G/SPS/GEN/1452  
5 October 2015  
(15-5158)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: Spanish  
 
  ACTIONS AIMED AT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WTO AGREEMENT 
ON SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES 
INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY TH E INTER-AMERICAN INSTITUTE 
FOR COOPERATION ON AGRICULTURE (IICA) 
The following communication, received on 3 October 2015, is being circulated at the request 
of the IICA. 
 
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The observer organizations of the WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures 
(SPS Committee) are invited to submit reports on the activities they have carried out to promote 
the understanding and implementation of the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary 
and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement). The IICA would like to present some of the actions 
and activities that it considers relevant to the work of this Committee. 
1  EFFORTS TO MAKE GREATER USE OF MULTILATERAL FORUMS 
1.1  World Trade Organization 
1.1.  As part of the EU-CARIFORUM SPS Project, under its component aimed at strengthening 
the multilateral trading system, support was provided for the participation of 14 Caribbean countries in the 64th session of the World Tr ade Organization Committee on Sanitary and 
Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Committee). 
1.2.  As part of this effort to reposition the SPS Committee agenda in the Caribbean region, 
the IICA used the workshop on transparency to  provide information on and to promote the 
strengthening of regional enquiry and notification  points, and to provide details of notification 
procedures and current topics of discussion. 
1.3.  In September 2015, the IICA provided support for a national workshop on Sanitary and 
Phytosanitary Measures organized by the WTO in Paraguay. The IICA will also support the 
workshop on international trade that will be held for countries of the Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) in October. This workshop, organized by LAIA and the WTO, will be supported by the IICA in the areas of agriculture and sanitary and phytosanitary measures. 
1.4.  At the end of the year, the IICA will support  the WTO at a regional SPS workshop for 
Caribbean countries. 
1.2  Codex Alimentarius 
1.5.  In the short term, the IICA has organized and will organize a number of events aimed 
at developing capacity to ensure good Codex Alimentarius management: 
a. Workshop on good participation practices and negotiation techniques (September, 
Uruguay). Attended by experts from Argentina and Chile; 
b. Workshop on experience-sharing in the area of regional coordination management and 
regional seminar on the situation and challenges of the Codex Alimentarius in Latin America and the Caribbean (August, Chile). Participants included experts from Costa Rica, Argentina and Brazil; G/SPS/GEN/1452 
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  c. Codex Colloquium on the Committees on Food Hygiene, Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, 
and Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (August, Uruguay). 
Attended by 57 delegates from 23 countries; 
d. Support was provided to the US Codex Office for an event to promote strategic thinking 
on Codex Alimentarius-related issues (September, United States). Participants included delegates from Latin American, Caribbean, Asian and African countries; 
e. Workshop on establishing Codex priorities for the development of joint public 
sector-private sector work plans (El Salvador).  This same event will be held in Honduras 
and Paraguay in November; and 
f. At the end of the year, Codex political positioning activities will take place in 
Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname, with the support of the Codex Coordinating Committee for Latin America and the Caribbe an (Chile) and the US Codex Office. 
1.6.  These activities benefited or will benefit from the financial support of the United States 
Department of Agriculture and the IICA's own resources. In addition, they were or will be supported by officials from Codex Alimenta rius leader countries in Latin America. 
1.7.  As part of the programme to promote participation in the Codex Alimentarius in the Americas 
and the EU-CARIFORUM SPS project, support was pr ovided for the participation of Latin American 
and Caribbean countries in meetings of the Committees on Fresh Fruits and Vegetables 
(seven countries), Food Hygiene (13 countries) and Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses 
(number of countries to be determined). 
1.3  International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) 
1.8.  Under the joint cooperation plan, the IICA suppor ted the IPPC in examining the phytosanitary 
standards to be approved in 2016 for the Caribbean and Latin American regions. To this end, events were held in Trinidad and Tobago, and Peru, respectively. 
2  SUPPORT FOR STRENGTHENING THE INSTITUTIONAL, TECHNICAL AND REGULATORY 
FRAMEWORK 
2.1.  As part of its training programmes for member countries on new legislation that significantly 
impacts trade, the IICA has, since 2014, been working on building up capacity to meet 
the United States' new safety requirem ents (Food Safety Modernization Act). 
2.2.  Two workshops were organized recently, one on the economic impact of disease and another 
on good poultry practices. Both were taught onli ne and brought together sanitary and trade issues. 
2.3.  The IICA provided its support for a meeting on ag ricultural health and food safety (RISAVIA) 
that saw highly technical and productive discussion on issues of a sensitive nature for the countries of the Americas. This event, held in Brasilia, sought to encourage decision-making with a view to tackling the challenges of international trade. 
Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) 
Agricultural Health and Food Safety 
http://www.iica.int 
 
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