. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/542 
23 February 2005 
 (05-0753) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
OFFICIAL OIE RECOGNITION OF MEMBER COUNTRIES' HEALTH STATUS 
 
Communication from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)
 
  
 The following communication, dated 18 February 2005, is being circulated at the request of 
the OIE. 
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 Background 
1. The OIE has a mandate to examine upon request  from a member country its claims for a 
particular status with regard to four of the OIE listed diseases: foot and mouth disease (FMD), 
rinderpest, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia a nd bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).  With 
regard to BSE, member countries may apply to be recognized for only one of two categories of status 
(of the five in the current BSE chapter of the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code (the Terrestrial 
Code)) – free and provisionally free.  The OIE does not routinely classify its Member Countries with respect to their animal health status for other listed diseases. 
Evaluation and approval procedure 
2. The procedure requires that the member country provide evidence that it complies with all the 
relevant provisions of the Terrestrial Code and Manual with respect to the disease for which free 
status is being sought, either for the whole country , or for a zone or compartment within the country. 
3. A member country wishing to submit a dossier for evaluation is required to complete a 
standard questionnaire.  Two examples of the questionnaire can be accessed on the OIE Web site 
(www.oie.int/eng/info/en_procedures.htm
). 
4. The dossier, which needs to be submitted by the OIE Delegate of the member country, should 
contain enough information (suitably documented) in  support of the questionnaire to show that the 
member country complies with all the relevant provi sions of the Terrestrial Code and Manual.  On 
receipt of the dossier, the OIE undertakes a preliminary review to ensure that it is complete.  In case 
of any deficiency, the member country is advised  accordingly, and invited to resubmit its dossier. 
5. The Scientific Commission then submits the co mplete dossier for detailed evaluation by an ad 
hoc group, comprising experts on the disease con cerned, drawn usually from OIE Reference 
Laboratories.  The ad hoc  group assesses the dossier in accordance with the provisions of the  
Terrestrial Code and Manual.  In assessing the dossi er, the group may, if it feels necessary, interview 
a delegation from the applicant member country to ob tain additional information or a clarification of 
the dossier or of the disease situation prevailing in that country.  Whether a technical mission needs to 
be sent to the applicant member country for the purpo se of validating certain details in its dossier is a G/SPS/GEN/542 
Page 2  
 
 decision made by the Scientific Commission on a case- by-case basis, depending on the quality of the 
documentation provided and the questions raised by the ad hoc  group. 
6. As the ad hoc  group functions under the auspices of the Scientific Commission, all 
recommendations of the ad hoc  group need to be endorsed by that Commission before being 
discussed with Member Countries. 
7. In accordance with Resolution No. XVI of 199 9, recommendations endorsed by the Scientific 
Commission are circulated to all Member Countries,  which are given 60 days to comment.  Member 
Countries may ask for additional information or a cl arification from the OIE or directly from the OIE 
delegate of the applicant member country.  A ll comments from Member Countries are taken into 
account by the Scientific Commission in making its final recommendation.  A recommendation which 
supports the claims of an applicant member country  is debated by the International Committee (the 
general assembly of representatives of all OIE Me mber Countries, nominated by their governments) 
at the next annual General Session.  A dossier which does not receive a positive recommendation is 
returned to the applicant. 
8. The name of the member country is added to th e list of countries, zones or compartments free 
from a particular disease only if the recommendation of the Scientific Commission is endorsed by the 
International Committee (on a one-country one-voice principle).  
9. There is provision for a "fast track" proce dure for free countries or zones which have 
experienced a disease outbreak, to allow them to rega in free status without awaiting the next meeting 
of the International Committee.  In 1997, the Scien tific Commission was given the authority to restore 
the FMD-free status of a member country previous ly recognised as being FMD-free, in advance of a 
vote by the International Committee; this authority has now been extended to all four diseases.  This 
is subject to the member country providing eviden ce that they are in accordance with the relevant 
provisions of the Terrestrial Code and Manual.  Th e member country's name would then be included 
in the formal resolution at the next General Session. 
Maintenance of status 
10. Once a member country achieves free status with  respect to a specific disease for the whole 
country, or for a zone or compartment within a country, that member country should, in accordance with Resolution No. XII of 1997, reconfirm by letter in  November each year that status is unchanged.  
In the event of any confirmed outbreak of the di sease, the OIE has the authority to remove with 
immediate effect the name of the country, or zone  or compartment within the country from the list. 
11. In addition to official information received from Member Countries, the OIE also depends on 
a "tracking system" based on disease information obtained from other sources.  In these cases, the member country is asked by the Central Bureau to confirm or refute the information before taking 
appropriate actions.  
Status recognition 
12. As the procedure concludes with an official recognition by the OIE of the status of the 
member country for that disease (through a formal resolution), other OIE Member Countries have an 
obligation to take that recognition into account  when developing import health measures for 
commodities from that member country. 
 
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