WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/SPS/GEN/1201 
15 October 2012 
 (12-5582) 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
INFORMATION ON SPS ACTIVITIES OF THE AFRICAN UNION 
 
SPS Committee Meeting, 18 - 19 October 2012  
 
 
 The following communication, received on 12 Octo ber 2012, is being circulated at the request 
of the African Union Commission. 
 
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I. GENERALITIES 
1. The Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Committee), at its July 2012 
meeting, granted the African Union observer status  on an ad hoc meeting-by-meeting basis.  This 
indeed is a landmark decision and the African Union (AU) appreciates the privilege of the status granted it by the SPS Committee and to the Secretaria t for this trust and for the opportunity given to 
participate in the meetings of the SPS Committee.  The observer status granted the African Union 
Commission (AUC) will further strengthen the contin ent-wide coordination of Africa's position on 
global trade-related issues as well as providing effe ctive support and guidance to the participation of 
AU member States and the African Regional Econom ic Communities (RECs) in the affairs of the 
Committee. 
2. Various AU personnel will be represented in the SPS  meetings in their respective capacities.  
The role of the Commission in the SPS arena fo cuses mainly on policy aspects and aims at 
harmonizing SPS regulatory frameworks on the continen t and ensuring compliance with international 
standards.  With a Central SPS-Cluster coordinati on unit based at the Department of Rural Economy 
and Agriculture of the Commission, the African Un ion Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources 
(AU-IBAR) and the Interafrican Phytosanitary Council (AU-IAPSC) are two AUC specialized technical offices with direct regulatory roles in the SPS domain.  
3. AU-IBAR is responsible for animal health a nd food safety while AU-IAPSC is responsible 
for plant health.  Since 2010, these two technical offices, with support from the AUC, have focused 
their activities in the sector on support to member Stat es to improve their participation in the standard 
setting processes in the Three Sisters' organizations (OIE, IPPC and CAC), and in the WTO SPS.  
4. African delegates have increasingly become more effective in their participation in the 
activities of the "Three Sisters" in terms of pr oviding sound comments on the proposed draft standards 
and this can be considered as a valuable contribu tion of the AUC to the implementation of the SPS 
Agreement and the activities of the SPS Committee. 
5. Currently, the African Union is the Lead Instituti on in the Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in 
Africa as part of the over-arching SPS framework.  In addition, the African Union also coordinates the 
Africa-wide SPS Working Group with a view to havi ng a coherent central coordination mechanism on 
continent-wide SPS initiatives. G/SPS/GEN/1201 
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  II. CAPACITY BUILDING  
6. Following the training of trainers' workshops held  in July 2009 on improving the efficiency of 
participation of African nations in the activities of the WTO-SPS Committee and of the international 
standards setting organizations, the African Uni on has conducted a series of regional and national 
workshops on the same in 2011 and in 2012, including but not limited to, the following: 
 51 trainers trained; 
 267 participants trained at regional level (Regional Economic Communities); 
 More than 571 participants trained at country level. 
7. Beneficiaries of the trainings were officials from the three sub-sectors (animal health, plant 
health and food safety), from the private sector (p roducers associations, exporters, importers, etc.) as 
well as the SPS focal points or notification authorities. 
8. The trainings focused on risk analysis, co st-benefit analysis, and negotiation skills. 
III. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE 
9. In order to foster the inter-sectoral coordinati on at country level with regard to SPS matters, 
the African Union has supported the member Stat es to establish national SPS committees where they 
do not exist or to strengthen them where they do exist.  The table below shows the countries where 
national SPS committees have been supported. 
National SPS Committees created or strengthened* 
 
CENSAD COMESA EAC ECCAS ECOWAS IGAD SADC 
Burkina 
Faso Comoros Burundi Cameroon Benin Djibouti Angola 
Senegal Madagascar Kenya* Central 
African Rep. Cape Verde Sudan Botswana 
Mauritania Mauritius Rwanda Chad Cote 
d'Ivoire Ethiopia Lesotho 
Mali Malawi Tanzania Congo The Gambia Somalia Mozambique 
Niger Seychelles Uganda* Equatorial. 
Guinea Ghana   Namibia 
  Zambia*   Gabon Guinea    Swaziland* 
  Congo Dem. 
Rep.   Sao Tome & 
Principe Guinea 
Bissau   Zimbabwe* 
  Eritrea     Liberia     
        Nigeria     
        Sierra Leone     
        Togo     
5 8 5 7 11 4 7 
TOTAL:  47 
  G/SPS/GEN/1201 
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  10. Further to the creation of national SPS comm ittees, the African Union funded countries (in 
italics in the table) to organize national meetings for sensitizations on SPS matters. 
11. The AUC, through its two technical offices, has also encouraged African RECs and member 
States who were not members of WTO or the Three Sisters' organisations, to seek observer status or full membership in the SPS Co mmittee and the Three Sisters. 
IV. COORDINATION OF SPS-RELATED ACTIVITIES 
12. AUC has established a SPS Cluster under the Di rectorate for Rural Economy and Agriculture 
(DREA) to coordinate SPS matters with the techni cal offices. The DREA-led cluster will eventually 
have representatives from the RECs as and when necessary. 
13. The AU is in the process of creating a Contin ental SPS Working Group to mainstream SPS 
into the Comprehensive African Agriculture De velopment Programme (C AADP) implementation. 
14. The establishment of a Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) is in the pipeline and 
will be based at, and integrated into, the IBAR structure. 
15. A Food Safety Authority under the AUC will be discussed from 29 - 30 October 2012 in 
Kigali, Rwanda, for approval by member States. 
• Coordination of continental common positions for animal health, plant health and food 
safety since 2009  
16. Activity initiated under PANSPSO: 
– Animal health: common positions for OIE General Sessions since 2009, and common 
written comments for September and Fe bruary Code Commission meetings 
since 2011; 
– Food safety: focus on nine selected thematic committees (CCCF, CCFH, CCFA, 
CCFL, CCPR, CCRVDF, CCNFSDU, CCFFP and CCFFV); 
– Plant health:  continental consultations on draft ISPMs by national plant protection 
officers with the coordination of AU-IAPSC. 
• Support to RECs for coordination  of regional common positions  
17. AU will financially support RECs in that process and provide expe rtise if required. 
• Strengthening consultation processes at nati onal level for articulation of national 
positions  
18. The objective is to bring countries to provide comments and national positions with regards to 
proposed draft standards from ISSOs. 
• Facilitation of attendance to ISSO meetings for RECs and member States  
19. Support RECs delegates or member States dele gates to attend the in ternational meetings. 
• Facilitating obtaining of observer status for RECs at the OIE, at the IPPC, at the CAC, 
and at the SPS Committee  G/SPS/GEN/1201 
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  20. Sensitize RECs/member States and facilitate the process of gaining observer status. 
21. A number of AU recognized RECs obtained obser ver status in various ISSOs and the WTO 
SPS Committee. 
22. The AUC was granted observer status in the WTO SPS Committee. 
• Publication of handbooks and leaflets that provide guidelines for participation in the 
standard-setting process and analyse the most relevant articles of the OIE, IPPC and 
CAC Codes (on-going)  
V. SUPPORT TO COMPLIANCE WITH SPS STANDARDS 
 Developed a risk based animal health certification system for Somalia 
 
 Harmonized animal health regulations in th e Greater Horn of Africa region to promote 
improved trade: on-going through a project 
 
 Identification and traceability systems for pastoral areas: 
 
– On-going consultation process with countries and RECs; 
– Consultation; 
– Pilot activities in selected countries. 
 Honey compliance with standards: 
 
– New project with a component on compliance with international standards on honey. 
 
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