WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/MAR/29 
10 May 2010 
 (10-2649) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   Spanish 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
1. Notifying Member:  MOROCCO
 
If applicable, name of local government involved:  
2. Agency responsible:  Office National de Sécurité Sanitaire des Produits Alimentaires , 
ONSSA  (National Office for Food Safety) 
3. Products covered (provide tariff item numbe r(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO;  ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where 
applicable):  Live bovine animals, products of bovine origin, and goods containing 
products of bovine origin. 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable: 
[ ] All trading partners 
[X] Specific regions or countries:  Countries in which one or more cases of Bovine 
Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) have been o fficially notified to the World Organization 
for Animal Health (OIE) or countries posing an undetermined BSE risk in OIE terms. 
5. Title of the notified document:  Arrêté du Ministre de l'Agriculture et de la Pêche 
Maritime portant prohibition d'entrée sur le territoire national d'animaux vivants de 
l'espèce bovine, de denrées animales, de produ its d'origine animale et de produits de 
multiplication animale, issus de bovins or iginaires ou provenant de certains pays (Order of 
the Minister of Agriculture and Maritime Fish eries banning the entry into Morocco of live 
bovine animals, and animal feed, animal  products and animal  reproduction products 
derived from bovine animals, originating in or coming from certain countries)  
Language:  F rench  Number of pages:  3 
6. Description of content:  All bovine animals, products of bovine origin, and goods 
containing products of bovine origin, regardless of proportion or destination, from countries 
in which one or more cases of BSE have b een officially notified to the OIE or from 
countries posing an undetermined BSE risk in OIE terms, are banned from entering Morocco. 
The ban under Article 1 of the notified Order does not apply to products for which the OIE 
recommends that the veterinary authorities do not impose any BSE-related requirements, a 
list of which is established by the central veterinary health authority. 
The ban does not apply to food for carnivorous domestic animals which derives from 
bovine animals authorized for human cons umption.  Such food must have been 
manufactured in establishments monitored by the competent health authority of the country 
of origin and must not have been prepared using specific risk materials.  Ruminant  raw  G/SPS/N/MAR/29 
Page 2  
 
  materials incorporated into such products  must have undergone prion inactivation 
treatment.  The list of specific risk materials is  established by the central veterinary health 
authority. 
The ban on the entry into Morocco of bovine animals and products of bovine origin may be 
lifted at the proposal of the central veterinary health authority on the basis of an assessment 
of the BSE health status of the country requesting the lifting of the ban. 
The health requirements for bovine animal s and products of bovine origin entering 
Morocco from countries for which the ban has b een lifted in accordance with Article 3, are 
established by the central veterinary health authority. 
If, in a country for which the ban has been lifte d, the BSE health status changes, or if any 
BSE-related phenomenon occurs which may pose a serious threat to animals or human 
health, or in the event of incompliance with the health requirements referred to in Article 4, 
the central veterinary health authorit y may implement the following measures: 
- Seizure of the imported products;  th ese products may be destroyed if the 
epidemiological investigation shows there to be any threat to consumer health; 
- placing in quarantine of the imported bovine animals;  the slaughter of these 
animals may be ordered on the basis of the results of an epidemiological investigation; 
- suspension of imports from the country concerned;  and - establishment of special import requireme nts for bovine animals or products from 
the country concerned. 
The slaughter of bovine animals imported in accordance with Articles 3 and 4 of the 
notified Order, and of their direct descendants,  may only take place in an abattoir which has 
been designated for this purpo se by the central veterinary health authority and which is 
equipped to take samples for BSE testing purposes and to remove the specified risk materials referred to in Article 2. 
Meat and offal from imported bovine animal s and their direct descendants aged over 
24 months at the time of slaughter may not be  released for human or animal consumption 
until the specific risk materials have been re moved for destruction and a negative result has 
been obtained in a BSE test.  All costs pertaining to the carrying out of this test are charged to the owner of the animal or animals. 
In the event of a positive test result, the hea lth measures to be applied are those established 
by Ministerial Order No. 2015-01 of 5 N ovember 2001 on supplementary and special 
measures to combat BSE. 
7. Objective and rationale:  [X] food safety , [X] animal health, [ ] plant protection, 
[ ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or  disease, [ ] protect territory from other 
damage from pests. 
8. Is there a relevant international stan dard?  If so, identify the standard:  
[ ] Codex Alimentarius Commission (e.g. title or serial number of Codex standard 
or related text) 
[X] World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) (e.g. Terrestrial or Aquatic 
Animal Health Code, chapter number)  
[ ] International Plant Protection Convention (e.g. ISPM number)   G/SPS/N/MAR/29 
 Page 3 
 
 
  [ ] None 
Does this proposed regulation conform to  the relevant international standard? 
 [X] Yes [ ] No 
 If no, describe, whenever possible, how and why it deviates from the 
international standard:  
9. Other relevant documents and language(s ) in which these are available:  -  
10. Proposed date of adoption (dd/mm/yy) : 
Proposed date of publication (dd/mm/yy) :  30 October 2009 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  [ ] Six months from date of publication , and/or  
(dd/mm/yy) :  1 November 2009 
[ ] Trade facilitating measure 
12. Final date for comments:  [X] Sixty days  from the date of circulation of the 
notification and/or (dd/mm/yy) :  5 July 2010 
Agency or authority designated to handl e comments:  [ ] National Notification 
Authority, [X] National Enquiry Point.  Address, fax number and e-mail address (if 
available) of other body: 
Office National de Sécurité San itaire des Produits Alimentaires  
Avenue Hadj Ahmed Cherkaoui Agdal, Rabat Tel.:  +(212) 537 68 13 51/ 675 39 94 51 Fax:  +(212) 537 68 20 49 
E-mail: hamid.lachhab@gmail.com 
  lachabhamid@yahoo.fr 
13. Texts available from:  [ ] National Notification  Authority, [X] National Enquiry Point.  
Address, fax number and e-mail address (if available) of other body:  
Office National de Sécurité San itaire des Produits Alimentaires 
Avenue Hadj Ahmed Cherkaoui Agdal, Rabat Tel:  +(212) 537 68 13 51/ 675 39 94 51 
Fax:  +(212) 537 68 20 49 
E-mail: hamid.lachhab@gmail.com  lachabhamid@yahoo.fr