G/SPS/GEN/1493  
 
16 June 2016  
(16-3308)  Page: 1/5  
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
 COMMUNICATION FROM ISO 
(REPORT OF ACTIVITIES) 
The following communication, received on 16 June 2016, 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 21,200 international standards, 232 technical 
committees and 491 subcommittees managing some 2,607 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 Strategy 2016-2020 was approved at the ISO General Assembly in September 2015. 
It outlines the ISO priorities for the next five years and focuses on six interlinked strategic 
directions: ISO will Develop high-quality standards  through ISO global membership, by ensuring to 
effectively Engage stakeholders and partners . A strong foundation in People and organization 
development , effective Use of technology , and a focus on Communication , will help to achieve the 
ultimate objective of ISO standards used everywhere . 
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. 
Further to the confirmation by the ISO Council  in March 2016 of its strategic direction, the 
ISO Academy oversees the following six programme areas: 
 Implementation of the ISO Action Plan for developing countries 
http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_ac tion_plan_2016- 2020_en_ld.pdf  
 DEVCO secretariat 
 Development of training materials 
 Provision of training services to ISO members 
 Education 
 Research activities G/SPS/GEN/1493 
 
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  3.2.  The ISO Academy also manages ISO's revi sed sponsorship programme to further increase 
the participation of developing countries in the ISO technical work. Sponsorships were granted to experts from developing countries to participate in the standardization work of the committees dealing with food. A number of sponsorships we re also granted to experts from developing 
countries to participate in the standardization work on conformity assesment led by ISO/CASCO 
and on several other fields covered in ISO. 
3.3.  A capacity building workshop for French-s peaking developing countries, sponsored by ISO, 
will be held in conjunction with the plen ary meeting of ISO Technical Committee 34 ( Food 
products ), in Paris, in July 2016. 
4  ISO AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES - DEVCO 4.1.  DEVCO, ISO's policy committee on developing country matters, established in 1961 is a 
unique forum for ISO members from developed and developing countries to discuss 
standardization and related issues, to exchange experience and best practice, and to identify 
needs and requirements of developing countries. It is also the role of DEVCO to monitor the 
implementation of the ISO Action Plan for developing countries. 
4.2.  Today, 155 out of the 161 ISO members are members of DEVCO. Find out more about 
DEVCO on http://www.iso.org/iso/home/about/i so-and-developing-countries.htm . 
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.  It is this body within ISO that is closest to covering the same subject matter as the Codex 
Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS). To date, 
CASCO has 132 members. 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 ). 
6.2.  Topical issues currently being addressed in CASCO: 
 CASCO co-organized with IEC and ITU the WSC Workshop on Conformity Assessment, 
hosted by UNECE from 1-2 December 2015, at the Palais des Nations, in Geneva. The 
workshop included 4 panels and gathered some 130 industry representatives, government 
regulators and economic leaders, who confirmed their interest in building on the success of the workshop with similar events in the future. 
 Last year, CASCO launched an interactive online tool that introduces the basics of 
conformity assessment and the CASCO toolbox, http://www.iso.org/sites/cascore gulators/02_casco_toolbox.html  (publicly available) 
explaining why and how conformity assessmen t can be used by regulators, providing 
concrete examples from various fields. CASCO is in process of developing a similar deliverable addressing specifically the concept of Suppliers' Declaration of Conformity (SDoC).  
 An educational brochure identifying what should be considered when developing personnel 
certification schemes is to be published in 2016. 
 CASCO compiled a FAQ document to be published in 2016 on what should be considered 
when deciding between a management system standard and a conformity assessment 
standard. 
 A project plan has been developed to organize  a pilot stakeholders forum on conformity 
assessment towards the end of 2016. The foru m would allow CASCO to engage with a 
broad range of stakeholders on key conformity assessment matters. G/SPS/GEN/1493 
 
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   The results of the 2014 ISO Survey of Certifications have been published on 
http://www.iso.org  ( http://www.iso.org/iso/home/sta ndards/certifi cation/iso-
survey.htm?certificate=ISO%209001&countrycode=AF ) in September 2015. 
 Members of CASCO/CPC agreed to survey th e ISO landscape with regard to the terms 
"validation and verification" in the conformity assessment context in a view to evaluate the 
need to develop a generic CASCO document to cover those two activities. A full description of the technical work is available form the CASCO Committee page 
(http://www.iso.org/iso/home/store/catalog ue_tc/catalogue_tc_browse.htm?commid=549
98&development=on ). 
7  ISO TECHNICAL COMMITTEE 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 works. 
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. 
7.5.  Annex 1 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 , which is developed with the participation of OIE and other 
international organizations and is based on OI E codes, will be published by the end of 2016. 
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 organized a full-day conference on 2 November 2015, at the Palais des 
Nations, Geneva. This was followed by a half-day training course at ISO Central Secretariat 
premises on 3 November. 
8.2.  ISO and IEC national standards bodies were invited together with their policymakers. UNECE 
also brought in regulators. This event was back  to back with the WTO TBT Committee meeting in 
Geneva. There was a good mix of standardizers and policymakers. 
8.3.  Focus was made 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). The event was a good 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 ) G/SPS/GEN/1493 
 
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  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/1493 
 
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  ANNEX 1 
SELECTED ISO PROJECTS HAVING CHANGED STATUS 
DURING THE PAST TWELVE MONTHS (AS OF APRIL 2016) 
Project number Title Status 
ISO 18743 Microbiology of the food chain — Detection of 
Trichinella larvae in meat by artificial digestion 
method Published in 2015 
ISO 17604 Microbiology of the food chain — Carcass sampling 
for microbiological analysis Published in 2015 
ISO/TS 22002-6 Prerequisite programmes on food safety — Part 6: 
Feed production Published in 2016 
ISO 16140-2 Microbiology of the food chain — Method 
validation — Part 2: Protocol for the validation of 
alternative (proprietary) methods against a 
reference method Published in 2016 
ISO/DIS 19657 Definition and technical criteria for food ingredients 
to be considered as natural Under development 
ISO/CD 34101-1 Sustainable and traceable cocoa beans — Part 1: 
Requirements for sustainability management 
systems Under development 
ISO/CD 34101-2 Sustainable and traceable cocoa beans — Part 2: 
Requirements for performance (profit, people and planet related) Under development 
ISO/CD 34101-3 Sustainable and traceable cocoa beans — Part 3: 
Requirements for traceability Under development 
ISO/NP 34101-4 Sustainable and traceable cocoa beans — Part 4: 
Requirements for certification schemes Under development 
ISO/DTS 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 Fisheries — Minima requirements for fisheries 
labels: environmental aspects Under development (with 
FAO participation) 
 
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