. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/587 
7 July 2005 
 
 (05-3004) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   Spanish 
  
 
CURRENT DOMESTIC MEASURES TO FACILITATE THE IMPLEMENTATION  
OF THE WTO AGREEMENT ON THE APPLICATION OF 
SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES 
 
Statement by the Dominican Republic at  the meeting of 29 and 30 June 2005
 
 
  The following communication, received on 30 June 2005, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegation of the Dominican Republic.  
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 1. Progress has been made in the updating of th e legal and regulatory framework for agricultural 
health.  An Agricultural Health and Food Safety Working Group (AHFS)  has been set up, 
comprising representatives of public- and private-se ctor institutions and t echnical cooperation bodies 
coordinated by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).  The Group has 
drafted two proposals to modernize the Law on Plant Health Protection and the Law on Animal 
Health Protection , which will be discussed more widely in workshops and seminars bringing 
together relevant sectors before being submitted to  the Executive for referral to and approval by the 
National Congress. 
 
2. A Food Safety Department is being set up within  the Ministry of Agriculture (SEA), by virtue 
of Resolution No. 18/2005 of 8 April 2005.  Its duties will include monitoring and assuming responsibility for the management and running of the National Programme for Monitoring and 
Control of Waste and Food Hygiene.  
3. Approval has been given to set up the Scientific Committee on Food (COTECA ) within the 
National Committee for the Implementation of the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary 
and Phytosanitary Measures, as provided for in the Ministry of Agriculture's Support Project 
 for Agri-food Competitiveness (PATCA).  
4. Ministry of Agriculture Reso lution No. 20/2005 has established a National Plan for the 
Monitoring and Control of Waste and Food Hygiene under the management of the Food Safety 
Department and the technical consultancy division of the COTECA.  5. Ministry of Agriculture Resolution No. 19/2005 of 8 April 2005 has created a Quality 
Management Unit to monitor and provide information through operation manuals, regulations, 
procedures, technical standards, plans and registers at the Departments of Plant Health, Animal Health 
and Food Safety and at food safety diagnosis and quality control laboratories.  6. The activities of the National Committee for th e Implementation of the WTO Agreements on 
the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary M easures and Technical Barriers to Trade are being 
reinforced through a draft amendment to Decree 58-03, aimed at improving the committee's operating 
mechanisms. G/SPS/GEN/587 
Page 2  
 
 7. The Secretariat of the National Committee for the Implementation of the WTO Agreements 
on the Application of Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures and Technical Barriers to Trade organized 
a workshop on the notification process, which was held in June.  
8. With the support of USAID, a review has b een carried out of the Integrated Management 
Programme for Pests and the Pre-Inspection of Oriental Plants; on the basis of that review the Programme is being amended for implementation.    9. Thanks to a trapping system, biological control measures and hydrothermal treatment, 
Dominican mangoes have been released for export to  the United States.  The first consignment was 
exported at the beginning of June.  10. As regards our membership of the revised International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), 
the relevant communications stating the country's ac ceptance have been sent to  the Director-General 
of the FAO. 
 
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