G/SPS/GEN/1567  
 
3 July  2017 
(17-3582) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures    
 
 SPS COMMITTEE THEMAT IC SESSION ON REGION ALIZATION  
TUESDAY, 11 JULY 201 7 
WTO, CENTRE WILLIAM RAPPARD, GENEVA  
PROGRAMME  
The SPS Committee agreed, at its March 2017 meeting, to hold a thematic session on 
regionalization immediately preceding its July 2017 me eting, based on a proposal submitted by the 
European Union.1 This programme was prepared on the basis of contributions received from 
Members. The session will provide an opportunity for WTO Members to increase their awareness of 
regionalization principles,  and learn from each other by sharing experiences about the challenges, 
as well as the benefits, of implementing regionalization in practice. This, in turn, should contribute 
to building confidence among trading partners when recognizing or seeking recogni tion of their 
regionalization measures.   
The session will focus on animal diseases and allow for the discussion of the implementation of the 
regionalization concept from the perspective of an importing , as well as an exporting party .  
The thematic session will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday, 11 July 2017, beginning at 
10 a.m.  in Room  S1, and continuing in the afternoon at 3 p.m. , as necessary.  
 
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Chairperson : Mr Marcial Espinola  
1  INTERNATIONAL RULES AND GUIDELINES  
Provisions of the  SPS Agreement on regionalization (Article 6) and relevant guidelines 
(G/SPS/48)  
Speaker:  Ms Anneke Hamilton,  WTO Secretariat  
Relevant jurisprudence on regionalization  (Article 6)  
Speaker:  Ms Marisa Goldstein,  WTO Secretariat  
OIE standards on regionalizati on 
Speaker:  Dr Matthew Stone, Deputy Director -General , OIE 
Followed by Q&A session  
                                                
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  2  SHARING OF NATIONAL EXPERIENCES  
Part 1: Exporting Members' perspective  
Speakers:  
 Dr Andrea Gavinelli, Head of Unit G3 – Official Controls and Eradication of Diseases in 
Animals, Directorate General for Health and Food Safety, European Commission, 
European Union  
 Dr Wolf Maier, Senior Expert, Unit D3 – Agriculture, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Market 
Access, Biotechnology, Directorate General for Trade, European Commission , Europ ean 
Union  
Application of regionalization in the EU: The recent experience of HPAI  
 Dr Olga Shevchenko, Head of Directorate for International Cooperation Organization, 
State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection, Ukraine  
Experience of Ukr aine in the recognition of HPAI regionalization and BSE risk status by 
trading partners  
 Dr Humberto Ismael Maldonado Caceres, SPS Assessor, Directorate of Administration of 
Foreign Commerce, Ministry of Economy, Guatemala  
Classical swine fever in Guatemala : Experiences in surveillance, control and the  
eradication process, 2013 -2017 
 Dr Nikolai Vlasov, Deputy Head of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary 
Surveillance , Russian Federation  
Russian Federation's experience in the applicati on of the regionalization principle  
 Dr Mpho Maja,  Director of Animal Health, Department of Agriculture, Forestry and 
Fisheries,  South Africa  
Living regionalization  
Followed by Q&A session  
Part 2: Importing Members' perspective  
Speakers:  
 Dr Takahiro  Kitano DVM, Assi stant Director, A nimal Health Division, Ministry of 
Agriculture, Fore stry and Fisheries (MAFF), Japan  
Japan' s experiences on regionalization  
 Dr Joyce Bowling , National Director of the Regionalization Evaluation Services Staff, 
USDA APHIS Veterinary Service s, United States  
Regio nalization Evaluation Services:  Recognizing the animal h ealth status of foreign 
regions  
Followed by Q&A session  
3  GENERAL DISCUSSION  
 
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