WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/THA/142 
27 March 2006 
 (06-1380) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
NOTIFICATION 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  THAILAND
 
If applicable, name of local government involved:   
2. Agency responsible:  Department of Fisheries (DOF)  
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 carps ( Cyprinus carpio ) and their gametes  
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable:  All 
countries  
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:  Certificate of origin and 
health requirements for importation of live carps, Cyprinus carpio , and their gametes into 
Thailand for culture purpose.  
6. Description of content:  As there were reports of herpes virus infection in koi carp and 
common carp in many countries.  Recently, koi herpesvirus (KHV) outbreaks in Indonesia 
and Japan caused severe damages to common carp  aquaculture in both c ountries.  Scientific 
evidence indicated that koi carp were also affected by KHV.  Movement of un-certified live carps and their gametes can easily spread the disease.  Therefore, the Department of Fisheries 
(DOF) has established a strategy to control trans-boundary movement of aquatic animal 
diseases using quarantine meas ures on imports as follows: 
-  Pre-importation:  facilities of Thai aquatic animal farms or companies have to achieve the 
quarantine standard of the DOF be fore receiving an import permit. 
-  Arrival of aquatic animals and their gametes at the port:  the imported animals and their 
gametes must be accompanied with Certificat e of Origin and Health.  The fish will be 
subjected to quarantine at the certified quarantine areas of the importing farms or companies. 
-  Post-importation:  aquatic animals will be quarantined for at least 21 days.  Fish health 
inspectors will examine the animals for diseases  listed in the OIE, koi  herpesvirus and other 
contagious pathogens.   
Certificate of Origin and Hea lth shall certify as follows: 
1)  A health certificate must be presented at the port of entry together with the aquatic 
animal shipment.  The health certificate mu st be issued by competent authority or 
authorised laboratories and signed by veterinarian, authorised officer or inspector.  The certificate shall contain information as follows; 
1. Name and address of consignee 
2. Name, size and number (scientific and common name) of common carp and 
koi carp  
3. Origin of the common carp and koi carp to be exported. G/SPS/N/THA/142 
Page 2  
 
  4. The common carp and koi carp must come from a country, a zone or a farm 
establishment where they are submitted to a health supervision set up to operate 
according to the proce dures described in the Diagnostic Manual for Aquatic 
Animal Diseases  from Office International Des Ep izooties (OIE) and that this 
country, zone, or farm establishment is recognized officially unaffected by the 
OIE listed diseases.  If the test methods of any diseases are not designated in 
most recent edition of the OIE Diagnostic  Manual, the PCR technique shall be 
used and must be stated its reference in the certificate.  
5. The lots of fish or fish shipments designated for exportation must be tested for 
koi herpesvirus using Nested PCR technique.  The test shall be done in the 
Competent Laboratory, University or Authorized Laboratory.  (Fish movement 
document shall be attached to pr ove the origin of the fish.) 
6. The exported animals must not come from the sources that had an un-usual 
mortality during the previous 3 months, which the causation could not be explained. 
7.  Before exportation, the common carp and koi carp  must be quarantined for 7-
10 days and treated with chemicals to remove all external parasites.  
8. The exported common carp and koi carp  must certify as indicated in the 
following table;  
8.1  Spring viraemia of carp virus  
8.2  Koi herpesvirus disease  
9. A health certificate attached below is ju st for convenient.  We would encourage 
all exporting countries to use the attached  Health Certificate to certify the 
exported carps into Thailand.  However other models of health certificates are 
also accepted if contained or certified as the attached Health Certificate.  
 
HEALTH CERTIFICATE FOR THE IMPORTATION OF  
LIVE CARPS ( Cyprinus carpio ) AND THEIR GAMETES INTO THE KINGDOM OF 
THAILAND 
 Place of Issue: ……………………………………………………………………………….. 
Address: …………………………………………………………………………..…………. 
 ……………………………………………………………………………………….  ………………………………………………………………………………………. Tel no: ……………………… Fax no: …………………..E-mail: ………..…………….…  
Aquaculture establishment / Origin Fish  Examined 
Farm: ………………………………….. 
Address: ………………………………. 
 ………………………………………… …………………………………………. Tel: ……………………………………. Fax: …………………………………… 
Manager/Owner: ………………………. 
 ………………………………………….. Species:  ………………………………. 
                            ( Cyprinus carpio ) 
 Stock number or code: …………………….. (Identified by farm owner) 
Age of fish: 
.……………………………….. Number of fish in the stock or number of fish to be exported: ………………………. 
Diseases Sampling  Date Number  of  Fish  Examined 
SVC          ……………………………….. 
(within  6 months prior to shipment)      ………………………….. 
KHVD         ………………………………… 
(within  6 months prior to shipment)      ………………………….  G/SPS/N/THA/142 
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  METHODS 
Spring viremia of carp (SVC) diagnostic method was performed according to the OIE 
Manual of Diagnostic Tests for Aquatic Animals. 
Koi herpesvirus disease (KHVD) was detected using Nested PCR technique.  
RESULTS No clinical signs were observed at gills , skin and abdominal region of the carps. 
No cytopathic effect was observed on EPC or BF-2 cell line. 
No KHV-PCR product was amplified from the genome extracted from the carps. 
REMARKS 
To date, SVC and KHVD have not been re ported in this farm establishment. 
No unexplained mortality has been observed during the six months prior to shipment. 
 
Exporting country: ………………………………… 
Issued at………………………………………..Date: ……………..……………………… This certificate is valid within ten days after issuance.  Official Stamp  
 
   
Authorised Officer / Authorised Inspector:  ………..……………………
 ( ………………………………. )
Position: ………………………………….
 
7. Objective and rationale: [   ] food safety,  [ X ] animal health,  [   ] plant protection, 
[   ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [   ] protect territory from other damage from pests   
8. 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:  A model of an international health certificate for 
live fish and gametes is available in the OI E Aquatic Animal Health Code.  However the 
model does not include koi herpesvirus disease.  As the koi herpesvirus disease first occurred 
in Thailand during March–August 2005, the Depa rtment of Fisheries (DOF) has developed 
and implemented dis ease control and eradication measures to  prevent the koi carps industries.  
Therefore, the DOF's model health certificate has included both SVCV and KHVD in the 
same certificate to facilitate the importation of live carps.  
9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  Requirements for 
importation of live carps, Cyprinus carpio , and their gametes into  Thailand for culture 
purpose (Available in Thai, 2 pages and in English, 2 pages).  
10. Proposed date of adoption:  24 November 2005  
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  1  May  2006  (using the new model of health certificate)  G/SPS/N/THA/142 
Page 4  
 
  12. Final date for comments:  20 April 2006  
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [ X ] National notification 
authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if 
available) of other body:   
National Bureau of Agricultural Co mmodity and Food Standards (ACFS) 
Division of Agriculture Commodity and Food Standards Policy 
3 Ratchadamnern-Nok Road, Bangkok 10200 Thailand Tel:  (662) 629 8970 Fax:  (662) 629 8978 
Website:  www.acfs.go.th 
E-mail:  sps@acfs.go.th
 
13. Texts available from:  [ X ] National notification authority, [ X ] National enquiry 
point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:   
National Bureau of Agricultural Co mmodity and Food Standards (ACFS) 
Division of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards Policy 3 Ratchadammern-Nok Avenue, Bangkok 10200 
Thailand 
Tel:  (662) 629 8970 Fax:  (662) 629 8978 Website:  www.acfs.go.th E-mail:  sps@acfs.go.th