appropriate risk management options. In 
addition, a review of the chapters on Burkholderia mallei (Glanders ) and Bluetongue  
have been made.  
 A new chapter on vaccination  was dev eloped to provide guidance to Veterinary Services for 
the use of vaccination in support of disease prevention and control programmes. The 
recommendations in this chapter may be refined by the specific approaches described in 
the listed disease -specific cha pters of the Terrestrial Code . Furthermore, the 
recommendations in this chapter may also be used for any diseases for which a vaccine 
exists.  
 Six new chapters of the OIE  Terrestrial Code  pertaining to the relevant diseases were 
created to better assist member countries in compiling their dossiers for the official status 
recognition of these diseases . 
 Other horizontal chapters of interest to the SPS Committee that have been revised include:  
o Import risk analysis;  
o Criteria applied for assessing safe commoditie s; and  
o The role of Vet erinary Services in food safety.  
 Antimicrobial Resistance  (AMR) – New and revised definitions of "veterinary medical use ", 
"non veterinary medical use " of antimicrobials, as well as "growth promotion " were 
introduced into the Terrestrial Code  section on AMR, to clarify the way countries should 
report on their use of antimicrobial agents in animals and thereby, contribute to the global 
effort to contain antimicrobial resistance. These definitions emphasize the essential role of 
the veterinary prescription which should be mandatory for any veterinary use. The 
necessary engagement towards phasing out the use of growt h promoters was highlighted 
to member c ountries as a common message of the Tripartite Alliance (WHO /FAO/OIE).  
1.3  Aqua tic animal health  
1.9.  Amendments were made to a number of chapters in the Aquatic Code  and Manual .  
 The list of susceptible species in the chapters on epizootic haematopoietic necrosis, 
infection with Gyrodactylus salaris  and infection with infectious salmon anaemia 
virus  in the Aquatic Code  and Manual , were amended after consideration of the work of 
the ad hoc  Group on Susceptibility of fish species to infection with OIE listed diseases.  
 Changes of a horizontal nature were done to all fish disease -specific c hapters given that 
work related to susceptible species has commenced in these chapters. This work followed 
on from similar work already undertaken in all disease -specific crustacean chapters in the 
Aquatic Code  that were adopted at the 2017 General Session .  
 A new chapter for infection with Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans  was developed 
following the listing of this amphibian disease in 2017. It provides recommendations to 
control the pathogenic agent and prevent its spread through international trade in 
amphibians and their products.  
1.10.   The online versions of the 27th edition (2018) of the Terrestrial Code  and the 21st Edition 
(2018) of the Aquatic Code  will soon be available and can be accessed from the OIE public web 
site at: http://www.oie.int/en/international -standard -setting/terrestrial -code/access -online/  
and http://www.oie.int/en/international -standard -setting/aquatic -code/access -online/  
respectively.  G/SPS/GEN/1633   
 
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  1.4  New experts elected to the OIE Specialist Commissions  
1.11.   Before thei r proposal for adoption by OIE member c ountries, all new and revis ed standards 
are carefully addressed and studied by the experts of the four OIE Specialist Commissions (the 
Terrestrial Animal Health Standards Commission, Scientific Commission for Animal Diseases, 
Biological Standards Commission and Aquatic Animal Health  Standards Commission), who are 
elected by the World Assembly of OIE Delegates for a period of three years. The composition of 
these Commissions is available online.  
1.5  Official OIE recognition of disease status and control programmes of Member 
Countries  
1.12.   OIE member c ountries can apply to be included in the list of countries with an officially 
recognised status for the following six priority diseases: bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), 
foot and mouth disease (FMD), contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP),  African horse 
sickness, peste des petits ruminants (PPR) and classical swine fever (CSF).  
1.13.   At the 86th General Session, several new countries or zones of countries obtained official 
recognition of their status:  
 Argentina, Bulgaria and Costa Rica were rec ognized as being "free from CSF "; 
 Madagascar, Peru and Uruguay were recogni zed as being "free from PPR "; 
 Nicaragua was recognised as having a "negligible BSE risk" ; 
 Peru and Surinam were officially recognised as "free from FMD without vaccination " and a 
zone in Brazil and one in Chinese Taipei  were officially recogni zed as " FMD free with 
vaccination ". 
 
1.14.   In addition to official status recognition, new procedures for self -declarations of disease 
freedom by countries were recently made available. U nder the responsibility of OIE m embers, self -
declarations provide a way to enhance transparency and to give visibility, in a timely manner, to 
the absence of diseases in countries.  
1.15.   Member countries can also apply for official OIE endorsement of their national control 
programme for FMD, PPR and CBPP. This year the OIE did not endorse any additional official 
control programmes.  
1.16.   The full list of countries and their recogni zed disease status for AHS, BSE, CBPP, CSF, FMD, 
and PPR can be accessed online http://www.oie.int/en/animal -health -in-the-world/official -disease -
status/ . 
1.6  Global animal health situation  
1.17.   The General Session als o serves as an opportunity for m ember countries to  discuss their 
national concerns and share information about the global animal health situation, including 
zoonoses. Particular attention was paid to various diseases, specific diseases subject to global 
control or eradication efforts, or diseases of major  interest, including: the global epizootic of highly 
pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in birds, peste des petits ruminants (PPR), foot and mouth 
disease (FMD), bovine tuberculosis, lumpy skin disease (LSD), African swine fever (ASF), the 
emerging disease caused by Tilapia lake virus.  More information  can be found on the OIE website.  
1.7  Discussion about the threat of antimicrobial resistance: progress and opportunities 
for future activities under the "One Health " initiative  
1.18.   The OIE is actively worki ng on the topic of AMR and on awareness raising on the crucial role 
of veterinarians in supervising the prudent use of antimicrobials in animals. In this framework, the 
campaign "WE NEED YOU to handle antibiotics with care " was launched at global level in 2017-
2018 with the objective to support the related OIE Global Strategy published in 2016. The latter 
notably supports the annual collection of data from member c ountries to monitor trends in the use 
of antimicrobials, as well as the impact of national act ion plans.  G/SPS/GEN/1633   
 
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  1.19.   To foster the effort made worldwide, the second OIE Global Conference on the topic, to be 
held in Marrakesh (Morocco) on 29 -31 October 2018, will aim for better implementation of OIE 
International Standards on AMR.  
1.8  Supporting the implementation of OIE International Standards to promote safe 
trade in animals and animal products and address specific capacity building needs  
1.20.   The OIE continues working to improve animal health and welfare and facilitate safe trade, 
notably by encouraging the impl ementa tion of its standards by m embers. The Technical Item 
presented aimed, through a questionnaire, to identify and analyse factors that limit 
implementation of the standards and make recommendat ions on how the OIE could help m ember 
countries to overcome these difficulties. Key challenges that were reported by a significant number 
of countries notably included a lack of technical expertise, outdated veterinary legislation and lack 
of trust and transparency.  
1.21.   The OIE reaffirmed its commitment to continue its role as an advocate for strengthened 
Veterinary Services and Aquatic Animal Health Services, notably through the deployment of 
capacity -building activities. In addition, the World Assembly adopted a Resolution mandating the 
OIE to design an Observatory intended  to serve as a tool to monitor and evaluate the 
implementation of OIE International Standards. By evaluating progres s and the constraints faced 
by members, this project will contribute to the on -going improvement of the OIE standards -setting 
process and re lated capacity building activities. The OIE will hold a side event on this work on 
Thursday 12 July 2018, from 2 to 3 pm in the margins of the SPS Committee.  
1.9  OIE scientific network  
1.22.   The OIE has access to leading knowledge and skills thanks to its global net work of 
Reference Centres composed of Reference Laboratories and Collaborating Centres. Sharing of 
information among these various institutes has proved vital to our achievements in animal health 
and disease control throughout the world. In order to guaran tee the excellency of this network, 
new procedures for the designation of OIE Reference Laboratories were adopted in 2017. A similar 
document for OIE Collaborating Centres was adopted at this year 's General Session. The document 
identifies several performa nce criteria to be met by these institutions to prove the quality of their 
management system, notably through ISO accreditation. Not meeting these criteria can result in 
temporary suspension. This has been the case for some of establishments in 2018, while  new 
institutions have been approved by the Assembly of Delegates, bringing the number of official OIE 
Centres of scientific excellence to 301, located in nearly 50 countries on five OIE regions.  
1.23.   Sharing of information among these various institutes has pr oved vital to our achievements 
in animal health and disease control throughout the world. The updated lists of Reference 
Laboratories and Collaborating Centres are at http://www.oie.int/en/our -scientific -
expertise/reference -laboratories/list -of-laboratories/  and http://www.oie.int/en/our -scientific -
expertise/collaborating -centres/list -of-centres/  respectively.  
2  CAPACITY BUILDING AC TIVITIES  
2.1  OIE Focal Po int Seminars  
2.1.  OIE capacity -building activities also include Information Seminars for Recently Appointed OIE 
Delegates and Regional Seminars for the OIE National Focal Points appointed for eight different 
areas (Animal Disease Notification to the OIE, Veteri nary Products, Communication, Animal 
Production Food Safety, Animal Welfare, Veterinary Laboratories, Wildlife and Aquatic Animals). 
The aim of this programme is to provide good governance concepts for improving animal health, 
animal welfare and food safet y of animal -origin products at the national, regional and international 
level, and to explain and clarify the role and responsibilities of newly -appointed OIE Delegates and 
of OIE National Focal Points with respect to OIE activities.  
2.2.  These seminars provide  participants with knowledge about the rights, commitments and 
responsibilities of OIE Delegates and OIE National Focal Points in the OIE standard -setting process 
and provide a forum for discussion of implementation and compliance with the OIE internationa l 
standards. They allow the participants to acquire knowledge about the roles and responsibilities of G/SPS/GEN/1633   
 
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  Veterinary Services and other relevant competent authorities, about relevant OIE international 
standards and about the specific tasks expected of National  Focal Points in their respective areas.  
2.3.  These training sessions are also fora for experience sharing and discussion among countries 
within a region.  
3  COOPERATION WITH FAO  AND WHO  
3.1.  In a Memorandum of Understanding signed on 30 May 2018, OIE, FAO and WHO agreed to 
step up joint action to combat health threats associated with interactions between humans, 
animals and the environment. The signing of the MoU will strengthen this long -standing 
partnership, with a strong focus on tackling AMR.  
3.2.  AMR is a high prio rity for the three organizations, who are working together to develop global 
systems for AMR surveillance and use of antimicrobials, a global antimicrobial stewardship 
programme, and a monitoring and evaluation framework for the global action plan. A curre nt 
comprehensive framework of international standards on responsible and prudent use of 
antimicrobials is regularly adapted to keep up with the development of scientific knowledge.  
3.3.  In addition to AMR, the new agreement will focus on improving disease forec asting 
capabilities for more informed and swifter responses to emerging and endemic zoonotic diseases 
(including foodborne diseases); helping countries strengthen their national health systems; and 
undertaking joint activities related to reduction of threa ts.  
 
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