. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/947 
18 June 2009 
 (09-3003) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
EXISTING AND ONGOING WORK ON CONTROL, 
INSPECTION AND SAMPLING  (G/SPS/W/234) 
 
Communication by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)
 
 
 
 The following communication, received on 17 June 2009, is being circulated at the request of 
the OIE . 
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I. CURRENT OIE STANDARDS RELATING TO CONTROL, INSPECTION AND 
APPROVAL PROCEDURES 
1. OIE standards pertaining to control, inspec tion and approval procedures are found in the 
normative publications of the OIE, i.e. the Terrestrial and Aquatic Animal Health Codes  and Manuals. 
2. For terrestrial animals, horizontal standards are found in the Terrestrial Animal Health Code  
(the Terrestrial Code ) Volume 1. 
3. Key standards relevant to control, t esting and approval procedures include: 
• Chapter 1.1:  Prescribed and alternativ e diagnostic tests for OIE listed diseases; 
• Chapters 4.1 and 4.2:  Animal identification and traceability systems; 
• Chapter 4.16:  Hygiene precautions, identif ication, blood sampling and vaccination; 
• Chapters 5.1, 5.2, 5.10 and 5.11:  Dealing w ith health certification of animals and animal 
products; 
• Chapters 5.4 to 5.7 (inclusive):  Animal h ealth measures before departure, during transit 
and on arrival, including activities at border pos ts and quarantine stations in the importing 
country;  and 
• Chapter 6.2:  Ante and post mortem meat inspection. 
4. Vertical (disease specific) standards are found in the Terrestrial Code  Volume 2. 
5. Provisions relevant to a specific disease ag ent are grouped together in disease specific 
chapters.  Requirements relevant to control, inspec tion and testing that are commonly found in disease 
specific chapters include:  procedures for diagnos tic testing;  inspection, quarantine and other 
procedures to prevent the spread of infection;  measures for inactivation of the disease agent;  and 
requirements for disease surveillance and for atta ining disease free status for countries and zones 
(with or without OIE official recognition of status). 
6. In addition, the OIE makes detailed and specific recommendations in regard to the control of 
disease agents and related inspection and sampling procedures in the Manual of Diagnostic Tests and 
Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals . G/SPS/GEN/947 
Page 2  
 
  7. Provisions for aquatic animals and thei r products may be found in the OIE Aquatic Animal 
Health Code  and the Manual of Diagnostic Tests for Aquatic Animals . 
8. In developing measures for the importation of  terrestrial animals and their products, OIE 
Members are advised to read both volumes 1 and 2 for the provisions that are relevant to the particular 
commodity and disease agents of concern.  More gui dance on the practical use of the OIE standards 
for international trade can be found on the OIE website - please see: 
http://www.oie.int/eng/normes/guide%2 0to%20OIE%20intl%20standards%20v6.pdf
. 
9. In the Terrestrial Code  Chapters 3.1 and 3.2 the OIE makes recommendations on the quality 
of veterinary services, including several aspects that ar e relevant to control, inspection and sampling.  
This provides the legal basis for using the OIE Tool  for the Evaluation of Veterinary Services (the 
OIE PVS Tool) to evaluate performance of Vete rinary Services using the OIE PVS Procedure. 
10. Key elements include the capacity to provide reliable international certification (Section IV-
4), laboratory diagnosis (Section II-1), quarantin e and border security (Section II-4) and residue 
testing (Section II-10). 
II. FUTURE OIE WORK ON CONTROL, INSPECTION AND APPROVAL 
PROCEDURES 
11. In addition to its ongoing work in the review  and updating of standards to take account of 
scientific developments, the OIE is placing increased emphasis on developing recommended measures for commodities that can be regarded as safe for international trade, regardless of the animal 
health status of the country or zone of origin of  the animal product for the disease agent in question, 
while of course reflecting all hygien e and related inspection requirements.  It is expected that the 
development of such "commodity standards" will help to facilitate trade from countries where the 
eradication of highly contagious animal diseases is not feasible in the short term.  In all cases, the 
reliability of the health certification accompan ying the product and the conduct of any required 
inspection and sampling procedures re main important considerations. 
12. The OIE continues to collaborate closely with C odex on work that is relevant to the sanitary 
safety of food products of animal origin, includi ng through participation in the Second Session of the 
Codex ad hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance (October 2008);  the 
17
th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification 
Systems (CCFICS) (November 2008);  the 40th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene 
(December 2008);  the 25th Session of the Codex Committee on General Principles (CCGP) 
(March/April 2009) and the Codex Electronic Working Group on Animal Feed. 
13. Mindful of the importance of aligning OIE and Codex standard s as these relate to inspection 
and certification, the OIE is currently participa ting in a CCFICS Working Group on the development 
of Codex Principles and guidelines for the Conduc t of Foreign On-site Audits and Inspections. 
14. The OIE continues to work on the establishment  of a legal base enabling the development of 
joint OIE/Codex standards that would address are as of common interest, such as the control of 
pathogens in food products of an imal origin and commodity standards.  The OIE presented a paper on 
this issue to the 25th Session of the CCGP in May 2009.  In response to the paper, the CCGP asked the 
secretariats of Codex and the OIE to prepare a disc ussion paper on the possible development of joint 
standards, addressing all relevant procedural issues and implications, for consideration at the next 
meeting of the CCGP in 2011. 
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