G/SPS/GEN/1600  
 
8 February  2018 
(18-0875) Page: 1/4 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English/French/Spanish  
 
 
71ST MEETING OF THE SPS C OMMITTEE  
COMMUNICATION FROM T HE WORLD ORGANISATIO N FOR ANIMAL HEALTH (OIE)  
The following communication, received on 7 February  2018, is being circulated at the request of 
the OIE. 
_______________  
 
 
The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) is pleased to provide this report for the 
information of WTO Members attending the 7 1st meeting of the SPS Committee.  
The report summarises ke y developments in the OIE's standard -setting work programme, along 
with updates on the OIE 's Capacity Building activities.  
1  DEVELOPMENTS IN THE OIE STANDARDS FOR TE RRESTRIAL AND AQUATI C ANIMALS  
1.1.  The Biological Standards Commission  met from 6 to 9 February 20 18 and reviewed 
comments from member countries  and experts on the Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for 
Terrestrial Animals . 
1.2.  The Scientific Commission for Animal Diseases  met from 12 to 16 February 2018. The 
Scientific Commission examined comments fr om member countries  on specific Terrestrial Animal 
Health Code  (Terrestrial Code ) chapters under discussion and provided advice to the Terrestrial 
Animal Health Standards Commission (Code Commission) for their consideration.  
1.3.  The Aquatic Animal Health Stand ards Commission  met from 14 to 22 February 2018 to 
review member country  comments and prepare new and revised texts for the Aquatic Animal 
Health Code  and the Manual of Diagnostic Tests for Aquatic Animals . 
1.4.  The Code Commission  met from 12 to 23 February 2018 and reviewed comments from 
member countries  and experts and prepared new and revised texts for the Terrestrial Code . 
1.5.  The outcomes of the meetings were not available at the time this report was compiled a 
verbal update will be provided to the Committee on key outcomes.  
1.6.  The full reports of the above four Commission meetings will be available on the OIE website  
during April 2018.  
2  PROVISION OF SCIENTI FIC ADVICE TO THE OI E AND ITS MEMBER COU NTRIES  
2.1  OIE ad hoc Groups  
2.1.  The Director General establishes ad hoc Groups in order to respond to specific technical and 
scientific advice required to support the work of the OIE and the Specialist Commissions. In order 
to improve the transparency of these groups, the OIE now publish es information on its website  
providing the dates and terms of reference of proposed ad hoc groups as well as  the reports once 
these have been validated and considered by the relevant Specialist Commissions .  G/SPS/GEN/1600  
 
- 2 - 
 
  3  MONITORING IMPLEMENT ATION OF OIE INTERNA TIONAL STANDARDS – 
OBSERVATORY PROJECT  
3.1.  While the development of standards in the field of animal health and welfare and public 
health is a central mission of the OIE, the Organisation must also look at how they are 
implemented.In line with the announcements made at the 85th General Session in May 2017, the 
Director General has initiated the creation of an Observatory to  monitor the implementation of 
standards in order to identify the difficulties and constraints faced by member countries  and 
therefore put the OIE in a better position to propose solutions. The infographic on the OIE 
Observa tory is included as Appendix A.  
3.2.  The OIE 's international standards are based on science a nd have been adopted by its 
181 members . OIE standards, contained in the Terrestrial and Aquatic Animal Health Codes  and 
Manuals , are measures to be used by veterinary/competent authorities of importi ng and exporting 
countries to prevent the transfer of agents pathogenic for animals or humans while avoiding 
unjus tified sanitary trade barriers.  
3.3.  While the international standard -setting process of the OIE is transparent and fully 
participatory, and while OIE Members are aware of their international obligations, there are still 
significant problems in the consistent application of these standards by many countries, 
particularly when establishing their import regulations. The failure of countries to implemen t OIE 
standards in the application of import trade rules is frequently reported to the SPS Committee of 
the WTO and to the OIE as creating unnecessary barriers to trade.  
3.4.  In order to encourage the implementation of its standards by its Member and maintain i ts 
relevance as the recognised international standards setting body, the OIE is in the process of 
designing a project that will result in an Observatory on the implementation of its standards. The 
creation of a framework ( "the Observatory ") to be used as a  monitoring and evaluation tool, is not 
about compliance and control, but reflects good management practice for the OIE. in order to 
evaluate progress and constraints in the implementation of OIE standards, to evaluate challenges 
and impacts of its standar ds and, in this way, contribute to the on -going improvement of the OIE 
standard setting process and capacity building activities (PVS Pathway, regional seminars and 
workshops).  
3.5.  A technical item to be presented at the 86th General Session of the World Assem bly of OIE 
Delegates, to be held in Paris, France from 20 to 25 May 2018, will be closely linked to the OIE 
Observatory. The topic "Implementation of OIE standards by OIE member countries: state of play 
and specific capacity building needs ", will be suppor ted by the analysis of responses to a 
questionnaire sent to all OIE Delegates in December 2017. The replies to this questionnaire and 
the discussion during the General Session will also serve as the basis for the future design of the 
mechanisms to support the OIE Observatory.  
3.6.  The objectives of technical item for the 86th General Session will be to:  
 Explore the manner and extent to which OIE member countries have taken into account 
OIE standards in their veterinary legislation and decision -making for interna tional trade. In 
particular, the questionnaire explores the use of key concepts that contribute to facilitating 
safe trade: Transparency, Harmonisation, Recognition of equivalence, Risk analysis, 
Acceptance of OIE official status, Zoning, Compartmentalisat ion, Safe commodities ; 
 Identify possible areas of action for targeting interventions (development of standards and 
capacity building activities), in order to facilitate the implementation of OIE standards by 
member countries . 
4  ANIMAL HEALTH INFORM ATION  
4.1  World Animal Health Information Sy stem (WAHIS) is becoming WAHIS+  
4.1.  In its leading role to improve animal health and welfare worldwide, one of the OIE 's key 
missions is to ensure transparency in the global animal disease situation. Access to high quality 
data is the cornerstone of the effective control of transboundary animal diseases, including 
zoonoses; this access ensures the early and appropriate response after detection of emerging 
diseases, contributes to protecting public health and global livelihoods,  and plays a significant role G/SPS/GEN/1600  
 
- 3 - 
 
  in facilitating safe trade. The OIE 's World Animal Health Information System (WAHIS), developed 
and launched in 2005, is the global tool to achieve these objectives.  
4.2.  WAHIS enables the collection and the dissemination of data o n animal diseases of 
epidemiological significance in both domestic species and wildlife and is vital for the global 
dissemination of information on animal disease events, including zoonotic pathogens. This 
reporting mechanism is based on the OIE 's internat ional standards and is representative of the 
global consensus and shared vision to collectively tackle animal diseases and their negative 
impacts. WAHIS is an evolving tool which responds to global needs, changes to international 
standards and has increase d pace for innovation and technological change (WAHIS+).  
4.3.  To enable free access to world animal health data, the OIE provides Internet users with 
several computer tools designed to answer specific user needs. This portal provides easy access to 
these tools,  for more accurate results while searching for world animal health information . 
 G/SPS/GEN/1600  
 
- 4 - 
 
  APPENDIX  A 
 
__________