. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/982 
12 November 2009 
 (09-5636) 
Committee on Sanitary Measures and 
Phytosanitary Measures Original:   Spanish 
 
 
  
PROGRESS IN THE AREA OF SANITARY AND 
PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES 
 
Statement by Ecuador at the Meeting
 
held on 28 and 29 October 2009  
   The following communication, received on 28 Octo ber 2009, is being circulated at the request 
of the delegation of Ecuador
. 
 
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 1. Ecuador would like to inform WTO Members of the progress made and the institutional 
reforms introduced in the sanitary and phytosanitary area.  To begin with, Ecuador has consolidated 
its Integrated System for Agricultural Health, F ood Quality and Safety (SISCAL) which targets the 
sectoral harmonization and coordination of entities in volved in quality, agricultural health and food 
safety and helps with the formulation and implemen tation of strategic government policies to promote 
safe food consumption, agricultural health and qu ality management systems in food production. 
2. As part of this consolidation process, Ecuador's official service, AGROCALIDAD, has been 
strengthened:  its human resources have begun to be  upgraded with 85 technicians recruited through 
prequalification processes in order to ensure tran sparency and the excellence of its personnel.  
Moreover, AGROCALIDAD is developing 80 manuals on administrative, financial and technical 
procedures and protocols for its different depart ments, for example:  the National Fruit Fly 
Programme;  the redefinition of the Programme for Foot-And-Mouth Disease, Brucellosis and Avian 
Influenza;  Control of the Marketing of Pesticides;  and Monitoring of Export Crops.  This means that 
AGROCALIDAD will have standardized, harmoni zed and transparent processes that meet 
international standards. 
3. Meanwhile, at the domestic level there is im proved awareness of the importance and of the 
benefits to be derived from Ecuador 's proper participation in interna tional forums.  Accordingly, the 
national system of notification and information w ithin the Ministry of Foreign Relations, Foreign 
Trade and Integration has been brought into opera tion with staff devoted full time to ensuring the 
proper management of the system and the follow-up of  actions in the sanitary and phytosanitary area, 
in coordination with AGROCAL IDAD and the private sector. 
4. A foreign relations unit has been created  within AGROCALIDAD's new institutional 
framework.  It is currently starting up, and will be  bringing in qualified staff.  The aim of this 
initiative is to improve and optimize the country's  participation in forums where sanitary and 
phytosanitary matters are being discussed.  The in stitution has established a system of quarterly 
accountability for all of the action taken and the pr ogrammes developed, incl uding good practices in G/SPS/GEN/982 
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  the development of standards and regulations, a process in which the official sector and the private 
sector are involved on a permanent basis. 
5. Finally, the national Codex Alimentarius system  is currently being validated in order to 
ensure more flexible and user-friendly mana gement of the entire Codex legislation. 
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