G/SPS/GEN/1735  
 
16 October 2019  
(19-6699) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English/French/Spanish  
 
76TH MEETING OF THE SPS C OMMITTEE  
COMMUNICATION FROM T HE WORLD ORGANISATIO N FOR ANIMAL HEALTH (OIE)  
The following communication, received on 15 October 201 9, is being circulated at the request of the 
OIE. 
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The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) is pleased to provide this report for the information 
of WTO Members attending the 7 6th meeting of the SPS Committee.  
The report summarises key activities in the OIE 's standard -setting work programme, along with 
updates  on OIE capacity building activities.  
1  DEVELOPMENTS IN THE OIE STANDARDS FOR TE RRESTRIAL AND AQUATI C ANIMALS  
1.1.  The four OIE Specialist Commissions met during September 201 9 at the OIE Headquarters to 
continue work to review existing, and develop new  OIE inter national standards  in the Terrestrial 
Animal Health Code, the Aquatic Animal Health Code, the Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines 
for Terrestrial Animals and the Manual of Diagnostic Tests for Aquatic Animals, along with other 
activities relevant to ea ch Commission's terms of reference . 
1.2.  As the outcomes of these meetings were not available at the time this report was compiled, a 
verbal update will be provided to the Committee on key outcomes.  
1.3.  The reports of these four meetings , including new and revised standards to be proposed for 
adoption at the 88th OIE General Session in May 2020 or circulated for member  comment, will be 
available on the OIE website during November 2019.  The links to th ese reports , once available,  are 
provided below : 
− Biological Standards Commission , September 2019 meeting report;  
− Scientific Commission for Animal Diseases , September 2019 meeting report ; 
− Aquatic Animal Health Standards Commission , September 2019 meeting report ; 
− Terrestrial Animal Health Commission , September 2019 meeting report . 
1.4.  The OIE would like to highlight to the Committee the following  work: 
1.5.  Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) . A revised draft Chapter 11.4. Bovine spongiform 
encephalopathy of the Terrestrial Code was considered by the Scientific Commission and the Code 
Commission and will be included in the September 2019 report of the Code Commission for member  
comments. Comme ncing in 2017, an in -depth review of the existing BSE chapter is aimed at 
updating the provisions on the categorisation of official BSE risk status to reflect the latest scientific 
evidence, appropriate to the current BSE risk as well as the provisions on BSE risk assessment and 
surveillance.  
1.6.  Infection with avian influenza viruses. The revision of Chapter 10.4 Infection with avian 
influenza viruses of the Terrestrial Code has been ongoing since 2017. The revision seeks to take 
into account the differences a mong members  when responding to either LPAI or HPAI outbreaks and 
the appropriate sanitary measures to be applied. The latest revised chapter will be included in the 
September 2019 report of Code Commission for member  comments with a proposal for adoption 
during the OIE General Session in May 2020.  G/SPS/GEN/1735  
 
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  1.7.  The Code Commission has developed a new draft chapter on Official control programmes for 
listed and emerging diseases (Chapter 4.Y.) for the Terrestrial Code which will be circulated for 
member  comments in the Code Commission 's September 2019 report and wi ll be proposed for 
adoption at the OIE General Session in May 2020.  
1.8.  The Aquatic Animals Commission has developed a new draft chapter on Biosecurity for 
Aquaculture Establishments (Chapter 4.X.) for the Aquatic Code which will be circulated for member  
comme nts in the Aquatic Animals Commission 's September 2019 report will be proposed for adoption 
at the OIE General Session in May 2020.  
1.1  Global initiative for the global control of African swine fever  
1.9.  The OIE launched a global initiative for the control of Afri can swine fever (ASF) at the OIE 
General Session in May 2019, which will use the OIE/FAO Global Framework for the Progressive 
Control of Transboundary Animal Diseases (GF -TADs) mechanism to develop, improve and 
harmonise partnerships and coordination at na tional, regional and international levels. The goal of 
this initiative is to achieve global control of ASF by improving countries ' capability to control the 
disease, preventing national and international spread through effective coordination and 
cooperatio n, and minimising adverse impact through business continuity.  
1.10.   The initiative includes the development of guidelines on the implementation of the OIE 
concept of zoning and compartmentalisation for ASF to support OIE members  seeking to establish 
and maintain  a swine population free from ASF within their territories for the purposes of national 
and international trade, and disease control.  
2  PROVISION OF SCIENTI FIC ADVICE TO THE OI E AND ITS MEMBER COU NTRIES  
2.1.  The Director General establishes ad hoc Groups to provi de specific technical and scientific 
advice required to support the work of the OIE and the OIE Specialist Commissions. The OIE 
publishes information on its website providing the dates and terms of reference of proposed ad hoc 
Groups as well as reports onc e these have been validated and considered by the relevant Specialist 
Commissions.  
2.2.  This information is available on the OIE website at: ad hoc Groups information . 
3  MONITORING THE USE O F OIE INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS  
3.1.  The OIE is still in the process of developing the OIE Observatory for monitoring the 
implementation of its standards. The OIE has been collaborating wit h the Organisation for Economic 
Co-operation and Development (OECD) who has conducted an analysis of the concept of 
"implementation " of OIE standards and a review of the existing mechanisms supporting the 
development, implementation, monitoring and evaluat ion of OIE standards. The OIE received the 
final draft report in September 2019 and has considered its recommendations to develop the 
objectives and key outputs of the Observatory and to define a pilot phase.  
3.2.  Further information regarding the OIE Observato ry project is available on the OIE website . 
4  WORLD ANIMAL HEALTH INFORMATION SYSTEM  
4.1.  The World Animal Health Information System (WAHIS) is an intrinsic and fundamental part of 
the OIE 's mandate and a vital tool for the 182 OIE members  to continue 'Ensuring Trust through 
Transparency and Communication ' of the global animal disease situation in a timely manner. 
It enables the collection and dissemination of data on animal diseases,  including zoonotic pathogens, 
of epidemiological significance in terrestrial and aquatic animals of both domestic wild species.  
4.2.  Since 2016 the OIE has embarked on a ten -year process of modernising its existing animal 
health information system (WAHIS). The  new system will be called OIE -WAHIS and will be launched 
in the first semester of 2020.  
4.3.  OIE-WAHIS will constitute a completely redesigned platform and will incorporate a 
transdisciplinary and holistic approach to data collection, analysis and disseminatio n – not only G/SPS/GEN/1735  
 
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  addressing animal diseases – but also public health. Moreover, as OIE -WAHIS moves forward, it will 
progressively incorporate climate and environmental data sources. OIE -WAHIS will have a faster 
and more intuitive user -friendly system with new features, which will include extended data 
analytics, customisable data queries and enhanced mapping and data visualisation capabilities. 
The dynamic, interactive, ergonomic national dashboards will have integrated analytical capabilities 
and enable data to be extracted and uploaded in a wide range of formats (e.g. PDF, Excel, CSV and 
as an image). Building bridges between OIE -WAHIS and national/regional databases will support 
this endeavour and regional initiatives are already underway.  
5  CAPACITY BUIL DING ACTIVITIES  
5.1  Performance of Veterinary Services Pathway for the sustainable improvement of 
national Veterinary Services (PVS Pathway)  
5.1.  The OIE has developed the Performance of Veterinary Services Pathway for the sustainable 
improvement of national Veteri nary Services (PVS Pathway) which aims to provide Veterinary 
Services with a comprehensive understanding of their strengths and weaknesses through a 
consistent methodology, and to support them to improve their animal health system. The process 
was launched  in 2007 and progressively evolved from the 'PVS Evaluation Tool ' to a comprehensive 
staged approach providing a series of sequential capacity -building activities. In 2018, ten years after 
its creation, the OIE through a 'think tank ' involving numerous sta keholders, reflected on the 
outcomes of the work to date and affirmed the relevance of the PVS Pathway and existing processes 
and identified new activities to ensure countries ' engagement and benefits. Newer PVS Pathway 
engagement options have been designe d to increase country ownership, positive impacts and 
sustainable change. They include: PVS Orientation Training, PVS Self -Evaluation, PVS specific 
content, PVS strategic planning support and PVS/IHR National Bridging Workshops, all of which are 
described in the OIE website . 
5.2  Regional workshops  
5.2.  A series of regional workshops have been implemented throughout the five OIE regions during 
2018/2019 to improve members ' understanding and use of OIE sta ndards to facilitate safe 
international trade. These seminars targeted representatives from OIE member countries  who work 
in the area of risk management related to the import or export of animals and animal products. 
The objectives was to provide participa nts with an understanding of the OIE standards and how they 
relate to the WTO framework; how to implement OIE standards to ensure safe trade, while avoiding 
unjustified sanitary barriers to trade; understanding their rights and obligations when developing 
import and export certification requirements and undertaking border clearance processes; and an 
understanding of, and how to, effectively participate in the OIE standard setting process.  
5.3.  The OIE also conducts seminars for recently appointed OIE Delegates a nd Regional seminars 
for the OIE National Focal Points appointed for eight different areas (Animal Disease Notification to 
the OIE, Veterinary Products, Communication, Animal Production Food Safety, Animal Welfare, 
Veterinary Laboratories, Wildlife and Aqu atic Animals). These seminars provide participants with 
knowledge about the rights, commitments and responsibilities of OIE Delegates and OIE National 
Focal Points in the OIE standard -setting process and provide a forum for discussions about 
implementation  of OIE international standards.  
 
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