WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/983 
18 November 2009 
 (09-5715) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   Spanish 
  
 
SUSPENSION OF INSPECTION AND DELIVERY OF PLANT AND ANIMAL 
HEALTH CERTIFICATES FOR IMPORTS FROM COLOMBIA 
BY THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA 
 
Statement by Colombia 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 Colombia
. 
 
_______________ 
 
 
I. DESCRIPTION OF MEASURE 
1. The People's Ministry of Agriculture and La nd of Venezuela, acting through the National 
Institute of Comprehensive Agricultural Health  (INSAI (formerly SASA)), has suspended the 
inspection of and delivery of plant and animal h ealth inspection certificates for plant and animal 
products and by-products originating in Colombia. 
2. The measure entered into effect on Wednesday  15 October and health inspectors at the 
San Antonio and Ureña control points were duly in formed through official communication P-1018 of 
14 October 2009, issued by INSAI's National Directorate of Comprehensive Plant Health. 
3. This was openly confirmed by Minister for Food, Félix Osorio, in a statement on 23 October 
to the newspaper El Universal :  "We are no longer going to grant permits for any goods from 
Colombia.  In September and October no licences were  issued, and no authorization will be given for 
the rest of this year". 
4. Likewise, the permit to import the product Le dromin was denied in a written communication 
dated 12 August, stating that "suc h applications are being rejected  pursuant to the decision taken on 
5 August 2009 by the Citizen President in a press c onference broadcast by Venezolana de Televisión 
and circulated in the national media, announcing the suspension of all imports from Colombia". 
II. VIOLATIONS OF TH E WTO SPS AGREEMENT 
5. The measures adopted by the Bolivarian Republic of  Venezuela are in flagrant violation of 
the basic provisions of the WTO Agreement on th e Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary 
Measures, and of Article 2 (Basic Rights and Obliga tions), Annex B (Transparency) and Article 13 
(Implementation) in particular. 
6. In accordance with Article 2, "Members shall ensure that any sanitary or phytosanitary 
measure is applied only to the extent necessary to protect  human, animal or plant life or health [and] is 
based on scientific principles".  They are also to en sure that their sanitary and phytosanitary measures G/SPS/GEN/983 
Page 2  
 
  do not arbitrarily or unjustifiably discriminate between Members and that such sanitary and 
phytosanitary measures are not applied in a manner which would constitute a disguised restriction on 
international trade. 
7. Annex B, entitled "Transparency of  Sanitary and Phytosanitary Regulations", stipulates that 
Members are to ensure that all sanitary and phytos anitary regulations which have been adopted are 
published promptly in such a manner as to enable interested Members to become acquainted with 
them and that, except in urgent circumstances, Me mbers are to allow a reasonable interval between 
the publication of a sanitary or phytosanitary regulation and its entry into force in order to allow time for producers in exporting Members, and particularly  in developing country Members, to adapt their 
products and methods of production to th e requirements of the importing Member. 
8. Article 13 specifies that Members are not to take measures which have the effect of, directly 
or indirectly, requiring or encouraging local governme ntal bodies to act in a manner inconsistent with 
the provisions of the SPS Agreement. 
III. ESTIMATED IMPACT OF THE ME ASURES ON BILATERAL TRADE 
9. Venezuela's measure restricts access for practically all of Colombia's agricultural export 
products, which require sanitary authorization as a prerequisite for import into Venezuela. 
10. The Colombian exports listed in Table No. 1 that are reportedly affected according to 
preliminary calculations account for 17 per cent (US $1,030 million) of exports to Venezuela in 2008 
(US$6,091 million) and 28 per cent (US$909 milli on) of cumulative exports from January to 
August 2009 (US$3,283 million).  The affected pr oducts include meat, live cattle, bovine embryos 
and semen, fruit and vegetables, av ian genetic material (chicks), e ggs and poultry meat, cigarettes, 
animal feed, coffee, and products of the milling industry. 
Sectors 2007 2008 Variation 2009-August
Meat 339.2 759.7 124% 840.1 
Bovine embryos and semen 71.7 103.8 45% 14.0 
Vegetables 89.4 82.0 -8% 24.2 
Eggs 10.7 40.1 274% 6.6 
Live cattle and horses 117.4 13.7 -88% 6.6 
Chicken 4.3 9.7 126% 7.8 
Animal feed 7.2 7.9 9% 5.5 
Seeds 2.1 3.7 74% 0.9 
Cigarettes and tobacco 2.1 2.7 25% 0.9 
Coffee, tea, spices 2.2 2.6 17% 0.0 
Cereals 4.0 2.4 -41% 1.8 
Products of the milling industry 0.9 1.0 12% 0.0 
Other plant materials 1.3 0.5 -59% 0.0 
Fruit 0.9 0.4 -53% 0.0 
Flowers 0.2 0.1 -52% 0.0 
Oils 0.1 0.0 -100% 0.1 
Swine 0.3 0.0 -100% 0.0 
Subtotal agricultural sector 654.3 1,030.3 57% 908.5 
   G/SPS/GEN/983 
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  Sectors 2007 2008 Variation 2009-August
Chemicals 0.1 0.0 -100% 0 
Timber 0.0 0.0 - 0 
Subtotal other sectors 0.1 0.0 -47% 0.0 
     
Total products affected by the 
measure 654.4 1,030.4 57% 908.5 
 
 
IV. REQUEST FOR THE LIFTING OF RESTRICTIONS IMPOSED 
11. Colombia considers that there is no evidence th at the action taken by the Bolivarian Republic 
of Venezuela constitutes an emergency measure, b ecause at no time has any relevant scientific 
evidence been provided pursuant to Article 5.7 of the WTO SPS Agreement.  Consequently, the 
sanitary measures in question constitute undue  and unjustified barriers to trade. 
12. Furthermore, Colombia submits that the plan t and animal health measures adopted by the 
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela were not communi cated in a timely fashion through the official 
channels, nor were they notified to the WTO via en quiry points, as prescribed by the transparency 
provisions in paragraph 5 of Annex B. 
13. In view of the foregoing, Colombia requests th e Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to lift the 
suspension and to deliver the plant and animal h ealth certificates for imports from Colombia, in 
compliance with its commitmen ts under the SPS Agreement. 
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