G/SPS/GEN/1462  
 
26 October 2015  
(15-5638)  Page: 1/4  
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) 
(MARCH – OCTOBER 2015) 
The following communication, received on 21 October 2015, 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 projects of inte rest to the SPS Committee is provided herewith: 
 1  PROJECTS 
1.1  EIF - Sector Competitiveness and Export  Diversification in The Gambia (2012-2015) 
1.1.  In this project, technical barriers hinderin g market access of Gambian exports of groundnuts, 
cashew nuts, and sesame are being addresse d. The latest activities conducted are: 
a. Development and enforcement of technical regulations: A sensitisation programme on 
standards and technical regulations relating to quality and food safety for the three products is being implemented by the Food Safety and Quality Authority; 
b. After the finalisation of the first ten national standards, ten new national standards, 
including those for cashew kernels, aflatoxin reduction in groundnuts, peanut butter and 
sesame seed oil have been drafted; 
c. The second phase of implementation of Farmer Field Schools for the second season is in 
progress with an additional five FFS. In the course of 2015, a new module on integrated 
pest management will be added to the existi ng ones on production and Quality & Food 
Safety. Training of extension officers of the Department of agriculture on the FFS 
concept, management, monitoring and evaluation was conducted in April 2015 to ensure 
better sustainability after the project; 
d. A workshop on the African Cashew Alliance Code of Conduct was held on 9 April 2015 
where local operators of the sector were sensitised on that code and discussed their 
national code of conduct; and 
e. Implementing HACCP
1: Assistance to enhance food safe ty in seven SMEs of groundnuts, 
cashewnuts and sesame through implementation of HACCP – Codex based through 
classroom and hands-on training is ongoing. Three selected trainers-cum-Counsellors 
(TcCs) are advising and monitoring the im plementation of the system at the SMEs. 
1.2  STDF/PG/354: Improving Safety and Qu ality of Sri Lankan Fruits and Vegetables 
1.2.  Under the project, implemented by ITC in close collaboration with the Ceylon Chamber of 
Commerce and the Department of Agriculture, over the last year more than 350 officers have benefited from training in food safety and plant health for six types of fruits and vegetables, including 280 officers of the Plant Quarantine Office and Extension Division and 70 officers from 
the Ministry of Health and Exporters, Processors and other relevant stakeholders. Master trainers 
of the DOA have cascaded the training to other officers. Two additional two-day trainings on 
                                               
1 Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points. G/SPS/GEN/1462 
 
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  EU requirements on plant health control and inspection techniques were conducted for 40 newly 
recruited Plant Quarantine Officers in January 2015.  The training to the farmers on food safety and 
pest control started in March: 27 farmers and collectors of pineapple have benefited in the Gampaha district. A total of 500 farmers are going to  be trained. The NPPO is being upgraded by 
the provision of pest risk analysis equipment. The http://www.spssrilanka.lk  website is regularly 
being updated. 
1.3.  ITC implements complementarity activities to strengthen the impact of the STDF project: 
a. An assessment of the laboratory testing capacity of the agriculture sector as per the 
international requirements was conducted, in particular chemical tests on residual levels, mycotoxins, fresh fruits and vegetables, tea, cinnamon, and coconut products. A proposal for the development of a business model to strengthen the lab capacity is 
ongoing; 
b. A workshop aimed at strengthening the SPS-related institutional networking mechanism 
for the benefit of the F&V sector took place in Colombo on 26-27 November 2014. The 
workshop was attended by 24 representative s from 18 institutions. A working group was 
set up at the end of the event to take the initiatives further; and 
c. A mission of a plant health expert was conducted in January 2015 to provide 
recommendations to strengthen the plant health control system. 
1.3  Finland: Promoting Intra-regional trade in Eastern Africa – Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia 
1.4.  ITC is implementing an inclusive and sust ainable export-led growth project in in Kenya, 
Tanzania and Zambia by improving the competit iveness of their producers, SMEs and Trade 
Support Institutions (TSIs). In the area of food sa fety and quality, the proj ect has started to assist 
TSIs in putting into practice their advisory servic es related to food safety and quality, train their 
staff to deliver services and assist enterprise to implement food safety systems based on HACCP: 
a. Tanzania: 15 enterprises (honey, chilli, mang o) and ten counsellors are being selected, 
trained and coached to implement HACCP - based on Codex; in February 2015 the first set of training and gap analysis at the enterprises were conducted. More than 50 public 
and private stakeholders benefited from a workshop on "Food Safety in international 
trade". Training material on quality and food safety is being translated in Kiswahili; 
b. Zambia: the training and coaching programme on HACCP - based on Codex for ten 
counsellors and ten enterprises (honey) is ongoing; and 
c. Kenya: an assessment of quality/food safety of dry chilli and compliance with 
international, regional, national technical requirements and laboratory analysis is ongoing. 
1.4  Fiji: Improving key services to agriculture and livestock 
1.5.  An EU programme, funded from the Mult i-Annual Indicative Programme on Accompanying 
Measures for Sugar (AAP2011), implemented by ITC and the Secretariat of the Pacific 
Communities (SPC), aims at improvement of key services to non-sugar agriculture and livestock in 
order to improve and consolidate farming systems in Fiji with the ultimate goal of income 
generation through alternative livelihoods for poverty alleviation. 
1.6.  The project has build the capacity of seven local Trainers Counsellors (TcCs) to train and 
provide assistance to enterprises on hygiene and food safety systems (HACCP – based on Codex). 
Three enterprises obtained international HACCP certification in December 2014 and three more are to be audited by April 2015. The TcCs have initiated the process to establish a consulting 
association to provide training and advisory serv ices on hygiene, and food safety requirements 
(Fiji Food Act, HACCP). 
1.7.  Assistance to farmers and enterprises in the livestock sector to implement GHP and HACCP-
based on Codex is planned to start in May 2015. G/SPS/GEN/1462 
 
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  1.5  EIF Lesotho 
1.8.  Under the project during the past year, officers  of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of 
Industry and representatives of the private sector have benefitted from training on food safety and traceability. Inspectors of the ministries and operators have been trained on product quality and 
inspection of six types of fruits and vegetables  using inspection equipment purchased. Following 
the training, a national GAP standard will be developed based on South Africa GAP and a selected number of farms will be assisted to implement the na tional GAP. A traceability system is being set 
up for the sector with the collaboration of GS1 South Africa. The plant protection laboratory is 
being upgraded by an extension of laboratory space and the provision of new modern testing equipment. 
1.6  Trade and Private Sector Development Programme, Zimbabwe 
1.9.  This project is funded by the European  Union and implemented by ITC. It includes a 
component related to the capacity building of th e conformity assessment services of the Standards 
Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) for pesticide residue testing as well as other testing scope for food 
products. As a result of technical assistance prov ided under the project, the scope of accreditation 
of SAZ's certification services is expected to be extended to cover product certification and OHSAS during 2015. A training of trainers was conducted in March 2015 for 14 participants to enable them 
to sensitise enterprises on the importance of standards, technical WTO Agreements on TBT and 
SPS from the business perspective. 
2  OTHER ITC PROJECTS, PUBLICATIONS OR INTERVENTIONS OF INTEREST 2.1  Masters of Advanced Studies on  Integrated Crop Management (ICM) 
2.1.  ITC presented its technical cooperation activi ties to CAGI/University of Neuchatel students of 
Masters of Advanced Studies on Integrated Crop Management on 13 March 2015. Specific emphasis was provided to ITC's practical work in helping SMEs meet technical requirements and 
SPS. The objective was to familiarise the students with policy considerations related to ICM at 
international, regional and national levels, and to understand how they govern and/or support the implementation of ICM, introducing them considerations on food safety, trade, and relevant 
international trade agreements. The audience comprised of Plant protection & health officers, 
Agriculture and Extension officers, and Agriculture economists from ITC's beneficiary countries. 
2.2  Non-Tariff Measures (NTM) programme 2.2.  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. 
2.3.  Preparations are underway for new ITC NTM survey launches in Jordan, Mali, Uganda and 
Kyrgyzstan. Approximately 1,800 companies are expect ed to be interviewed in total in the four 
countries. These surveys are implemented in clos e collaboration with national authorities. 
2.4.  Furthermore, ITC, in collaboration with the European Commission (EC), will also carry out a 
survey on NTMs experienced by exporters and importers in the European Union. In addition to 
identifying difficulties faced by EU exporters, the survey will also allow for better understanding of 
the EU companies' perspectives on sourcing from and exporting to developing countries. Overall, 
7,000 companies will be interviewed by the end of 2015 across the 28 EU countries. 
2.5.  On 5 March 2015, ITC, together with its partners presented the results of a large scale 
survey of Colombian exporters and importers in  Bogotá. The forum, "Challenges posed by non-
tariff measures (NTMs) and trade barriers in Colombia", was organized with a view to promoting 
joint action among the public and private sectors, together with academia, to find solutions to the problems identified. Arancha González, ITC's Exec utive Director, attended the meeting together 
with officials from various ministries as well as representatives of trade support institutions and 
other stakeholders from the private and public sectors. G/SPS/GEN/1462 
 
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  2.6.  Guinea Company Perspectives is the latest addition to the ITC publication series on NTMs. 
This report together with approximately 20 other reports from the series can be accessed free of charge at http://www.intracen.org/publications/ntm . 
2.7.  For more information about NTM project, please contact ntm@intracen.org . 
2.3  ITC impact stories 
2.8.  ITC's recent publication "Connecting Markets,  Improving Lives, ITC at Work" also features an 
SPS related success story about shea butter exports in Nigeria. See 
http://www.intracen.org/uploadedFiles/intracen.o rg/Content/About_ITC/C orporate_Documents/Im
pact-Stories-web(1).pdf  
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: @ITCStandards 
 
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