. /.   WORLD  TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/ARG/103 
3 January 2007 
 (07-0021) 
Committee on Sanitary and 
Phytosanitary Measures  Original:   Spanish 
 
 
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   ARGENTINA  
If applicable, name of local government involved:  
2. Agency responsible:  Servicio Nacional de Sanidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria  - SENASA 
(National Agriculture and Food Quality and Health Service) 
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):  Rabbit semen 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable: 
 Trading partners 
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:  Condiciones Sanitarias 
para la Autorización de la Importación de Semen de Conejo a la República Argentina 
(Health Requirements for Importing Rabbit Seme n into the Argentine Republic) (11 pages, 
available in Spanish).  
6. Description of content:   The draft document contains m odels of the application form for 
importing rabbit semen ( Solicitud de Importación de Semen de Conejo ) and the international 
veterinary certificate authorizing the importa tion of rabbit semen into the Argentine Republic 
(Certificado Veterinario Internacional para la Au torización de la Importación de Semen de 
Conejo a la República Argentina ).  
 Amongst other requirements, th e veterinary authorities of the exporting country must 
certify that the farm of origin of the rabbi ts producing seminal material for export to 
Argentina is free of rabbit haemorrhagic disease.   The farm of origin will be considered free 
of this disease when serological test results sh ow that the disease has not been present for at 
least one year prior to the extraction of the semen for export to Argentina and when none of 
its rabbits have been vaccinated against the disease in the previous 12 months. 
 
 Should the exporting country not be consider ed free of myxomatosis, the rabbits in 
the farm of origin from which the semen fo r export to Argentina was obtained must be 
vaccinated against myxomatosis with the vaccin es prescribed in the OIE Terrestrial Manual. 
 
 Rabbits from which the semen for export to Argentina is obtained must have been 
kept continuously in the farm of origin since birth or for the 12 months prior to the extraction 
of the semen and be duly identified by a me thod which guarantees durability.  Moreover, 
rabbits producing semen exported to Argentina must have undergone serological testing for 
antibodies to Salmonella  typhimurium  and S. enteritidis , Toxoplasmosis  and Clamidiosis  
and ELISA testing for E. coli O 103 , with negative results.  G/SPS/N/ARG/103 
Page 2  
 
  7. Objective and rationale:  [   ] food safety, [ X ] animal health, [   ] plant protection,   
[ X ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [   ] protect territory from other damage from pests  
8. International standard, guideline or recommendation:  
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission, [ X  ] World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE), [   ] International Plant Protection Convention, [   ] None 
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate 
reference and briefly identify deviations:  Terrestrial Animal Health Code, Section 2.8. 
9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  Once adopted, the 
resolution will be published in the Boletín Oficial  (Official Journal). 
10. Proposed date of adoption:   To be determined 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:   To be determined 
12. Final date for comments:   60 days after the date of notification. 
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [  X ] National notification 
authority, [   ] National enquiry point or address, fax number and E-mail address (if 
available) of other body:  
13. Texts available from:  [ X ] National notification authority, [   ] National enquiry point 
or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body: