G/SPS/GEN/1483  
 
15 March 2016  
(16-1484)  Page: 1/3  
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
ACP-EU TBT PROGRAMME REPORT TO TH E MEETING OF THE WTO SPS COMMITTEE 
15-17 MARCH 2016 
COMMUNICATION BY THE ACP GROUP 
The following communication, received on 9 March 2016, is distributed at the request of the ACP 
Secretariat. 
 
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  The ACP-EU TBT Programme is a €15 million trade capacity building vehicle aimed at contributing 
to improved competitiveness in local, regional and global markets by enhancing the export 
capacity of economic operators in ACP countries . In discharging this aim, the TBT Programme 
seeks to strengthen the capacity of ACP countries and regions to influence and comply with TBT 
requirements of external trading partners, as well as to define and enforce legitimate and 
adequately harmonised TBT on internal markets while drawing maximum advantage of the existing 
WTO TBT Agreements. The Programme's activities are grouped around three prioritised areas of 
intervention, viz.: 
a. Upgrading and strengthening quality infrastructure institutions; 
b. Empowering economic operators and export sectors; and 
c. Disseminating results and experiences. 
Since its launch in March 2013, the TBT Programm e has developed and implemented 65 projects 
in ACP countries with beneficiaries being national and regional quality infrastructure institutions, exporters and trade associations. 
In spite of the Programme's nomenclature, its activities have also ventured into the realm of the 
SPS Agreement. The interpretation of the realm of  the TBT Programme's activities resides in the 
definition of SPS measures as captured in Annex 1 that makes specific reference to testing, 
inspection, certification, risk assessment; and packaging and labelling requirements directly 
related to food safety. 
Of the 65 projects implemented by the TBT Prog ramme, 11 have a specific SPS dimension. The 
most significant of these are as follows: 
1  042-14: SCIENTIFIC AND LEGAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A QUALITY 
AND SAFETY STANDARD FOR KAVA PRODUCTION AND TRADE IN THE PACIFIC REGION 
1.1.  This comprises two critical elements, i.e.: 
a. complete the scientific sampling of relevant kava cultivars and ensure that kava is 
produced and processed according to good agricultural practices, recognized FAO-Codex regional and international standards; 
b. draft an international standard for kava for consideration within the FAO-Codex regional 
process, more specifically in the Codex Coordination Committee North America South West Pacific (CCNASWP). 
1.2.  The draft standard based on internatio nal standards has been completed and is now 
subjected to internal consultations by individual Pacific ACP States and will be reviewed at the 
CCNASWP meeting in September 2016. G/SPS/GEN/1483 
 
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  2  021-14 DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ECO-LABELLING SCHEMES IN THE 
FISH SECTOR VANUATU AND THE PACIFIC REGION 
2.1.  The project had the following two principal objectives, viz.: 
a. complete a situation analysis and needs assessment study and assess the enabling 
conditions for harnessing sustainable trade opportunities; 
b. support the enhancement of institutional capacities of key public and private sectors on 
sustainable fisheries management through the introduction of eco-labelling schemes. 
2.2.  The project resulted in the acceptance th at in spite of the initial and ongoing costs of 
certification, a stringent ecolabel coupled with sub-regional marketing brand-sharing strategy could herald new commercial opportunities for ACP Pacific fishing industry. In addition, additional regulatory systems were required at both national and regional levels. 
3  009-13 HARMONISATION OF AFRICAN STANDARDS - TRADITIONAL MEDICINE 
3.1.  The project aimed to support the harmonizat ion of African Standards within the scope of the 
THC 13 on African Traditional Medicine. The project beneficiary is ARSO, the African Organisation 
on Standardisation. As a result of the TBT Programme intervention, the inter-governmental 
consultations on adopting the draft standards are now well advanced among the 12 participating African states. In addition, four specific modules for training on the key WTO obligations of ARSO 
member States were implemented. 
4  070-15 ARSO DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION AND CREATION OF AWARENESS ON 
AFRICAN AGRICULTURAL STANDARDS AND CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT 
4.1.  This project aims at facilitating intra-Af rican trade through promotion and dissemination of 
free flows of information on standards, conformity assessment, technical regulations and related 
matters to demonstrate compliance with quality standards, consumer requirements and technical trade regulations; and enhance the implementati on of harmonised African standards among the 
African farmers availing summarized outreach materials as value addition tools to production for 
agricultural transformation. 
4.2.  Specific elements include (a) upgrading the African Trade Web Portal and thereby enhance its 
capacity to act as a "one-stop-shop" source of information for concerned economic operators; 
(b) disseminate harmonized African standards to in terested stakeholders in ARSO member States; 
and (c) promote awareness on African agricultural standards and conformity assessment for the empowerment of the African small holder farm ers, traders and processing enterprises. 
5  050-15 MARKET ACCESS CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAMME FOR THE CARIFORUM 
REGION 
5.1.  The purpose of this project is to deve lop and execute a comprehensive one-year Market 
Access Capacity Building Programme for the CARI FORUM region and to strengthen the export 
capacity of agro-processing firms and skills of services providers in the field of certification in CARIFORUM countries with the emphasis on food safety. 
5.2.  The specific deliverables of this project are five-fold, namely, (a) develop comprehensive 
training material focusing on Traceability, Quality Management Systems, Risk Assessment and HACCP; EU and US approaches to food safety requirements; and ISO 22000 – Food Safety Management Systems requirements for any entity in the food chain; (b) support the food safety 
capacity of select Caribbean firms through training consistent with the the Train-Trainers 
Methodology; (a) draft action plans for selected firms for the implementation of food safety requirements targeting the US and EU markets; (d) evaluate and assess the selected companies 
by contacted monitoring experts; and (e) update  practical training material and supplement the 
with case studies. G/SPS/GEN/1483 
 
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  6  057-15 SUPPORT AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAIN ACTORS FOR PROMOTING QUALITY 
AND IMPROVING COMPETITIVENESS FOR BETTER INTEGRATION OF TOGO TO 
INTERNATIONAL TRADE 
6.1.  The specific objective is to improve the le gislative and regulatory framework and strengthen 
the capacity of QI institutions. The project results are as follows: (a) the quality infrastructure has 
been assessed and the regulatory, legislative and operational framework is improved; (b) strengthened capacity of QI institutions; (c) actors in the food sector have been trained in the 
culture of quality and prepared for certification; and (d) the public and private actors are 
sensitized on the requirements of the WTO TBT and SPS Agreements and international standards 
for the integration of Togo in both regional and international trade. 
7  047-15 HORTICULTURE TRADE ENHANC EMENT AND CERTIFICATION IN RWANDA 
7.1.  This project is aimed at supporting select  Rwandan horticulture producers and exporters to 
comply with food safety requirements and thereby improve their respective level of 
competitiveness and effective market access. In te rms of specific interventions, this project had 
two dimensions, namely, (a) to train and support selected small-scale farmers for the Global GAP 
certification; and (b) to strengthen the capacity  of local service providers and trade bodies to 
support horticulture producers and exporters in the process for certification. 
7.2.  Results attained were an assessment of the capacities and needs of the horticulture 
producers and exporters with recommendations fo r improvements presented and consulted with 
the beneficiary. In addition, a number of Rwan dan service providers and trainers from trade-
related organisations were trained on food safety and quality, good agriculture practices, export 
quality management system and effective access to  markets. The project thereby resulted in a 
band of small scale-Rwandan farmers attaining compliance with the requirements and standing ready to apply for Global GAP certification. 
8  014-14 STRENGTHENING QUALITY AND FOOD SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR 
PINEAPPLE PRODUCERS WITH  EXPORT POTENTIAL IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 
8.1.  This project's overall objective was to ssuppo rt select pineapple production and exporters to 
comply with food safety requirements, technical regulations, standards and conformity 
assessments procedures of their major trading partners. The specific objectives were to enhance the capacity of the pineapple producer associat ion (APROPIC) and other relevant intermediary 
organizations in the area of food safety (specifi cally, traceability, food quality and food safety, 
etc.). 
8.2.  The project delivered the following concrete  results, namely, (a) strengthen institutional 
capacity of the association of pineapple producers and trade-related institutions in the Sanchez 
Ramirez region; (b) training of select trainers on  food safety, export quality management system, 
traceability, food quality, etc.; and preparing pineapple producers to apply for ISO 22000 or Global GAP certification. 
8.3.  In supporting the abovementioned projects , the TBT Programme has collaborated closely with 
a a cluster of other TRTA providers, most notably, UNIDO, PTB, OIML, TradeMarks Programmes, STDF, ITC and UNCTAD. The Programme has also benefitted from close synergies with other 
EU national funded initiatives such as TRAQUE (Ghana) and SMAP (Kenya). Finally, one metric of 
the successful work undertaken by the Programme is that it has almost fully exhausted its initial 
project funding. This degree of financial utilisation also highlights the ACP's deep recognition that establishing effective national cum regional SPS regimes constitute a sine qua non to securing 
effective access to the markets of major trading partners.  
Brussels 
3 March 2016 
 
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