The four Specialist Commissions play a key role in the development and revision of WOAH International Standards. They collaborate with its global scientific network, are responsible for the official recognition of animal health status, provide advice on epidemiology, prevention and control of animal diseases and various other aspects of WOAH’s scientific work programmes, they deal with scientific and technical issues related to the above and are responsible for evaluating the applications, overseeing the work programmes and managing the network of WOAH Reference Laboratories and Collaborating Centres. Each Specialist Commission has one President, two Vice-Presidents and three members and they meet formally at least twice per year to discuss and agree on a range of items from their respective work plan.