. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/ALB/62 
9 April 2008  
 (08-1611) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION OF EMERGENCY MEASURES  
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   ALBANIA
 
If applicable, name of local government involved:    
2. Agency responsible:   Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Protection 
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where applicable):  Live animals, herbivores, ruminants, embryos, biological products, 
pathological material 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected , to the extent relevant or practicable :  Italy, 
Veneto region  
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:  Order of the Minister of 
Agriculture, Food and Consumer Protection "On some protective measures against the 
outbreak of Blue Tongue disease in Italy, re gion of Veneto" (available in Albanian, 
2 pages)  
6. Description of content:  This Order of the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Consumer 
Protection presents some protective measures against the outbreak of Blue Tongue disease 
in the Veneto region, Italy as: 
− stopping the import and transit of live animals like ruminants, and all kind of herbivores 
that are infected by Blue Tongue disease from Italy (Veneto region), into the Albanian 
Territory; 
− stopping the import from Italy (Veneto region), into the Albanian territory of the 
products such as: 
• semen of ruminants and of all other herbivores that are infected by Blue Tongue 
Virus; 
• embryos of ruminants and of all other herbivores that are infected by Blue Tongue 
Virus;  and 
• pathological material and biological pr oducts originating from ruminants and from 
any others that are infected by Blue Tongue Virus. 
7. Objective and rationale:  [ X ] food safety, [ X ] animal health, [   ] plant protection, 
[ X ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [   ] protect territory from 
other damage from pests  The objective is to protect the consumers and animal health in 
the territory of Albania from the Blue Tongue disease appeared in Italy, Veneto region. G/SPS/N/ALB/62 
Page 2  
 
  8. Nature of the urgent problem(s) and reason for urgent action:  This Order aims to 
protect the consumers and animal health from the harmful disease of Blue Tongue appeared 
in Italy. 
9. International standard, guideline or recommendation:  
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission, [ X ] World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE), [   ] International Plant Protection Convention, [   ] None  
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate 
reference and briefly identify deviations:    
10. Relevant documents and language(s ) in which these are available:   Notifications taken 
from the World Organization for Animal Hea lth, dated 27 March 2008, according to the 
International Code of Health of Animals. 
11. Date of entry into force/period of application (as applicable):  28 March 2008 
12. Agency or authority designated to handl e comments: [ X ] National notification 
authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if 
available) of other body:  
13. Texts available from: [ X ] National notifi cation authority, [ X ] National enquiry 
point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:  
General Directorate of Standardization 
WTO Enquiry Point – Albania Tel:  +(355 4) 22 62 55 Fax:  +(355 4) 24 71 77 
E-mail:  info@dps.gov.al 
Website:  http://www.dps.gov.al