WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/610 
7 December 2005 
 
 (05-5829) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   Spanish 
  
 
EXPERIENCE IN THE APPLICATION OF THE 
PRINCIPLE OF REGIONALIZATION 
 
Communication from Chile
 
 
 
 The following communication, received on 5 D ecember 2005, is being circulated at the 
request of the delegation of Chile. 
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I. INTRODUCTION 
1. As confirmed by the relevant international scientific organizations – in the case of plant 
health, the International Plant Protection Conventio n (IPPC) and in the case of animal health, the 
World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) – Chile is a country free of the principal pests and diseases that limit agricultural and forestry exports. 
2. Thanks to the surveillance system s introduced, Chile has been able to detect the entry of pests 
and diseases, and to control and subsequently  eradicate them at an early stage. 
3. Chile participates actively in the relevant inte rnational scientific organizations and in the 
WTO SPS Committee. 
4. As Chile is both an exporter and importer of agricultural products, this paper will examine a 
number of experiences with the respect to sanitary and phytosanitary recognition obtained and granted 
from the point of view of both the importing country and the exporting country. 
II. DECLARATION OF PEST– AND DISEASE–FREE ZONES AND RECOGNITION 
OF THEIR STATUS 
5. Chile currently enjoys a privileged sanitary and phytosanitary status that has enabled it to 
enter demanding markets.  This status was achieved through medium- and long-term prevention, 
control and the eradication programmes involving heav y investments, both public and private.  Chile's 
experience in obtaining recognition of sanitary or ph ytosanitary status has thus far been fairly 
variable, with procedures differing according to  the requirements of the country from which 
recognition was requested.  Similarly, the time requi red to obtain recognition has varied owing to the 
absence of any clear and transparent guidelin es for the administrative process involved. 
6. We shall now turn to different pests and di seases in respect of which Chile has requested 
recognition:  fruit fly, classical swine fever, avian influenza and foot and mouth disease. G/SPS/GEN/610 
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 III. FRUIT FLY 
7. The only species of fruit fly to have existed in continental Chile is Ceratitis capitata , which 
was completely eradiated in 1995 following an eradi cation project that lasted more than 15 years.  
Existing international parameters were met, and the IPPC was duly notified.  A statement was also 
submitted to the WTO SPS Committee meeting of March 1996, under the agenda item 
"Implementation of the Agreement", and circulated as document G/SPS/W/52. 
8. Chile then began to request bilateral recogn ition from the various countries concerned, and 
encountered a great variety of acceptance criteria an d procedures as well as substantial differences in 
the time taken to respond to the requests and to gr ant recognition of sanitary and phytosanitary status, 
which ranged from months to several years. 
9. During the period of more than 10 years since the status of country free of fruit fly was 
achieved, there have been a number of cases in whic h the pest has entered fro m abroad, but each time 
it has been detected, controlled and eradicated, and the free status has been recovered in accordance 
with international standards.  In each of these cases, the IPPC was immediately notified and the 
trading partners directly informed.  In many cases, the recognition process had to be started over 
again. 
IV. CLASSICAL SWINE FEVER 
10. In 1998, Chile achieved the status of country  free from classical swine fever following an 
18-year programme involving joint efforts on the part of the public and private sectors.  This status 
was achieved following the guidelines established by th e OIE, which was officially notified.  A 
statement was also made before the SPS Committee at its meeting of June 1998 under the agenda item 
"Implementation of the Agreement", and circulated as document G/SPS/GEN/81. 
11. Chile then began to submit requests for recogn ition of the status achieved, and once again 
encountered a great variety of procedures as well as delays in the recognition process which ranged 
from a few months, in some cases, to several years in others.  These differences were due to complex 
domestic administrative procedures, or indeed in so me cases, to a lack of procedures or to demands 
that went beyond the international OIE regulations .  For example, where the OIE stipulates that 
without vaccination, at least 6 months must elapse since the most recent outbreak, there are countries that require 12 months to have elapsed. 
V. AVIAN INFLUENZA 
12. In 2002, strains of the avian influenza virus were  detected in a commercial flock in Chile for 
the first time.  The emergency response plan of the official veterinary service for OIE List A diseases 
was activated.  The affected birds and the birds that were in contac t with them were slaughtered, and 
quarantine and biosecurity measures were adopted, applying the principle of regionalization.  The 
problem was finally eradicated in a record time of 7 months. 
13. The OIE was kept informed throughout, as we re Chile's trading partners, and Chile 
unilaterally suspended its exports of poultry pro ducts, which were only resumed when it received a 
clean bill of health.  It requested the visit of a gr oup of experts appointed by the OIE, which toured the 
country and approved the strategy applied. 
14. As regards recognition, once the problem had been  eradicated and the OIE parameters met, a 
statement was made before the SPS Committee at its meeting of March 2003 and circulated as 
document G/SPS/GEN/383, and bilateral requests fo r recognition were submitted to the countries  G/SPS/GEN/610 
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 concerned.  The result was the same as that describ ed above for the other cases, with certain countries 
responding within months and others taking several years. 
VI. RECOGNITION BY CHILE OF PEST– AND DISEASE–FREE ZONES 
15. Since Chile, as stated in the introduction, is a country free from the principal export-limiting 
pests and diseases, it invests heavily in defence, su rveillance and diagnostic m echanisms in order to 
prevent problems from occurring or to detect them early on.  While it may be true that the country's 
adequate level of protection is high, it is in keepi ng with the scientific objectives of the trade measures 
designed to provide guarantees on the part of the expo rting countries.  Thus, in order to safeguard its 
assets without disrupting trade, Chile has been persis tent in applying the procedures for recognition of 
sanitary status requested by countries, basing its deci sions on the relevant inte rnational regulations.  
Listed below are but a few examples of the many instances of recognition of sanitary status. 
16. The state of Sonora, in Mexico, was recogni zed as free of classical swine fever in 2000. 
17. The state of Yucatán, in Mexico, was recognized  as free of classical swine fever in 2002. 
18. The Island of Tierra del Fuego, in Argentin a, was recognized as free from foot and mouth 
disease in 2002. 
19. The rest of the territory of Argentina was recognized as free from foot and mouth disease with 
vaccination in 2005. 
20. The states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil were recognized as free from 
classical swine fever in 2002. 
VII. CONCLUSIONS 
21. Though only a few examples have been provided, if we examine the issues raised as trade 
concerns within the general context of the Committee, we are led to the conclusion that in the area of 
plant and animal health, most of the trouble rela tes to the process of sanitary and phytosanitary 
recognition, which suggests that there are problems in applying the principle of regionalization. 
22. We therefore think that the Committee, in its  capacity as administrator of the Agreement, 
should consider developing procedures or mechanisms  to help improve implem entation of Article 6, 
particularly when it comes to recognitio n of sanitary and phytosanitary status. 
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