WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/624 
23 January 2006 
 (06-0296) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English/ 
 French/  Spanish 
 
  
RECENT DISCUSSION AND PROGRESS ON OIE STANDARDS 
 
Communication from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE
) 
 
 
 The following communication, received on 19 January 2005, is being circulated at the request 
of the OIE. 
_______________ 
 
Terrestrial Animal Health Code 
1. The OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Standards Commission (hereafter referred to as the 
Terrestrial Code Commission) met 19 to 30 Septem ber 2005 in Paris to address Member Countries’ 
comments received prior to and following the 73r d General Session.  The Commission examined 
various Terrestrial Code texts, and revised ex isting and developed new texts on the following 
subjects: 
• General definitions 
 2. A set of definitions proposed by the Working Group of Animal Welfare was reviewed and 
endorsed by the Terrestrial Code Commission with some minor modifications.  
• Evaluation of veterinary services 
 
3. The Terrestrial Code Commission received from the President of the ad hoc Group a draft 
revised text of Chapters 1.3.3 and 1.3.4 on the ev aluation of Veterinary Services.  This revision 
included recommendations on the evaluation of the Veterinary Statutory Body and on a procedure 
whereby a Member Country can request the OIE to or ganise an evaluation of its Veterinary Services. 
• Zoning and compartmentalization 
 
4. The Terrestrial Code Commission clarified the commitment of the Veterinary Administration 
by modifying an Article. 
5. The Terrestrial Code Commission was concerned that the concept of compartmentalisation 
was not yet well understood.  It noted that the app lication of compartmentalisation was not mandatory 
and it should be used in a similar manner to zoni ng, depending on the epidemiology of the disease.  
While the primary criteria for zoning are related to geography, those for compartments relate to 
biosecurity management measures; however, the a pplication of zoning includes some biosecurity 
elements and compartmentalisation will invol ve a spatial element for some diseases. G/SPS/GEN/624 
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  • Criteria for listing diseases 
 
• Foot and mouth disease 
 
• Bluetongue 
 6. The newly developed surveillance appendix w as received from the Scientific Commission 
and is presented unchanged to Member Countries.  
• BSE 
 7. The Terrestrial Code Commission recalled the discussion at the 73rd General Session where 
some Member Countries were opposed to inclusion of muscle meat and blood products in the list of 
commodities which can be traded safely.  However,  arguments were largely based on studies using 
laboratory strains of transmissible spongiform encep halopathy (TSE) in laboratory animals, and many 
scientific papers have confirmed that different TSEs  behave differently in various animal models.  
With respect to BSE, cattle provide the appropriate  model to study the distribution of the agent in 
cattle.  A number of studies have failed to demonstrat e the presence of BSE in muscle meat or in the 
blood of experimentally infected cattle not showing clinical signs of BSE. 
8. The Terrestrial Code Commission also took in to account information arising from a recent 
World Health Organization (WHO) Consultation on Tissue Infectivity Distribution in Transmissible 
Spongiform Encephalopathies, but noted that, in many cases, this was preliminary information requiring further validation.  The meeting also re ferred to an equivocal result for muscle meat 
(semitendinosus muscle) arising from a clinically affected cow.  The Terrestrial Code Commission 
did not believe that any changes in this regard were  required to the current te xt, but it would continue 
to monitor the progress in the research. 
9. The Terrestrial Code Commission has been concerned for some time that up-to-date 
recommendations needed to be developed for other commodities, and will ask the Director-General to 
convene an expert group to examine the safety of gelatine and tallow.   
10. The revised Surveillance Appendix proposed by  the OIE experts was endorsed with minor 
changes. 
• Classical swine fever  
 
• Avian influenza 
 11. The Terrestrial Code Commission drafted a ne w appendix on procedures for the inactivation 
of highly pathogenic notifiable avian influenza (HPN AI) virus.  The information in the appendix was 
compiled from a published paper and from a manus cript in press, provided by an expert.   
• Semen and embryo related matters 
 
• Animal welfare 
 
• Control of hazards through ante- and post-mortem inspection 
 
• Animal identification and traceability 
 
• Equine diseases  G/SPS/GEN/624 
 Page 3 
 
 
   
12. The report of the Terrestrial Animal Health  Standards Commission may be accessed at 
http://www.oie.int .  
New edition of Terrestrial Code 
13. The 2005 edition of the Terrestrial Code in English, French and Spanish, updated according 
to these decisions, was published in August 2005, sent to  delegates of Member Countries and made 
available on the OIE Website.  A Russian version was also produced.  Work continued with the 
development of the Terrestrial Code in XML form at which will facilitate updating and allow greater 
interactivity by users. 
Aquatic Animal Health Code ( Aquatic Code ) 
 14. During 2005, the Aquatic Animal Health Sta ndards Commission met in January and in 
August; the Bureau of the Commission met in May (just prior to the 73
rd General Session). 
15. The OIE organized meetings of four Ad hoc Groups to revise Aquatic Code  chapters for fish, 
crustacean and mollusc diseases based on the adopted new template and for the revision of the OIE 
list of aquatic animal diseases.  It also organized meetings of two Ad hoc Groups on aquatic animal 
welfare.  
Meetings of the Commission:  13–19 January and 1–5 August 2005 
 
16. The subjects examined by the Commission du ring the meetings included the following: 
- updates to the Aquatic Animal Health Code and the Manual of Diagnostic Tests 
for Aquatic Animals ; 
- harmonization between the Aquatic Animal Health Code and the Terrestrial 
Animal Health Code ; 
- amphibian disease issues; 
- role and activities of the OIE in the field of aquatic animals; 
- meetings with the Terrestrial Animal Health Standards Commission and the 
Animal Health Information Department; 
- role and functions of OIE Reference Laboratories; 
- OIE Aquatic Animal Disease Information System; 
- cooperation and partnership with other in ternational organizations and regional 
organizations; 
- Aquatic Animals Commission Web page. 
 
New edition of the Aquatic Code 
 
17. The 2005 edition of the Aquatic Code  in English, French and Spanish was published, sent to 
delegates of Member Countries and made available on the OIE Website. 
__________