G/SPS/GEN/1231  
 
15 March 2013  
(13-1414)  Page: 1/4  
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English/French/Spanish  
 
 RELEVANT ACTIVITIES 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE WORLD ORGA NISATION FOR ANIMAL HEALTH (OIE) 
The following communication, received on 13 March 2013, is being circulated at the request of the 
OIE. 
 
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 1.  The OIE is pleased to provide this update fo r the information of SPS Committee Members. This 
report focuses on (1) developments in the OIE standards for terrestrial animals, (2) recent 
progress on vaccine standards and a pilot approach to Peste des Petits Ruminants control in Africa, 
(3) OIE Scientific Commission review of Brazil BSE status, (4) the forthcoming OIE Conference on Veterinary education and the role of Veterinary Statutory Bodies, and (5) capacity building using 
the OIE PVS Pathway. 
1  DEVELOPMENTS IN THE OIE ST ANDARDS FOR TERRESTRIAL ANIMALS 
2.  The Terrestrial Animal Health Standards Commission (Code Commission) met on 19-
28 February 2013. The meeting focused on new and revised Terrestrial Animal Health Code 
(Terrestrial Code) texts proposed for adoption at the 81st General Session (26-31 May 2013). 
3.  The OIE draws the attention of WTO Members to the following important developments. 1.1  African horse sickness 
4.  The OIE has developed provisions for the offici al recognition of freedom of countries and zones 
from African horse sickness. Further revision of th e text adopted in 2012 is proposed in response 
to member comments and expert review. A key change in the text proposed for adoption this year 
is removal of the articles that recognised seasonally free zones, given the practical challenges of 
demonstrating seasonal disease freedom for vector borne diseases. 
1.2  Classical Swine Fever 
5.  A major review of the chapter on classical sw ine fever has been completed and will be proposed 
for adoption, along with a questionnaire to support applications for official recognition by the OIE of a classical swine fever free country or zone. 
1.3  Peste des Petits Ruminants 
6.  The OIE has updated current provisions on Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), an important 
disease of sheep and goats in Africa. With the suppo rt of Members, the OIE is proposing conditions 
for official recognition of freedom from PPR, with the eventual objective of global eradication of 
this disease, as recently achieved for rinderpest. 
1.4  Rabies 7.  Following the OIE, WHO and FAO efforts to develop a Global Strategy for rabies control in 
collaboration with other key partners, the OIE has developed a new article for freedom of rabies in G/SPS/GEN/1231 
 
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  dogs. Although rabies affects many species, eradication of rabies in dogs effectively minimises the 
public health risks of rabies. This revised text is proposed for adoption at the 81st General Session (2013). 
1.5  OIE Guidelines on assessing the risk  of non-native animal species becoming 
invasive 
8.  As we reported at 53rd SPS Committee meeting, the OIE developed Guidelines on assessing 
the risk of non-native animal species becoming invasive, which are now available on the OIE 
website at: 
"http://www.oie.int/fileadmin/Home /eng/Our_scientific_expertise/ docs/pdf/OIEGuidelines_NonNati
veAnimals_2012.pdf ". 
2  VACCINE STANDARDS AND PILOT APPROA CH TO PESTE DES PETITS RUMINANTS 
CONTROL IN AFRICA 
9.  The OIE together with the African Union (AU) held a launch meeting for this project at the AU 
Headquarters in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia, 11-12 February 2013. The project aims to establish a 
Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) Regional Vaccine Bank and develop a pilot strategy to control the 
disease in selected countries in Western Africa. It also intends to strengthen the capacities of the Pan African Veterinary Vaccine Centre of the African Union (AU-PANVAC) to improve the quality 
control of PPR vaccines produced and used in Africa. 
10.  The meeting was a determining step forwar d in the effective deployment of the three 
components of the project and addressed the following: 
• Vaccine quality control component with discussions between laboratories producing PPR 
vaccines in Africa and AU-PANVAC; 
• Vaccine Bank with the Botswana Vaccine Institute (BVI), which was chosen to supply the 
PPR vaccines following an OIE international call for tender launched in October 2012. 
Among others, BVI will be responsible for delivering high quality vaccines and ensuring the 
rapid and smooth transportation of the vaccines requested to the countries of destination; an estimated 10 million vaccine doses will be delivered primarily to Burkina Faso and 
Ghana, as well as to other selected West African countries; 
• Development of a PPR control strategy: the protocol of the pilot field studies to be 
implemented in Burkina Faso and Ghana was presented, with the aim to provide countries and partners with PPR control methods relevant for all regional ecosystems and animal 
populations. 
3  OIE SCIENTIFIC COMMISSION RE VIEW OF BRAZIL BSE STATUS 
11.  At its recent biannual meeting, from 4 to 8 February 2013, the OIE Scientific Commission for 
Animal Diseases addressed among different issues the occurrence of the first case of BSE recorded 
in Brazil. 
12.  The Commission was briefed by a delegation from  Brazil on the sequence of events leading to 
the notification of this case of BSE to the OI E. After extensive deliberation, the Commission 
concluded in accordance with the standards of the OIE Terrestrial Code, not to withdraw the "negligible risk" status of Brazil. 
13.  The Commission also affirmed that the identifica tion of this single case of BSE is not putting 
the country's or its trading partners' animal and public health at risk, notably because the animal 
was destroyed and no parts of it entered the food or feed chain. 
14.  The Commission, however, noted with concern that there had been a considerable delay 
before Brazil sent the clinical samples for a confirmatory diagnosis to an OIE Reference Laboratory. 
The Commission therefore agreed that it needed more detailed information on the procedures in place for processing samples and the improvement of  the surveillance system in the country so as 
to further monitor the continuous compliance by Brazil with the relevant provisions of the 
Terrestrial Code to be respected for the sustainable maintenance of its official status for BSE. G/SPS/GEN/1231 
 
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  15.  At its next meeting in September 2013, the Commission will again assess the additional 
information to be provided by Brazil. 
4  VETERINARY EDUCATION AND THE ROLE  OF VETERINARY STATUTORY BODIES 
16.  As previously advised, the OIE is organising  a Global Conference on Veterinary Education and 
the role of Veterinary Statutory Bodies (VSB) in Brazil, 4-6 December 2013. 
17.  The Conference will feature presentations fr om representatives of international organisations 
and national Veterinary Services (VS), as well  as experts on veterinary education and the 
performance of VSBs. The Conference will: 
• analyse the current situation with veterinary education and the performance of VSBs 
globally, including relevant issues pertaining to the national veterinary legislation; 
• provide information on general principles and best practices on establishing a VSB; 
• raise international awareness of OIE standards and recommendations relevant to the 
quality and performance of VS, (including the legislative basis and organisational 
structure), veterinary education and VSB performance; 
• raise awareness of veterinarians in both the pu blic and the private sector on their role and 
responsibilities under the legal framework of responsibilities given to the VSB; 
• review the experiences of OIE member Countries in the domain of veterinary education 
and VSB quality, including the challenges and priorities of developing countries; 
• discuss how OIE members can improve governance using the OIE twinning procedures for 
Veterinary Education Establishments (VEEs) and VSBs and other elements of the OIE PVS framework (initial PVS evaluation, PVS ga p analysis, PVS follow-up and veterinary 
legislation missions); 
• identify other tools and support that can be provided to national VS in developing 
countries, as appropriate to their needs; 
• launch a discussion on future needs and priorities to strengthen veterinary education and 
VSB performances, within the framework of the PVS Pathway, including recommendations to the OIE on future activities and initiatives. 
18.  Approximately 500 international participants are expected to attend the Conference, 
including: 
• OIE National Delegates and other national government representatives; • Deans of VEES and other professional educators; 
• Leaders and decision makers of VSBs; 
• International and national organisations/private sector organisations, individual experts; • Representatives of organisations having official agreements with the OIE. 
19.  The conference will include ministerial stat ements, keynote addresses, technical presentations 
and discussions to develop conference recommendations for future action.  
20.  More information on this Conference can be found at: 
http://www.oie.int/eng/A_ED UVSB2013/introduction.htm . 
5  CAPACITY BUILDING USING THE OIE PVS PATHWAY 
21.  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. 
22.  A summary of OIE members' engagement in  the PVS Pathway may be found at Annex 1. G/SPS/GEN/1231 
 
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  ANNEX 1 
A SUMMARY OF PROGRESS ON PVS PATHWAY EVALUATIONS 
PVS Evaluation missions: Stat e of play (21 January 2013) 
 OIE members PVS Evaluation 
requests 
received PVS Evaluation 
missions 
implemented Reports 
available for 
(restricted) 
distribution to 
Donors and 
Partners 
Africa 52 53* 49 37 
Americas 29 25 21 18 
Asia, the Far East 
and Oceania 32 18 18 11 
Europe 53 16 14 12 
Middle East 12 12 11 5 
TOTAL 178 124 113 83 
* One non OIE Member requested a PVS mission. 
 
PVS Gap Analysis: State of  play (21 January 2013) 
 OIE members PVS Gap 
Analysis 
requests 
received PVS Gap 
Analysis 
missions 
implemented Reports 
available for 
(restricted) 
distribution to 
Donors and 
Partners 
Africa 52 38 33 20 
Americas 29 14 10 9 
Asia, the Far East 
and Oceania 32 13 10 7 
Europe 53 8 6 2 
Middle East 12 8 4 0 
TOTAL 178 81 63 38 
 
Veterinary Legislation: Stat e of play (21 January 2013) 
 OIE members PVS Legislation 
mission 
requests 
received PVS Legislation 
missions 
implemented PVS Legislation 
documents 
received 
Africa 52 23 16 15 
Americas 29 6 4 4 
Asia, the Far East 
and Oceania 32 5 5 5 
Europe 53 3 2 2 
Middle East 12 4 4 4 
TOTAL 178 41 31 30 
 
 
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