G/SPS/GEN/1317  
 
17 March 2014  
(14-1664)  Page: 1/4  
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English/French/Spanish  
 
 59TH MEETING OF THE SPS COMMITTEE 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE WORLD ORGA NISATION FOR ANIMAL HEALTH (OIE) 
The following communication, received on 14 March 2014, is being circulated at the request of the 
OIE. 
 
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 The OIE is pleased to provide this update for the information of SPS Committee members. This 
report focuses on 1) developments in the OIE standards for terrestrial and aquatic animals, 2) the 
launch of the WAHIS Wild interface, 3) the recommendations from the OIE Conference on 
Veterinary Education and the role of Veterinary Statutory Bodies, and 4) capacity building using the OIE PVS Pathway. 
SPS Committee members may also be interested to note that January 2014 marked the 
90
th anniversary of the establishment of OIE. Throughout this anniversary year there is a 
dedicated page on our website noting key OIE achievements over the last 90 years. 
1  DEVELOPMENTS IN THE OIE STANDARD S FOR TERRESTRIAL AND AQUATIC ANIMALS 
1.1.  The Terrestrial Animal Health Standards Commission (Code Commission) met on 11-
20 February 2014. The meeting focused on new and revised texts for the Terrestrial Animal Health 
Code (Terrestrial Code ) to be proposed for adoption at the 82nd General Session (25-30 May 
2014). 
1.2.  The Aquatic Animal Health Standards Commission (Aquatic Animals Commission) met on 24-
28 February 2014. The meeting focused on new and revised texts for the Aquatic Animal Health 
Code (Aquatic Code ) and Manual of Diagnostic Tests for Aquatic Animals  t o  b e  p r o p o s e d  f o r  
adoption at the 82nd General Session (25-30 May 2014). 
1.3.  The OIE draws the attention of WTO Members to the following important developments. 
a. User's Guides 
The OIE has revised the Terrestrial Code  User's Guide, which to date has been provided 
for member country's information and guidance only. In recognition of the growing member country interest and participation in development of OIE standards, the revised 
User's Guide will be proposed for formal adoption by the World Assembly of Delegates in 
May 2014. The Aquatic Animal Health Standards Commission is also revising the "Guide to the Use of the Aquatic Animal Health Code" to align it with the revisions proposed for 
the Terrestrial Code  User's Guide. 
b. Application of new OIE disease listing criteria 
Following the adoption of revised OIE disease listing criteria in 2011, in the Terrestrial 
Code, several diseases on the current list were proposed for de-listing in 2013. The 
proposals to de-list Swine Vesicular Disease and Vesicular Stomatitis drew significant debate in 2013, and were left under study. Following further consultation with OIE member countries these two diseases will again be proposed for delisting at the 2014 
General Session. G/SPS/GEN/1317 
 
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  c. Notification of diseases, infections and infestations, and provision of epidemiological 
information  
Along with revision of the OIE definition  of emerging diseases, both the Code 
Commission and Aquatic Animals Commission have proposed changes to the above 
standard, in the respective Codes , to clarify and differentiate the obligatory notification 
requirements for listed diseases and emerging diseases not yet listed. 
d. Anti-microbial resistance 
Following the successful 2013 OIE Global Conf erence on the Responsible and Prudent 
Use of Antimicrobial Agents for Animals, a significant revision of the OIE Terrestrial Code  
standard on Risk assessment for antimicrobial resistance arising from the use of antimicrobial agents in animals is proposed for adoption in May 2014. Experts are also 
continuing to work on revising the standard on Harmonisation of national antimicrobial 
resistance surveillance and monitoring programmes. 
e. High health status horse subpopulation 
The sport horse industry has developed significantly, in the last decade, leading to great 
socio-economic benefits to the national economies, the horse industry and other stakeholders. Presently, there are several OIE regions that have a substantial horse 
industry, and yet face a number of challenges that impede the free and safe 
international movement of competition horses, as well as the expansion of the equine industry. Some of the obstacles are inconsistent approaches to the application of intergovernmental health regulations and quarantine, leading to excessive and irregular 
health requirements for importation of horses, without benefit for horse disease 
prevention and control. 
In order to address these constraints, the OI E, together with the Fédération Équestre 
Internationale (FEI), in collaboration with the International Federation of Horse Racing 
Authorities (IFHA) and other experts, are el aborating the "high health, high performance 
horse (HHP)" concept. It draws heavily on existing OIE standards covering zoning and 
compartmentalisation, biosecurity, identification and traceability, and health certification. 
A new standard that brings these fundamental SPS principles together in the context of a 
high health status horse subpopulation will be proposed to the World Assembly of Delegates for adoption in May 2014. 
2  WAHIS-WILD INTERFACE - A NEW APPL ICATION PROVIDING INFORMATION ABOUT 
WILD ANIMAL DISEASES 
2.1.  In January, the OIE announced the public release of a newly developed web application 
named WAHIS-Wild  Interface, available on its website 
(http://www.oie.int/wahis _2/public/wahidwild.php ). This interface contains information on non 
OIE-listed diseases of wild animals, collected annually on a voluntary basis by the OIE member 
countries. 
2.2.  One of the main missions of the OIE is to ensure transparency of the worldwide animal 
disease situation, in particular through the legal obligation for all member countries to report cases of 116 diseases of domestic and wild animals grou ped in an official OIE list. These notifications 
help to improve animal health and to safeguard sa fety of world trade without setting up unjustified 
sanitary barriers. Since 2005, information about OI E-listed diseases of domestic and wild animals 
is available through the World Animal Health Information System Interface, WAHID 
(http://www.oie.int/wahis_2/pub lic/wahid.php/W ahidhome/Home ). 
2.3.  Nevertheless, to protect animal and human health, we must also monitor non OIE-listed 
emerging and re-emerging diseases in both domestic and wild animals, which can be reservoirs, 
hosts or victims of these diseases. A specific surveillance procedure dedicated to wildlife has been 
defined by a working group of experts from seve ral member countries. These experts identified 
53 priority infectious and non-infectious diseases to be monitored based on their importance for wildlife and to protect animal and human health. G/SPS/GEN/1317 
 
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  2.4.  The WAHIS-Wild Interface now allows open access to this information about wildlife non OIE 
listed diseases, and is accessible at: http://www.oie.int/wahiswild . 
3  VETERINARY EDUCATION AND THE ROLE  OF VETERINARY STATUTORY BODIES 
3.1.  The third OIE Global Conference on Veterina ry Education and the role of Veterinary Statutory 
Bodies (VSBs) was held in Foz de Iguazu (Brazil) from 4 to 6 December 2013. More than 
1,000 international participants from 110 countries addressed the need for better quality and harmonisation of veterinary education worldwide,  based on OIE guidelines. The Conference also 
focused on strengthening the role of VSBs in supporting better Veterinary Education and in 
regulating veterinarians, to ensure their quality and ethics.  
3.2.  The Conference recommendations are available at: 
http://www.oie.int/eng/A_EDUVSB 2013/recommendations/A_Reco mmendations_Brazil_Final.pdf . 
4  CAPACITY BUILDING USING THE OIE PVS PATHWAY 
4.1.  The OIE continues its global initiative to support member countries wishing to strengthen 
Veterinary Services and Aquatic Animal Health Services (AAHS) using the OIE PVS Pathway. 
4.2.  The OIE will organise a training seminar in April 2014 for PVS evaluators to update them on 
recent revisions to the PVS Pathway tools.  
4.3.  A summary of OIE Members' engagement in  the PVS Pathway may be found in the Annex. 
 
 G/SPS/GEN/1317 
 
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  ANNEX 
A SUMMARY OF PROGRESS ON PVS PATHWAY EVALUATIONS 
PVS Evaluation missions: State of play (25 February 2014) 
 OIE members PVS Evaluation 
requests 
received PVS Evaluation 
missions 
implemented Reports 
available for 
(restricted) 
distribution to 
Donors and 
Partners 
Africa 52 53* 50 39 
Americas 29 25 22 18 
Asia, the Far East 
and Oceania 32 21 18 11 
Europe 53 16 16 12 
Middle East 12 13 11 5 
TOTAL 178 128 117 85 
* One non OIE member requested a PVS mission. 
PVS Gap Analysis: State of play (25 February 2014) 
 OIE members PVS Gap 
Analysis 
requests 
received PVS Gap 
Analysis 
missions 
implemented Reports 
available for 
(restricted) 
distribution to 
Donors and 
Partners 
Africa 52 44 38 22 
Americas 29 15 11 10 
Asia, the Far East 
and Oceania 32 18 12 7 
Europe 53 8 7 2 
Middle East 12 8 4 0 
TOTAL 178 93 72 41 
 
Veterinary Legislation: State of play (25 February 2014) 
 OIE members PVS Legislation 
mission requests 
received PVS Legislation 
missions 
implemented 
Africa 52 29 19 
Americas 29 7 5 
Asia, the Far East and 
Oceania 32 5 5 
Europe 53 3 2 
Middle East 12 4 4 
TOTAL 178 48 35 
 
 
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