WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/878 
2 October 2008 
 (08-4675) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English/ 
 French/  Spanish 
 
  
OIE’S WORK TO FACILITATE TRADE IN ANIMAL PRODUCTS (COMMODITIES)  
AND OIE’S KEY INITIATIVES IN CAPACITY BUILDING FOR MEMBERS 
 
Communication from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE
) 
 
 
 The following communication, received on 1 October 2008, is being circulated at the request of the OIE. 
 
_______________ 
 
 
Facilitating trade in animal products (commodities) 
 
1. The OIE is undertaking work to facilitate trad e in animal products (commodities) under the 
auspices of its specialized Commissions (Scientif ic Commission, Terrestrial Code Commission and 
Aquatic Code Commission).  The goal of this work is to refine existing standards and develop new 
standards that are simple to use and to understand and that facilitate safe trade in products derived 
from terrestrial and aquatic animals.  Because of the differing animal health and food safety issues 
associated with these products, the work is presen ted separately but the same principles apply.  
2. The OIE is collaborating with the United Kingdom (DEFRA and DFID) in a range of 
initiatives to support enhanced trade in terrestrial animal commodities, including developing relevant 
new scientific research programs.  
Terrestrial animal products 
 3. The OIE convened an expert ad hoc Group on Trade in Terrestrial Animal Products 
(commodities), which held its first meeting on 21-23  July.  The Group held fruitful discussions, with 
recommendations for further action by the OIE in the following areas:  
(a) Develop publications communicating the OIE’s commitment to policies supporting 
global increase of trade in commodities; 
(b) Seek funds for research to support commodity trade; 
(c) Obtain feedback on members’ application of OIE standards, particularly in regard to 
commodity trade; 
(d) Adoption in the Terrestrial Code of add itional standards to facilitate commodity 
trade; 
(e) Promotion of and technical support for commodity trade; G/SPS/GEN/878 
Page 2  
 
  (f) Strengthening Veterinary Services so that they can effectively apply international 
standards set by the OIE and maintain credibility in the provision of veterinary health certificates; 
(g) Addressing antigenic variation within serotypes of FMD-SAT
1 viruses in terms of 
vaccine selection and diagnostic tools to help African countries to apply acceptable 
risk mitigation measures for commodity safe trade. 
4. The Terrestrial Code Commission will discuss these recommendations at its meeting 
29 September–10 October 2008 and will then publish the Group’s report and the Commission’s recommendations for future work on the OIE internet site. 
Aquatic animal products 
 5. The first meeting of the OIE ad hoc Group on the safety of products derived from aquatic 
animals was held on 27-29 August 2008.  The Group noted that there is increasing global production 
and trade in a diverse range of aquatic animal produc ts and that there are significant gaps in scientific 
knowledge regarding the effect of processing on the inactivation of aquatic disease agents.  
6. The ad hoc Group developed criteria that coul d be used to assess the safety of aquatic 
commodities irrespective of the disease status of s ource populations.  The Group’s future work will 
include an assessment of commonly traded products against these criteria and recommendations to 
identify certain products or classes of products as safe for the purposes of trade.  
7. The Aquatic Code Commission will discuss the Group’s recommendations at its October 
2008 meeting before publishing the re port and relevant recommendations. 
The OIE’s work in capacity building 
 
8. The OIE is undertaking several initiatives to help Members improve capacities.  
Laboratory twinning program 
9. Nine twinning projects involving four OIE Re ference Laboratories are underway or due to 
start soon.  Two proposals are in the process of finalization and three are under review. 
10. To facilitate applications and the manageme nt of Twinning Projects, OIE has published a 
Guide to OIE Certified Laboratory Twinning Proj ects and a contract template.  The Guide was 
distributed at the World Association of Veterina ry Diagnostic Laboratories conference in Melbourne, 
Australia in November 2007 and at the 76th OIE Gene ral Session in Paris in May 2008.  The most 
recent version is available on the OIE website:  http://www.oie.int/downld/LABREF/A_Guide.pdf
  
OIE PVS evaluations 
 
11. The current status of OIE PVS evaluations is summarized in Annex 1. 
12. The main outputs of a national OIE PVS eval uation is the description of levels of 
advancement for each of the 40 critical competencies (to date, overall 40 critical (and sub-critical) 
competencies x 5 possible levels = a total of 200 possible outcomes) of a national animal health 
system (Veterinary Services).  PVS reports are based on referenced evid ence and factual qualitative 
information;  they are not based on assumptions.  
                                                      
1 One of the strains of FMD virus, curr ently located in the African continent. G/SPS/GEN/878 
Page 3 
 
 
  13. An important next step after this formal evaluation involves the identification of main 
priorities for the country, depending on the nati onal economical and political context (e.g. disease 
eradication, control of zoonoses, trade for expor t); and the identification of specific objectives for 
each critical competency and the desired le vel of advancement to be achieved.  
14. In a programme that is currently under developm ent, as a first step the OIE is working with 
selected experts and partners on a quantitative assessmen t of needs.  The difficulty lies in identifying,  
the specific activities, tasks and resources require d to address the specific recommendations from the 
PVS Evaluation.  This will be the subject of the "PVS Gap Analysis" program, i.e. to specify the 
actual needs of the countries, on a case-by-case basis,  to meet OIE international standards for quality 
of Veterinary Services, using the OIE-PVS Tool.  
15. This will be used by the countries, in collabora tion with the OIE, partners and donors, in the 
preparation of investment programs aimed at reaching the desired level of improvement and directly linked to the OIE international qua lity standards for Veterinary Serv ices.  Partners and donors will 
have to estimate the corresponding cost to achie ve the desired improvements, using their own 
instruments and procedures. 
16. In addition to country Gap Analysis, the OIE may also provide complementary assistance by: 
(i) sharing models of appropriate animal health legislation complying with OIE standards for the 
modernization of national veteri nary legislation, (ii) conducting specific missions aimed at the 
improvement of national legislation, (iii) helping to develop North-South or South-South laboratory 
twinning proposals, (iv) OIE global Vaccine Bank support, (v) regional/national training programs for 
National Delegates, focal points and stakeholders, and (vi) PVS follow-up missions to evaluate 
developments in compliance with standards and recommendations, including after the gap analysis 
program. 
Strengthening veterinary legislation 
 
17. Veterinary legislation is an essential element of the national infrastructure that enables 
Veterinary Authorities to carry out their key func tions, including surveillance, early detection and 
control of animal diseases and zoonoses, animal production food safety and certification of animals 
and animal products for export.  In the face of  increasing global trade, climate change and the 
emergence and re-emergence of diseases that can ra pidly spread across international borders, the 
Veterinary Services must be effectively supported by legislation to meet the OIE criteria for performance of essential functions.  
18. The OIE is aware that in many developing coun tries veterinary legislation is outdated and 
inadequate to address the challenges of today and of th e future.  At the request of Members, the OIE is 
developing guidelines on the essential elements to be covered in veterinary le gislation.  Any Member 
that has participated in an OIE PVS Evaluation may request a follow-up mission dedicated to the 
provision of advice and assistance in modernizing th e national veterinary legislation.  The OIE 
expects to put relevant information on its internet we bsite by the end of this year.  Five OIE missions 
to review veterinary legislation have already b een conducted and/or are in the planning process.  G/SPS/GEN/878 
Page 4  
 
  Compartmentalization for poultry diseases 
 
19. With the support of the WTO Standards a nd Trade Development Facility (STDF), which 
funded a Project Preparation Grant (PPG), the OIE is collaborating with Brazil and Thailand in the 
preparation of projects on the use of compartmen talization to facilitate trade in poultry products, 
having regard to the presence of avian influenza and Newcastle disease (two important diseases of 
poultry).  Recently conducted studies have paved th e way for the development of national programs to 
implement compartmentalization in poultry.  Th e OIE expects that both countries will formally 
submit projects and requests for STDF support in coming months. G/SPS/GEN/878 
Page 5 
 
 
  ANNEX 1 
 
PVS Evaluation Missions – (As of 25 September 2008) 
 
 
Region Official requests Missions completedReports sent to 
countries 
Africa 36 32 24 
Americas 15 10 6 
Asia/Pacific 13 10 6 
Europe 9 8 7 
Middle-East 11 5 3 
Total 84 65 46 
 Official requests: 
Africa (36): Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Côte D’Ivoire, Congo (DR), 
Djibouti, Egypt , Eritrea, Gabon , Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, 
Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, 
Nigeria, Senegal, Swaziland,  Sudan,  Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia  
Americas (15): Barbados, Belize , Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica , Dominican Republic, 
Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama , Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay  
Asia/Pacific (13): Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia , Korea (PDR), Lao, 
Mongolia , Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam  
Europe (9): Albania, Armenia,  Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, 
Uzbekistan  
Middle-East (11): Bahrain, Jordan,  Lebanon, Kuwait,  Qatar, Saudi Arabia, National Authority of 
Palestine, Oman, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen 
Italics: Completed missions 
 
__________