G/SPS/GEN/2100  
 
2 March  2023 
(23-1404) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
  
STANDARD -SETTING ORGANISATIONS' EFFORTS TO MONITOR THE USE  AND 
IMPLEMENTATION OF THEIR STANDARDS : 
HOW THE 3 SISTERS FOLLOW THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THEIR STANDARDS  
HIGHLIGHT ON THE FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE WOAH OBSERVATORY  
COMMUNICATION FROM THE WORLD ORGANISATION FOR ANIMAL HEALTH ( WOAH ) 
The following communication, received on 23 February  2023, is being circulated at the request of 
the WOAH . 
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INTRODUCTION  
The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, fou nded as OIE), the FAO/WHO Codex 
Alimentarius Commission (Codex), and the FAO International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), 
are the three international standard -setting organisations referenced in the SPS Agreement.  
The standards, guidelines and recomme ndations of these organisations contribute to protecting 
animal health and welfare, public/consumer health and plant health. The implementation of 
international standards at country level can involve challenges, and the extent to which they are put 
into pr actice remains unclear.  
These three organisations have developed monitoring systems to provide an insight into the uptake 
of international standards by Members.  
These systems also contribute to demonstrating the value of a rule -based international system. 
By increasing transparency, these monitoring systems support fair and safe international trade, and 
the progressive harmonisation of national sanitary and phytosanitary measures.  
1  THE WOAH OBSERVATORY  
1.1.  The WOAH Observatory  is a programme that aims to monitor the implementation of WOAH 
international standards.  
1.2.  The data collected and analysed assists WOAH to gain a greater understanding of the 
challenges Members face  in the implementation of standards and to evaluate their relevance.  
1.3.  The Observatory is a data -driven programme as well as a key component of WOAH's digital 
transformation. Timely and good quality data submitted to WOAH by Members and collected from 
extern al sources, such as WTO, is essential to identify specific needs for Members and suggest 
improvements to the Organisation's standard -setting process.  
1.4.  The WOAH Observatory will be useful to accomplish the following:  
− Identifying what challenges Members face in implementing standards;  G/SPS/GEN/2100  
 
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  − Identifying capacity building activities and supporting Members in their efforts to put 
standards into practice;  
− Identifying success stories around standards and promoting their implementation;  
− Ensuring that standards are fit for  purpose by taking the findings back to the standard -
setting process;  
− Identifying areas for improvement and proposing solutions to processes or services offered 
to Members that may not be fully meeting their needs.  
1.1  The Annual Report of the WOAH Observatory  
1.5.  The publication of the first Annual Report of the WOAH Observatory  is an important milestone; 
it presents a general and sys tematic overview of the implementation of a broad selection of WOAH 
standards at the global level.  
1.6.  The document includes more than 100 indicators grouped into twelve sections. Each of them 
is devoted to a different area of interest, including emergency pre paredness, the One Health 
approach and WTO notifications and disputes related to animal health.  
1.7.  Each section of the report includes an interactive dashboard  offering an array of options for 
dynamic information analysis for a desired region, disease, group of diseases or time period, as well 
as a one-page executive summary . 
1.8.  Findings presented in this report outline for the first time a global perspective of Members' 
adherence to standards. At the same time, they raise awareness of some of the current gaps in their 
implementation.  
1.9.  The report also suggests how gaps in implementation could be filled by improving practices at 
the national level and how Members could benefit from more tailored support.  
1.10.  This first edition of the Observatory Annual Report contains recommendat ions at the end of 
each section for both WOAH and national Veterinary Services and Aquatic Animal Health Services.  
2  MECHANISM TO MEASURE THE USE AND IMPACT OF CODEX TEXTS  
2.1.  The Codex Secretariat, in collaboration with FAO and WHO evaluation offices, started w ork on 
developing a mechanism to measure the use and impact of Codex standards in 2021, as mandated 
by the Codex Membership through the Codex Strategic Plan 2020 -25. A monitoring and evaluation 
(M&E) framework to provide data about the use and impact of Co dex texts was developed with a 
view to obtaining information that can help Members and Observers better understand the impact, 
or potential for impact, of Codex texts.  
2.2.  The first phase of the development of the mechanism focused on data gathering and analys is. 
A series of interviews and a focus group were conducted with key stakeholders, and a theory of 
change was drafted and validated by the stakeholders consulted to form a basis for the M&E 
framework. Of note is the fact that no existing data set was found  to be readily available as an 
information source on the use and impact of Codex texts.  
2.3.  Following the data gathering and analysis step, several options to build the mechanism were 
analysed and the M&E framework was further refined. Based on the review and analysis undertaken 
it was proposed that the development of the M&E framework as a means of assessing the use and 
impact of Codex Standards progress in three directions:  
− A survey on the use of selected Codex texts and their impact to all Codex members be 
developed and issued annually ; 
− Work with the WTO Secretariat to explore a collaborative monitoring and reporting 
framework in which Codex Texts have been highlighted in trade negotiations, SPS, G/SPS/GEN/2100  
 
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  TBT notifications, specific trade concerns, and dis putes, but also for disputes that were 
prevented thanks to Codex texts ; 
− Tailored case studies to assess the use and impact of specific Codex texts within the context 
of a member country or observer.  
2.4.  The Codex Executive Committee endorsed the proposed approach to building the mechanism. 
One recommendation was to undertake a pilot of a re -designed member survey in 2022. The survey 
purpose was to examine the reach, usefulness, and use of a sample of Codex texts as estimates for 
their impact. Ther e were 97 responses from Members, for an overall survey response rate of 51%. 
In general, Members from all regions were found to have good familiarity with the selected Codex 
texts and were able to provide feedback on the reach, usefulness, use of each. Co dex texts were 
found extremely or mostly useful by Members. Members commented that they found Codex texts to 
be most useful when new knowledge is gained in the country and the texts can be used as a standard 
baseline. There was less consensus across region s that Codex texts were used in countries' food 
control systems to help improve Members' commodity trade. There were not any significant regional 
differences related to satisfaction.  
3  IPPC OBSERVATORY  
3.1.  The IPPC Observatory  is a system that monitors the implementation of the IPPC, ISPMs and 
CPM Recommendations, identifies challenges and best practices and provides recommendations to 
the IPPC governing and subsidiary bodies for follow -up actions.  
3.2.  This e valuation system gathers the best practices and identifies common challenges faced by 
IPPC contracting parties through surveys and studies and provides an overview to the IPPC 
community on the state of implementation of the IPPC, ISPMs and CPM recommendati ons at a global 
level.  
3.3.  The main objectives assigned to the IPPC Observatory are the following:  
− set an efficient mechanism to monitor the implementation of the IPPC as well as the adopted 
ISPMs and CPM recommendations (through IPPC general surveys);  
− monitor  the implementation of the IPPC Strategic Framework (2020 -2030);  
− implement innovative tools and approaches to conduct studies and surveys and improve 
survey response rates;  
− report to CPM the implementation gaps and challenges identified and formulate the 
recommendations to be addressed by the appropriate subsidiary body;  
− improve data management from IPPC studies and surveys;  
− improve communication of surveys and studies results to contracting parties;  
− improve survey coordination at IPPC Secretariat level.  
3.4.  For more information on the IPPC Observatory you can consult the dedicated webpage on the 
International Phytosanitary Portal , watch the IPPC Observatory video  or consult the IPPC 
Observatory Factsheet . 
 
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