G/SPS/GEN/1739  
 
17 October 2019  
(19-6782) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
 
SADC SECRETARIAT REPORT ON SPS ACTIVI TIES  
The follow ing communication, received on 16 October  2019, is being circulated at the request of the  
secretariat of the  Southern African Development Community  (SADC).  
 
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1.  In the past two quarters the TBT/SPS Unit attended the African Union consultative meeting for 
the development of the African Union Sanitary and Phytosanitary Policy Framework; as well as five 
meetings (7 -10 SPS TWGs and TFTA SPS Experts Group) concerned wi th the development of 
implementation modalities for the SPS Annex (Annex IX) of the Tripartite Free Trade Area Agreement 
(TFTA). The attendance of the SADC Office at such meetings serves to keep track of the latest 
SPS developments at the continental and i nternational level, so as to ensure that the SADC regional 
SPS developments are also aligned with the continental goals, in line with the call to operationalize 
the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The intelligence espied at such meetings also  
becomes very useful to the TBT/SPS -related guidance duty of the Unit to the preparatory work 
associated with the development of regional agro -processing value chains under the Action Plan of 
the SADC Industrialization Strategy and Roadmap. The status quo of the vacancy of the flexible 
position of Program Officer -Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures still persists at the Secretariat. 
In June 2019, in Windhoek, Namibia, the SADC Committee Ministers for Trade took the decision to 
request member States to secon d personnel to the position. The decision is intended for further 
clearance by the meeting of the SADC Council scheduled for March 2020.  
2.  The EU -SADC Trade Related Facility (TRF), which targets interventions at the national level, has 
made tremendous contri bution s to the enhancement of the performance of the beneficiary member 
States with regard the implementation of the SPS Annex to the SADC Protocol on Trade. The First 
Quarter report (June 2019) shows that: Eswatini has validated reviewed veterinary public  health 
regulations and is at the advanced stages of the development of a national online pesticides 
management system; Mozambique developed animal health, veterinary public health and food 
safety regulations; Lesotho has acquired equipment which included the liquid chromatography – 
mass spectometry  for the Departmen t of Veterinary Services and GMO detection equipment for the 
Plant Protection section. The testing capacity of the laboratories of the Department of Veterinary 
Services and for plant health insp ection were also enhanced through training and were now in the 
process of developing a Web -based system to coordinate and facilitate WTO SPS notifications. 
In Mauritius the NPPO took advantage of the project to establish a phytosanitary and sanitary 
inform ation management system at the national plant protection office (NPPO) and at the division 
of veterinary services (DVS) of the Ministry of Agro -industry and Food Security.  
3.  In Mozambique, the development of a regulation for inspection of imported animals at  the border 
points and quarantine standards is in the pipeline as well as the training of staff of veterinary services 
and other stakeholders in the implementation of the national veterinary strategies and regulations. 
In Seychelles a project is at an adva nced stage of the development of the new Food Safety Act and 
a standard manual for risk -based sanitary and phytosanitary controls. They will also conduct training 
and internships for the staff of the Seychelles Plant Health Laboratory on LC/MS. In Tanzania  the 
activities include the procurement of LCMS/MS equipment for  the Departmen t of Veterinary Services, 
the development of a Strategy for Food Safety Standards; the procurement of GMO detection 
equipment and inspection tools for plant health inspection out put. Rapid Test Kits have been 
procured for the Dep artmen t of Veterinary Service, Field test kits and inspection tools acquired for 
the plant health inspection and a Web -based system to coordinate and facilitate WTO SPS 
notifications will be developed. Due to late onset of implementation and consequent low deliv ery of 
the facility, it has now been extended until 2021 at no cost. During this phase, a lot more emphasis G/SPS/GEN/1739  
 
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  will be placed on finding ways in which the national activities can be more aligned to the regional 
integration objectives.  
4.  Having not met in the pa st 24 months, the SADC SPS Coordinating Committee will meet on 
11-13 November 2019, made possible by a collaborative effort between the member States, the 
regional FAO Program and the SADC -EU Trade Facility. This meeting ha d to be postponed from 
August 201 9 to November 2019 due to a low response from the member States, attributed to 
resource constraints, as only three member States had committed to attend. In addition to the 
forward planning of the regional SPS program, this meeting also aims, amongst other  items, to 
facilitate capacity enhancement on the risk -based scientific approach to the development of technical 
regulations. The SPS Program under the 11th EDF will facilitate initial discussions and the full 
development of a regional system for the mutua l recognition of food safety certificates amongst the 
SADC member States. A framework for enabling imported products to be sampled at the point of 
entry into SADC and analysed for compliance with food safety provisions will be developed. 
SADC  also intends to continually build the capacity and raise the awareness of small -scale farmers 
and private sector on compliance with SPS measures. Overall, the SADC SPS matters will further be 
guided by the resolutions of the upcoming November 2019 meeting of the SADC S PS Coordinating 
Committee.  
By: Lomkhosi Lineo Mkhonta -Gama (PhD -Chemistry/UCT)  
SADC Senior Program Officer -Technical Barriers to Trade  
 
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