. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/702 
19 June 2006 
 
 (06-2945) 
Committee on Sanitary and 
Phytosanitary Measures Original:   Spanish 
 
 
 
CENTRE FOR PHYTOSANITARY EXCELLENCE – CEF 
 
A Colombian Cooperation Initiative Pursuant to  
Article 5 of the SPS Agreement  
 
Communication from Colombia 
 
  The following communication, received on 14 June 2006, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegation of Colombia. 
 
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 1. The Centre for Phytosanitary Excellence (CEF)  is devoted to securing trade openings for 
fresh agricultural products from Colombia on internati onal markets.  It was set up in July 2002 under 
the Agreement between the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA), the United States Department of 
Agriculture (USDA), the Inter-American Institute  for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the 
US Agency for International Development (USAID).   Its mission is to generate the preliminary 
studies needed to facilitate applications for the expor t of fresh Colombian agricultural products and to 
determine the distribution of pests limiting Colo mbian exports, as well as to propose strategies for 
their control, management and eradication. 
2. The aim of the institution is to train a perman ent interdisciplinary team of excellence, as a 
leader in the development of Colombian agriculture and trade, serving at the same time as a model for 
Andean countries and others in the hemisphere.  The CEF has a steering committee and a technical 
committee to administer and establish priorities for the development of important documents. 
3. The CEF is made up of a number of national and international cooperation agencies, which 
interact under the agreement.  The pa rticipating agencies are the following: 
 - ICA
:  provides support to the CEF through its plant health professionals and the Risk 
Analysis Group;  gives official approval to documents issued by the CEF, and also commits and covers certain expenditures.  In conjunction with the USDA Animal and 
Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the ICA is responsible for the technical 
coordination activity of the CEF. 
  - USAID
:  provides resources for implementation and workplace adaptation, in 
addition to the wages of technical staff recruited. 
 
 - APHIS :  collaborates with the CEF by defraying administrative and service expenses 
for the place of work and is jointly res ponsible, with the ICA, for CEF technical 
coordination activity. 
 G/SPS/GEN/702 
Page 2  
 
   - IICA
:  responsible for CEF administrative c oordination and USAID resources, hiring 
of qualified professional staff, as well as support and technical cooperation of 
national and international specialists. 
 4. The CEF has subcentres for pest risk analysis, geographical information systems and the pest 
mitigation centre. 
 - PRA Subcentre (pest risk analysis)
:  responsible for promoting scientific studies on 
potential export products. 
  - GIS Subcentre (geographical information systems)
:  responsible for collecting 
information and refining trapping strategies, organizing information on the basis of 
geo-referenced maps, analysing inform ation with a view to identifying 
pest/environment interactions. 
  - Pest Mitigation Centre of Excellence
:  its objective is to propose "mitigation" 
measures for pests and diseases of quarantine significance identified through risk 
assessment studies. 
 5. The CEF has produced documents to facilitate openings for exports to the United States.  
They include studies on Cape gooseberry, dragonfruit (pitahaya), arandino, unripe grape, cucumber, 
tree tomato, cucurbits (ahuyama, pumpkin, squash and zucchini), arrúgala, papaya, chard, tomato, 
feijoa, lulo, spinach, passion flowers (yellow ma racuya, purple maracuya, granadilla and curaba), 
celery, lemon grass, paprika and sage.  Some of them have already been approved by the United States and others are under review and supervision by APHIS. 
6. The Risk Analysis and International Affairs Group of the Colombian Agricultural Institute 
has had its work supplemented by CEF participation. 
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