WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/1065 
17 February 2011 
 (11-0815) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
ACTIVITIES DEVELOPED ON SANI TARY AND PHYTOSANITARY (SPS) 
RELATED ISSUES 
 
Communication from the Inter-Ame rican Development Bank (IDB)
 
 
 
 The following communication, received on 9 February 2011, is being circulated at the request of the IDB
. 
 
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I. CAPACITY BUILDING ON  SPS RELATED ISSUES 
A. DEMAND -DRIVEN CAPACITY BUILDING  
1. The Integration and Trade Sector (INT) has implemented capacity building activities for the 
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) government  officials and private sector on SPS related 
issues.  The objectives of these activities are:  (i) to strengthen the Latin America and the Caribbean 
(LAC) capacity to address SPS related challenges and, (ii) to foster the technical knowledge on SPS 
related requirements to access specific markets. 
 Beneficiaries:   The target audiences are government  officials from th e ministries of 
Agriculture, Trade and Health;  SPS Agencies;  Export Promotion Agen cies;  and the private sector 
from LAC countries.  
 Methodology:   These capacity building activities are organized based on a demand-driven 
approach.  They aim at delivering training cours es according to the speci fic needs raised by a 
particular country or region.  They are derived fro m client-driven needs with a short to medium term 
scope, and are rapid responses to demands emerging di rectly from the clients.  The topics covered 
vary depending on the specific needs of the country or region where it will take place.  These trainings 
are provided by INT experts, with the collaboration of other donors (FDA, USDA/APHIS, European Commission), international (WTO), regional (SIE CA, IICA, OIRSA) and local (National Export 
Promotion Agencies, Chamber of Commerce) institutions. 
 
2. The most recent SPS trainings implem ented and in pipeline are as follows: 
 Year 2010 
 
(i) "Course on the Sanitary and Phytosanitary  Requirement of the Main Importing 
Markets", 12-13 April 2010, Guatemala City, Guatemala; 
(ii) "Dissemination Round of the Guides to Exporting to the European Union", 4-
22 April 2010, Central America. G/SPS/GEN/1065 
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   Year 2011 
 
(i) "Course on the Sanitary and Phytosanitary  Requirement of the Main Importing 
Markets", TBD, San Salvador, El Salvador. 
B. S
UPPLY -DRIVEN CAPACITY BUILDINGS  
(a) IDB/INTAL-WTO Capacity Building Programme 
3. The IDB, jointly with the WTO, has developed a Training Programme for trade negotiators in 
the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by these institutions in February 2002. 
These trainings aim to strength the understanding and implementation of the WTO legal framework.  
Every year technical training is delivered on Agricu lture Trade, SPS and/or TBT, and other subjects. 
 Beneficiaries:   The training programme is directed to national government officials from 
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) whose work ing responsibilities are closely related to the 
process of trade negotiation at a multilateral level. 
 
 Methodology:   Annually the list of courses and the agenda are designed jointly by the 
Division of Technical Cooperation of the WTO and the IDB.  The content of the courses vary depending on the negotiation process dynamics related to the Doha Development Agenda and the 
specific needs of the countries of the region.  Th e trainings are provided by INT and WTO experts, 
with the collaboration of national and regional institu tions.  The material and agenda of the trainings 
can be found at the INTAL website:  " http://www.iadb.org/intal/detalle_articulo.asp?idioma=esp&aid
 
=844&cid=256&nivel=1 ". 
 
Trainings developed jointly by IDB/INTAL-WTO, 2005-2010  
 
Specific scope    By Region 
NAMA  11    LA Caribbean 
SPS 5   2005 8 1 
Trade Facilitation 6   2006 9 4 
Dispute Settlement 5   2007 7 5 
Trade and Environment 2   2008 10 4 
Trade and Development 5   2009 6 2 
Service 2   2010 7 2 
Agriculture 5      
Others 3   TOTAL 47 18 
Generic scope       
Regional Trade Policy 6      
WTO Negotiations Status 5      
Regional and Multilateral Trade Agreements 5      
Seminar for Academics on WTO Negotiations 2      
Seminar for Parliamentary on WTO Negotiations 1      
TOTAL 63      
 
4. The last SPS-related trainings implemented and in the pipeline are as follows: 
 Year 2010 
 
(i) WTO/IDB Regional Seminar on Agriculture, 26-28 April 2010, Buenos Aires, 
Argentina;  
(ii) WTO/IDB SPS Regional Seminar for Latin America, November, Lima, Peru.  G/SPS/GEN/1065 
 Page 3 
 
 
   Year 2011 
 
(i) WTO/IDB SPS Regional Seminar for the Caribbean, TBD 
II. SPS DATABASE 
5. The Integration and Trade Sector (INT) has de veloped a database (INTra deBID) that provides 
access to accurate and updated information about tr ade agreements, market acc ess, trade statistics and 
indicators.  It includes a set of applications that facilitates the unde rstanding, analysis and 
implementation of trade agreements.  It contains a specific module on sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), which provides information on: 
(i) SPS related commitments negotiated in  the regional trade agreements; 
(ii) Specific Trade Concerns raised  before the WTO SPS Committee; 
(iii) Private standards; 
(iv) Import refusals by the United States and European Union due to the lack of 
compliance with SPS related requirements; 
(v) SPS related requirements to export agricultural products to some specific countries.  
6. The SPS Database is available at:  http://www.iadb.org/topics/trad e/int/tools/sps/Default.aspx
 
III. LOAN PROJECTS 
7. INT has lead and provided technical input to IDB loan projects which have an SPS 
component.  Some examples of the most recent projects approved and in the pipeline are as follows: 
Project Title Beneficiary Value Year 
BL-L1009 Agricultural Services Programme Belize 5,000,000  2009 
JA-L1012 Agricultural Competitiveness Programme  Jamaica 16,000,000  2010 
RG-T1679 Harmonized System for Bovine Traceability in 
Central America, Belize, panama and the 
Dominican Republic Central America 
1,900,000  2009 
IIC-FinPyme FINPYME Export Plus Guatemala 300.000 2010 
 
IV. RESEARCH 
8. INT has developed research on recent trends, cha llenges and opportunities in the field of SPS.  
Some examples of the recent publications are as follows: 
(i) "The Treatment of Agriculture in Regional Trade Agreements in the Americas", 
Matthew Shearer, Juliana Salles Almeida, Carlos Gutierrez.  IDB Working Paper, 
November 2009 - Paper launched jointly with  the IPC in Salzburg, May 2009 and in 
Washington DC, October 2009.  Document available at:  " http://www.iadb.org/  
publications/search.cfm?query=The+Treatment+of+Agriculture+in+Regional+Trade+
Agreements+&context=all&lang=en&searchLang=all&searchtype=general "; 
(ii) "SPS Import Requirements to Access the EU Market",  Thierry Woller, Juliana Salles 
Almeida, IDB Technical Note, April 2010.  " http://www.iadb.org/topics/trade/int/  
tools/sps/Publications.aspx "; G/SPS/GEN/1065 
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  (iii) "SPS Import Requirements to Access the As ian Market (Japan, Korea, China and 
Singapore)", Juliana Salles Almeida, Shin  Kwew, IDB (forthcoming August 2011); 
(iv) "The Treatment of Agriculture in Trad e Agreements around the World:  lessons 
learned and best practices", Linda Fulponi , Matthew Shearer, Juliana Salles Almeida, 
OECD/ IDB Joint Working Paper (forthcoming March 2011). 
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