WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/SPS/GEN/1198 
10 October 2012 
 (12-5506) 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English/ 
 French/  Spanish 
 
  
RELEVANT ACTIVITIES 
 
Communication from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) 
   The following communication, received on 9 October 2012, is being circulated at the request of the OIE. 
 
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 1. The OIE is pleased to provide this update to the 55
th meeting of the SPS Committee.  The 
report summarizes key developments in the OIE st andard-setting work programme, with a focus on 
the September 2012 meeting of the OIE Terrestrial  Animal Health Sta ndards Commission (Code 
Commission).  The report of the Code Commission  meeting will be available on the OIE website 
shortly.  Key topics addressed at that meeting include: 
1. Criteria for listing diseases 
2. Revised criteria for listing diseases were adopted at the 80th General Session of the OIE held 
in May 2012.  The OIE convened an expert meeting in July 2012 in order to review the existing OIE 
listed diseases of terrestrial animals against the re vised criteria.  The experts proposed delisting of 
some currently listed diseases, and the Code Commission decided to circulate the proposal to OIE members for their review together with the Code Commission views on the proposed changes.  
2. Antimicrobial resistance  
3. Considering the increasing importance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in animal health 
and public health, OIE continues to tackle the i ssue under its mandates.  Updating the OIE standards 
on AMR is an important on-going role for the OIE.  There are five chapters in the OIE Terrestrial 
Animal Health Standards dedicated to AMR and, as noted in the July meeting report, at the 
80
th General Session the World Assembly of Delegates a dopted revisions to two of these chapters.  
The Code Commission reviewed the other three chap ters at its September meeting and decided to 
circulate proposed revisions of the chapters  titled "Introduction to the recommendations for 
controlling antimicrobial resistance" and "Responsible  and prudent use of antimicrobial agents in 
veterinary medicine" for members' comments.  The remaining chapter title d "Risk assessment for 
antimicrobial resistance arising from the use of anti microbials in animals" was referred to an expert 
group for its examination. 
3. Infection with zoonotic parasites 
4. The OIE continues close collaboration with the Codex Alimentarius Commission with respect 
to this cross-cutting issue.  An OIE expert gr oup on zoonotic parasites met in December 2011 to G/SPS/GEN/1198 
Page 2  
 
  examine the revised chapter on Hydatidosis.  The C ode Commission reviewed the work of the group 
together with members' comments and circulated the revised chapter for members' comments with a 
view to possible adoption at the 81
st General Session in 2013.  
5. In addition, the expert group met in July 2012 to review members' comments on the proposed 
revision to the chapter on Trichinellosis.  The broa d range of comments resulted in the expert group 
making a further significant revision of the draft chapter including restructuring and simplification.  
The expert group amended the text to reflect that the importance of Trichinellosis lies in the risk 
posed to humans and costs of control in slaughter populations rather than a risk to animal health.  
Because of the lack of clear and objective means of establishing a country or zone free status, the chapter only addressed a compartment with  a negligible risk of Trichinella  infection in domestic pigs 
kept under controlled management  conditions.  The Code Commission supported this approach and 
circulated the revised chapte r for members' comments.  
4. Rinderpest  
6. The Terrestrial Code chapter on rinderpest was sent to the Joint OIE/FAO Advisory 
Committee seeking their comments.   These comments were review ed by the Code Commission 
together with members' comments.  The Code Co mmission revised the chapter further and decided to 
circulate it for members' comments with a view to potential adoption at the 81
st General Session in 
May 2013.  One of the key additions to the propo sed new chapter is the obligation for countries to 
provide annual notification of their holdings of ri nderpest virus, or material containing rinderpest 
virus. 
5. OIE Capacity-building:  PVS Pathway  
7. The OIE continues its global initiative to support member countries wishing to comply with 
quality standards of national Veterinary Services and Aquatic Animal Health Services (AAHS) by 
following the PVS Pathway.  A summary of progr ess on PVS Pathway missions is attached as an 
Annex.  
8. The OIE convened expert meetings in summer 2012 to revise the fifth edition of the OIE PVS 
Tool and develop a tool for evaluating AAHS based on the OIE PVS Tool.  These tools will be 
available on the OIE website once finalized. 
6. Good governance of veterinary education 
9. Veterinary education of quality is the corner stone of good governance of  Veterinary Services 
(for both public and private sectors).  The OIE, in close collaboration with national leaders and 
decision makers on veterinary education and rele vant regional and intern ational organizations, 
continues work to improve the quality of veteri nary education globally.  The OIE convened the 
fifth expert meeting on veterinary education in Ju ly.  This group has now developed draft guidelines 
for a "Model Core Veterinary Curriculum" to serv e as a companion to the "OIE recommendations on 
the Competencies of graduating veterinarians ("Da y 1 graduates") to assure National Veterinary 
Services of quality".  It is expected these new gui delines will serve as a tool for veterinary educational 
establishments in OIE member countries to use when  developing curricula to educate veterinary 
students to the expected level of competency.  The group also drafted a document detailing the OIE 
recommendations on post-graduate a nd continuing education.  These documents will be available on 
the OIE website once finalized.   G/SPS/GEN/1198 
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  ANNEX 
A SUMMARY OF PROGRESS ON PVS PATHWAY EVALUATIONS 
 
PVS Evaluation Missions – State of Play (13 September 2012) 
  
 
OIE members PVS Evaluation 
requests received PVS Evaluation 
missions 
implemented Reports available 
for (restricted) 
distribution to 
Donors and 
Partners 
Africa 52 51 47 36 
Americas 29 22 21 18 
Asia, the Far East and Oceania 32 18 18 11 
Europe 53 15 14 12 
Middle East 12 12 11 5 
 TOTAL 178 118  111 82 
 
  
PVS Gap Analysis – State of Play (13 September 2012) 
 
 
 OIE members PVS Gap analysis 
requests received PVS Gap analysis 
missions 
implemented Reports available 
for (restricted) 
distribution to 
Donors and 
Partners 
Africa 52 37 32 19 
Americas 29 13 9 6 
Asia, the Far East 
and Oceania 32 12 10 6 
Europe 53 6 6 2 
Middle East 12 8 3 0 
 TOTAL 178 76  60 33 
 G/SPS/GEN/1198 
Page 4  
 
  Veterinary Legislation:  State of Play (13 Sep 2012) 
 
 
OIE members PVS Legislation 
mission requests 
received PVS Legislation 
missions 
implemented PVS Legislation 
documents 
received 
Africa 52 22 15 15 
Americas 29 5 3 3 
Asia, the Far East and Oceania 32 5 4 4 
Europe 53 3 2 2 
Middle East 12 4 4 4 
 TOTAL 178 39  28 28 
 
 
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