. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/ALB/97 
30 January 2009  
 (09-0436) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION OF EMERGENCY MEASURES  
 
1. Notifying Member:  ALBANIA
 
If applicable, name of local government involved:    
2. Agency responsible:  Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Protection 
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where applicable):  Live animals, herbivores, ruminants, embryos, biological products, 
pathological material 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable: 
[   ] All trading partners, or 
[ X ] Specific regions or countries:  Italy 
5. Title of the notified document:  Order of the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Consumer 
Protection "On some protective measures agai nst the outbreak of Blue tongue disease in 
Italy"  Language:  Albanian  Number of pages:  2 
6. Description of content:  This Order of the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Consumer 
Protection contents some protective measures against the outbreak of Blue tongue disease in Italy, Piemont region, stopping the import and transit of live animals like ruminants, and all kind of herbivores infected by Blue tongue disease from Italy, Piemont region into 
Albanian territory;  stopping the import of products such as:  semen and embryos of 
ruminants and all kind of herbivores;  pat hological material and biological products 
originated from ruminants and all kind of herbivores that are infected by Blue tongue Virus. 
7. Objective and rationale:  [ X ] food safety, [ X ] animal health, [   ] plant protection, 
[ X ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [   ] protect territory from 
other damage from pests.  The objective is to protect hum an and animal health in the 
territory of Albania from the Blue tongue disease outbreak in Italy, Piemont region. 
8. Nature of the urgent problem(s) and reason for urgent action:  This Order aims to 
protect the consumers and animals from the harmful disease of Blue tongue appeared in Italy, Piemont region. G/SPS/N/ALB/97 
Page 2  
 
  9. Is there a relevant international standard ?  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 N°)     
[   ] None Does this proposed regulation conform to  the revelant international standard? 
 [   ] Yes   [ X ] No 
 If no, describe, whenever possible, how and why it deviates from the 
international standard:    
10. Other relevant documents and langua ge(s) in which these are available:   Notifications 
taken from the World Organization for Animal Health, dated 15 January 2009, according to 
the International Terrestrial Animal Health Code. 
11. Date of entry into force (dd/mm/yy)/period of application (as applicable):  
19 January 2009 
[   ] Trading Facility measure  
12. Agency or authority designated to handl e comments: [ X ] National Notification 
Authority, [ X ] National Enquiry Point.  Address, fax number and E-mail address (if 
available) of other body:    
13. Texts available from: [ X ] National Notification Authority, [ X ] National Enquiry 
Point.  Address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:   
General Directorate of Standardization  
WTO Enquiry Point - Albania Tel:  +(355 4) 222 62 55 
Fax:  +(355 4) 224 71 77 
E-mail:  info@dps.gov.al Website:  http://www.dps.gov.al