. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/609 
8 December 2005 
 (05-5793) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   Spanish 
  
 
CLASSICAL SWINE FEVER – BRAZILIAN  
EXPERIENCE IN REGIONALIZATION 
 
Communication from Brazil
 
 
 
 The following communication, received on 2 D ecember 2005, is being circulated at the 
request of the delegation of Brazil.  
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 1. In 2001, Brazil established its classical swine feve r (CSF) free zone, made up of the States of 
Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina , Paraná, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, 
Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Sa nto, Bahia, Sergipe, and the Federal District.  
These 14 States together account for almost 50 per cent of the Brazilian territory, and for almost the 
totality of commercial swine farms.  
2. This free zone was established in the wake  of joint efforts by producers and government 
bodies over a number of consecutive years, beginning with  the investigations that led to an effective 
national vaccination campaign.  The structure of the official veterinary services already set up to define the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) free zone pr oved sufficient, and was used for the work that 
led to the eradication of CSF in the above-mentioned zone of Brazil. 
3. The work carried out by Brazil resulted in an  extremely secure free zone, with extensive 
protected areas, natural and geographical barriers, official monitoring of quarantine and transit of 
animals, as well as vaccination.  It should be noted that there have been no cases of classical swine 
fever in the Brazilian CSF-free zone  since implementation.  The virus was in fact never reintroduced, 
proving that the zone is secure. 
4. The fact that the FMD virus can be transm itted through pig meat makes it impossible to 
establish a direct correlation between the CSF-free zone and the increase in the number of importers 
of the product from Brazil.  There is no point in establishing such a relationship without, at the same time, observing the progress of the FMD-free zone.  The recognition by the World Organization for 
Animal Health (OIE) of the first Brazilian FMD-fre e zone made it possible, for the first time, for 
Brazil to export chilled pig meat, and led to a 24 per cent increase in the number of importers of 
frozen pig meat.  The number of importers of Br azilian products derived fro m pigs continued to 
increase.  Thus, following the establishment of th e CSF-free zone at the beginning of 2001 Brazil 
managed, by the end of that year, to achieve a 17.64 per cent increase in the number of importers as compared to 2000.  In 2003, there was an incr ease of 41.86 per cent in the number of countries 
importing frozen Brazilian pig meat.  That increase was made possible by the stabilization of the 
FMD situation and the CSF-free zone. G/SPS/GEN/609 
Page 2  
 
 5. Other factors in addition to those mentioned above, such as technical upgrading of farms, 
expenditure on genetic and sanitary  development, and above all, the abundant grain harvests (soya 
beans and maize) contributed to the steady increase in the productivity of Brazilian swine farms.  
Thus, even prior to the establishment of the FMD- and CSF-free zones, production was steadily 
increasing, which accounts for the fact that Brazil ra nks among the leading producers and exporters of 
pig meat. 
6. However, in spite of the sanitary status of  the Brazilian swine population, certain major 
importing countries impose restrictions on Brazilian pig meat related to classical swine fever.  A closer look at these restrictions reveals that the lack of recognition of equivalent sanitary measures 
and the failure to recognize regionalization are the ma in problems.  Added to this is the failure to 
bring sanitary requirements into line with the OIE r ecommendations.  It is important to note in this 
connection that the effective recognition by the OIE of countries' free zones, as was the case for FMD, 
could help to facilitate bilateral recognition by im porters, thus avoiding subjectivity and excessive and 
undue delays. 
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