G/SPS/GEN/1484  
 
15 March 2016  
(16-1485)  Page: 1/3  
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
INFORMATION ON SPS-RELATED RECENT AND FORTHCOMING ASSISTANCE AND 
OTHER ACTIVITIES FROM THE INTE RNATIONAL TRADE CENTRE (ITC) 
(OCTOBER 2015 – MARCH 2016) 
The following communication, received on 14 March 2016, is being circulated at the request of the 
ITC. 
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 The International Trade Centre is continuing its efforts to assist enterprises to meet technical requirements. An update of the SPS-related projec ts of interest to the WTO Members is provided 
herewith: 
1  PROJECTS 1.1  STDF/PG/354: Improving Safety and Qu ality of Sri Lankan Fruits and Vegetables 
1.1.  This project is implemented by ITC in close collaboration with the Ceylon Chamber of 
Commerce and the Department of Agriculture. By the end of February 2016, 496 officers from the Plant Quarantine Office and Extension and Training  Division and 70 officers from the Ministry of 
Health and Exporters, 150 Field Level Extension Officers, Processors and other relevant 
stakeholders / have been trained on SPS-related topics. More than 500 farmers from 13 different districts in Sri Lanka were trained on GAP, pest  controls, harvest and post-harvest practices. 
In addition, four networking events were organized between October 2015 and January 2016, 
where farmers and exporters had the chance to  meet and expand collaboration for their 
businesses. Two of the leading farmers and five exporters went on a study tour to Milan (Italy) in December 2015 to be exposed to the EU market requirements and establish contacts with 
potential buyers. 
1.2.  Under the project brochures on good hygi enic practices, good agricultural practices, 
phytosanitary regulations and plant quarantine and food hazards are developed and distributed 
between the famers. Development of the SOPs for the Plant Health Office is ongoing. 
1.3.  The website http://www.spssrilanka.lk  is being updated with project related news and news 
on SPS information. 
1.4.  In the remaining two months of project im plementation, an additional 100 farmers are due to 
be trained and more networking events will be  organized to link farmers and exporters. In 
collaboration with ITC Trade for Sustainable Development Programme (T4SD), the project will pilot the Global Blue Numbers Initiative (a global registry for sustainable farmers) to Sri Lankan 
farmers. 
1.5.  The 16
th edition of ITC's flagship event, the World Export Development Forum (WEDF), will 
be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka between 12-13 October 2016. 
1.2  STDF 486 – Improving Food Safety and Compliance with SPS Measures to Increase 
Export Revenues in the Oilseeds Value Chain in Myanmar 
1.6.  The three-year project implemented by IT C, a close collaboration with the Ministry of 
Commerce, Department of Trade Promotion and Consumer Affairs, was officially launched on 
19 October 2015 with a kick-off workshop. A baseline study to identify the food safety issues along G/SPS/GEN/1484 
 
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  the value chain is conducted in the three target re gions of the project. The report will be released 
by end-March and validated via a workshop with th e participation of ministry representatives and 
beneficiaries. Oilseed sector public and private stakeholders benefited from the ITC/PTB workshops 
held in Yangon and Mandalay in January 2016 on export quality management. 
1.3  Finland - Promoting Intra-Regional Trade in Eastern Africa–Kenya, Tanzania, 
Zambia 
1.7.  ITC is implementing an inclusive and su stainable export-led growth project in Kenya, 
Tanzania and Zambia aimed at improving the competitiveness of their producers, SMEs and Trade 
Support Institutions (TSIs). The project is due to end by June 2016. ITC is assisting TSIs to put into practice their advisory services related to  food safety and quality, and to train local 
counsellors to assist enterprises to implement food safety systems based on HACCP. 
 In Tanzania: training and coaching of 13 enterprises (honey, chilli, and mango) and 
ten counsellors on HACCP based on Codex, is ongoing. Between January and February 2016 a three-day workshop on internal verification followed by one-day HACCP 
documentation clinic and mock audit of enterprises were conducted; 
 In Zambia: training and coaching progra mme on HACCP for ten counsellors and ten 
enterprises (honey) is ongoing. The third set of  training on internal verification and mock 
audit was conducted in November 2015 and preparation for third-party certification is 
ongoing; and 
 In Kenya: six enterprises producing mango and dry chilli are being assisted to implement 
HACCP based on Codex. 
2  OTHER ITC PROJECTS, PUBLICATIONS OR INTERVENTIONS OF INTEREST 
2.1  Export Quality Management (EQM) Publications and Workshops 2.1.  In collaboration with Germany's national  metrology institute (PTB) workshops on Export 
Quality Management were organized in Bangla desh, Jordan and Myanmar between November 
2015 and January 2016 that enhanced the knowledge and skills needed by organizations to support SMEs in an effective way to improve quality management and comply with the prevailing 
market access requirements. Other workshops will follow in Palestine (16-17 March 2016), 
Kyrgyzstan and Egypt in May 2016.  
2.2.  A companion guide to the ITC/PTB "Export Quality Management: A guide for SMEs" namely 
"Managing Quality: A directory of services for SM Es" has been released for Jordan and Palestine, 
both in English and Arabic and available on the ITC website 
(http://www.intracen.org/itc/exp orters/quality-management/q uality-publica tions-index/ ). 
2.3.  This publication provides an overview of the country's national quality infrastructure that 
includes food safety and animal and plant health; it also provides contacts of quality-related 
service providers in the country. 
2.2  Non-Tariff Measures (NTM) Programme 
2.4.  The programme aims to increase transparency and understanding of NTMs – in order to 
facilitate trade in the long-run. It helps countries to understand the non-tariff obstacles to trade faced by their business sector, and assists in defining strategies and solutions that meet their exporters' needs to speed up and ease cross-border trade. 
2.5.  New ITC NTM surveys have been launche d in Comoros, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, 
Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal and Seychelles. Th ese surveys, which are implemented in close 
collaboration with national authorities, will gather evidence on NTM-related obstacles from over 
3,000 companies. 
2.6.  In addition a survey on NTMs experienced by exporters and importers in the European Union 
has been completed. Overall, 8,000 companies ha ve been interviewed across the 28 EU countries. 
This survey has been implemented in collaboration with the European Commission (EC) to better G/SPS/GEN/1484 
 
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  understand the EU companies' perspectives on sourcing from and exporting to developing 
countries. 
2.7.  On November 2015, ITC, together with its partners presented the results of a large-scale 
survey of Bangladeshi exporters and importers in Dh aka to officials from various ministries as well 
as representatives of trade support institutions and other stakeholders from the private and public 
sectors. ITC, in close collaboration with local stakeholders, is currently designing a project which would materialize the workshop's recommendations. Similar workshops are being organized for 
Benin, Jordan, Mali and the Philippines. 
2.8.  The ITC series on NTMs has been enrich ed by the cross-country study "Making regional 
integration work - Company perspectives on non-tariff measures in Arab States" and the country report "Regulatory and procedural barriers to trade in Kazakhstan". The next NTM survey reports 
will cover Indonesia, Thailand and Colombia. These reports can be accessed free of charge at 
http://ntmsurvey.org/publications . 
2.9.  For more information about the NTM project, please contact ntm@intracen.org . 
2.3  Trade for Sustainable Development Programme 
2.10.  The Standards Map web tool, which is run by the Trade for Sustainable Development (T4SD) 
team at ITC, offers comprehensive information on voluntary standards. The platform recently 
passed a significant milestone as Standards Map now offers access to 200 standards that related 
to environmental and social/labour sustainability, food quality and safety issues. Users, especially producers of food products, are better equipped after going through the tool and completing self-assessments, with the knowledge of how their businesses meet quality standards. For more 
information, please visit the website on http://www.standardsmap.org . 
2.11.  The T4SD team also recently published – in cooperation with FiBL and IISD – The State of 
Sustainable Markets: Statistics and Emerging Trends 2015, the first global data report on fast-
growing voluntary sustainability standards outlines  the share of bananas, cocoa, coffee, cotton, 
forestry, palm oil, soybeans, cane sugar and tea across 14 major standards. See more at: 
http://www.intracen.org/p ublication/The-State-of -Sustainable-Markets/ . 
For more information: 
Ludovica Ghizzoni, ITC Adviser on Export Quality Management 
Tel: +41 22 730 06 38 - Fax: +41 22 730 05 76 - E-mail: ghizzoni@intracen.org  
 
Khemraj Ramful, ITC Senior Adviser on Export Quality Management  
Tel: +41 22 730 04 87 - Fax: +41 22 730 05 76 - E-mail: ramful@intracen.org  
Web address: http://www.intracen.org/exporters/quality-management/  
E-mail address: quality@intracen.org  
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ITCstandards  
 
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