WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/1026 
22 June 2010 
 
 (10-3411) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   Spanish 
  
 
ACTIONS AIMED AT THE IMPLEMENTATI ON OF THE WTO AGREEMENT ON THE 
APPLICATION OF SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES 
 
Information Submitted by the Inter-American Institute
 
of Cooperation for Agriculture (IICA ) 
 
  The following communication, received on 22 June  2010, is circulated at the request of the 
IICA
. 
 
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 1. The observer organizations of the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) 
of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are invited to submit reports on the activities they have carried out to promote understandi ng and implementation of the SPS Agreement.  The IICA wishes to 
present some of the actions or activities it consid ers relevant to the work of this Committee. 
I. TRAINING IN RISK COMMUNICATION 
2. The IICA held a series of workshops on risk communication as part of the 
IICA/STDF-108 project, based on countries' requests and their capacity-building needs in this area. 
3. A good risk communication strategy in emergenc y situations can have positive repercussions 
both in the sanitary field and for trade.  Accordi ngly, the workshops were so designed and run as to 
provide participants with methodological tools focussing on the merits of a good strategy.  The 
workshops adopted a very practical approach and ta rgeted technical staff members of ministries of 
agriculture. 
4. The workshops were held in Colombia (March, 50 participants), Ecuador (June, 
20 participants) and Peru (June, 19 participants). 
Further information can be obtained from Amy Delgado ( amy.delgado@iica.int
) or Ricardo Molins 
(Ricardo.molins@iica.int ). 
II. PROJECT TO SUPPORT PARTICIPATION IN CODEX ALIMENTARIUS 
MEETINGS 
5. The IICA implemented the second chapter of th e project to support participation by the 
Americas in Codex Alimentarius committees.  This  chapter included the meetings of three Codex 
committees:  General Principles, Pesticide Residues a nd Contaminants in Foods.  The countries that 
qualified for the meeting of the Codex Committee on General Principles were Colombia, Guatemala, 
Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Peru;  for th e Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues, the 
countries were Ecuador, Uruguay, Peru, Paraguay,  Guatemala and Ecuador;  and for the Codex 
Committee on Contaminants in Foods, the countries we re Costa Rica, Colombia, Peru and Argentina.  G/SPS/GEN/1026 
Page 2  
 
  Unfortunately, only some delegates were able to attend the meetings of the Pesticide Residues and 
Contaminants in Foods committees owing to the situation caused by the volcano in Iceland. 
6. We hope to continue the programme in the second half of the year, along with 
capacity-building efforts in Codex committees at national level. 
Further information can be obtained from Ricardo Molins ( ricardo.molins@iica.int
) or Eric Bolaños 
(erick.bolanos@iica.int ). 
 
III. INSTITUTION BUILDING FOR NATIONAL CODEX COMMITTEES 
7. As support for countries' participation in the Codex committees, the IICA assists 
institution-building efforts by impl ementing information systems that make it easier for the national 
committees and sub-committees to manage in formation and promote national positions. 
8. The Codex information management system has now been adapted for Colombia, Peru, 
Bolivia, Guatemala and El Salvador.  Ecuador was the first country to implement it, both for the 
Codex Alimentarius and SPS.  Th ese information systems are available to any country interested in 
adapting them. 
9. In addition to these information systems, th e IICA is in the process of producing a handbook 
of good practices for the management of Codex A limentarius national committees and technical 
sub-committees. 
Further information can be obtained from Ricardo Molins ( ricardo.molins@iica.int ) or Ericka 
Calderon ( Ericka.calderon@iica.int ). 
 IV. TRAINING IN INTERNATIONAL STANDARD-SETTING PROCESSES 
10. The IICA held workshops to raise awareness of  SPS and provide training in international 
standard-setting processes in Jamaica, Barbados and Bahamas/Belize, and will shortly be holding 
another workshop in Trinidad and Tobago in which Su riname and Guyana will participate.  So far, 
150 people have received technical training and senior officials have taken part in raising awareness 
about the importance of investing in SPS. 
11. The workshops have focussed on good practices for participation, the importance of 
international organizations, their standard-setting pr ocesses and the benefits to be reaped from such 
organizations. 
12. The courses benefited from the support of speci alists from Canada, United States, Belize, 
Argentina and Uruguay who presented cases of success and recounted their countries' experiences in 
participating in and benefiti ng from international bodies. 
13. It should be noted that funding provided by th e United States enabled Tonga, Somoa, Fiji and 
the Cook Islands to take part in the Jamaica wo rkshop, which focussed on the benefits of economies 
of scale and the similarities between the island nations of the South Pacific and those of the Caribbean. 
Further information can be obtained from Carol Thomas ( carol.thomas@iica.int
) or Ana Cordero 
(ana.cordero@iica.int ). 
  G/SPS/GEN/1026 
 Page 3 
 
 
  V. HANDBOOKS OF GOOD PRACTICES FOR PARTICIPATION 
14. The IICA has published handbooks of good practices for participation in the 
WTO SPS Committee, Codex Alimentarius and the I PPC.  The Andean Region and Central Region 
countries will be holding workshops on this topic on 27, 28 and 29 July.  The handbooks are intended 
as a management tool to assist officials with little  experience in representing their governments.  The 
handbooks can be found at http://www.iica.int . 
Further information can be obtained from Ricardo Molins ( ricardo.molins@iica.int ) or Eric Bolaños 
(erick.bolanos@iica.int ). 
 
VI. ELFS PROGRAMME:  EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP IN FOOD SAFETY SERIES 
15. The second module of the Executiv e Leadership in Food Safety (ELFS) Series was given in 
Minnesota, United States.  The main focus of the module was public/private linkage and the 
objectives included: 
• Understanding the main concepts of One Health Leadership  (including how they can 
work in a government context). 
 
• Identifying key principles and practices for forging successful partnerships with the 
private sector. 
 
• Building capacity for evaluating the effectiveness of food safety management. 
 
• Identifying essential principles and practices for involving the citizenry in food safety 
issues. 
 
• Understanding all the corporate operations  involved in agricultural production. 
 
• Identifying key principles for coordina ted responses to outbreaks of food-borne 
diseases. 
 16. Thirty-four representatives from 20 countries in th e Americas took part in this module, which 
is being implemented in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the 
University of Minnesota. 
Further information can be obtained from Ricardo Molins ( ricardo.molins@iica.int
) or Ana Cordero 
(ana.cordero@iica.int ). 
 
Inter-American Institute for C ooperation on Agriculture (IICA) 
Agricultural Health and Food Safety 
http://www.infoagro.net/salud  
http://www.iica.int  
 
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