ACTIONS AIMED AT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
WTO AGREEMENT
ON SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES
INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY THE INTER-AMERICAN INSTITUTE
FOR COOPERATION ON AGRICULTURE (IICA)
The following communication, received on 12 March 2024, is being
circulated at the request of IICA.
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The observer organizations of the WTO
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Committee) are
invited to submit reports on the activities they have carried out to promote
the understanding and implementation of the Agreement on the Application of
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement). IICA would like to present
some of the actions and activities that it considers relevant to the work of
this Committee.
1 SUPPORT FOR MULTILATERAL FORa ASSOCIATED WITH SANITARY AND
PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES
1.1 Codex Alimentarius Colloquia
1.1. IICA, in collaboration with the United States Codex Office, the
FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean (CCLAC) and
the African Union's Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR),
continues to support its member countries in their active participation in the
Codex Alimentarius, through the implementation of an annual program of
colloquiums aimed at the CCLAC and the CCAFRICA countries and the United
States. In these colloquiums, both regions (43% of the Codex membership)
discuss and exchange opinions on the various agenda items of each of the
official Codex Alimentarius meetings. These meetings motivate and support
developing countries to enhance their active participation both individually
and regionally. The most recent colloquiums were:
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January 2024 -
preparation for the 7th Session of the Codex Committee on Spices and
Culinary Herbs (CCSCH7);
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February 2024 -
preparation for the 28th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Committee
on Fats and Oils (CCFO28);
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February 2024 -
preparation for the 54th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Committee
on Food Hygiene (CCFH54);
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March 2024 -
preparation for the 17th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Committee
on Contaminants in Foods (CCCF17).
1.2. These events provided an opportunity for delegates from these two
regions and the United States to analyze issues of common interest and
develop regional participation strategies prior to those Codex Committee
meetings.
1.2 Regional Coordination Session on WTO SPS Matters
1.3. Adding to the regional efforts to strengthen capacities in the hemisphere
for the application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures and working in
collaboration with several of its members, IICA will conduct in March 2024
its Ninth Coordination Session on WTO SPS Committee Matters. The meeting
will be hosted virtually with simultaneous interpretation for English, French
and Spanish. Considering the current prominent subjects under discussion in the
WTO SPS Committee, the coordination sessions will address matters related to the
Sixth Review of the Operation and Application of the WTO SPS Agreement.
1.3 Inter-American Coordinating Group in Plant Health (GICSV) recent
activities
1.4. Since the constitution of the GICSV, IICA has exercised the technical
secretariat on a permanent basis and currently hosts its website. In recent years it has maintained an intense agenda
and a work plan focused on institutional strengthening, coordination of
activities and attention to the main emerging phytosanitary issues. The most
relevant events and activities conducted during the period covered by this
report were:
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Fruit Fly Working
Group Meeting;
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Working Group on
Phytosanitary Emergencies Responses;
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Locust Workshop;
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Electronic
Certification Meeting (ePhyto) Working Group.
2 OTHER ACTIVITIES
2.1 2nd Cooperative Agreement IICA-FDA: Activities between
December 2023 and March 2024
2.1. The Cooperative Agreement is currently on its last fiscal year, and
the main focus of the efforts is on disseminating the "Growing Safe
Produce" Programme, which is one of the most important products of this
Agreement. The Programme can be found on its webpage (https://pci.iica.int/) and is currently available in Spanish and
English.
2.2. In-person dissemination activities of the "Growing Safe Produce"
Programme:
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IICA will
participate in several in-person activities disseminating the "Growing
Safe Produce" Programme, as a training tool to improve the understanding
of the regulatory requirements of FSMA's Produce Safety Rule (PSR). Two of
those activities will be Produce Safety Summits, organized by FDA's Division of
Produce Safety (DPS). One will take place in Chihuahua, Mexico, in February
2024, and the second will be in Antigua, Guatemala, in March 2024. There are
also Summits being planned in Peru in March 2024, and Baja California, Mexico,
in April 2024, where IICA will also have a participation. These Summits will
have the participation of government authorities, private organizations, as
well as producers. During these events, IICA delegates will present the
Programme, its contents and will invite the participants to register for free
on its web platform and use it. The delegates will also answer the participants'
questions and provide some printed samples of the resources available.
2.3. Virtual dissemination activities of the "Growing Safe Produce"
Programme:
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IICA has
organized, in collaboration with PSA Trainers and Lead Trainers, virtual
meeting with producers to disseminate the "Growing Safe Produce"
Programme. These virtual events have already happened in Peru (November 2023,
80 participants), Argentina (December 2023, 60 participants) and the Dominican
Republic (January 2024, 95 participants). Upcoming events will be conducted for
Panama (February 2024), Chile and Peru (March 2024) and Costa Rica (April
2024). During these events, IICA technical specialists and PSA Trainers
and Lead Trainers will present the Programme, the web platform and some of the
materials available, and will help the participants register in the platform
and provide some examples of the training materials and how to access and
download printable materials. All of these events take place via Zoom and
have a duration of approximately two hours. All dissemination activities
(virtual and in-person) are planned in partnership with FDA's Latin America
Office.
2.4. Webinar series 2024:
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An important part
of the Cooperative Agreements between IICA and FDA has been the development of
several webinar series addressing different food-safety-related regulations
from the regulator's as well as the industry's point of view. All the webinars
are coordinated jointly by IICA and FDA's Latin America and the Caribbean
Office (LAO) and have the support of subject matter experts. From this
agreement, ten webinars will take place In 2024, with the first two programmed
for March. Each webinar is expected to have more than 200 participants
from all of the Americas, with the events having simultaneous interpretation
Spanish-English.
2.2 Food Inspection Initiatives in Central America and the Caribbean
2.5. The IICA, in collaboration with USDA/FAS and the University of
Minnesota (UMN), provided technical assistance to countries in Latin America
and the Caribbean in developing a pilot model of risk-based food safety
inspection. Incorporating a risk classification model into the food safety
monitoring system will enable regulators to determine the frequency of
inspections that achieve the greatest relative risk reduction and optimize
resources. In the period from December 2023 to March 2024, more than ten virtual
sessions were held with government entities in the Dominican Republic,
Ecuador, Guatemala and Peru, and more virtual sessions and face-to-face visits
to the countries are planned to socialize the model with the industry.
2.3 Capacity building activities under the US Food Safety Modernization
Act (FSMA)
2.6. IICA, in collaboration with USDA/FAS and the Texas Tech University
(TTU), conducted a series of training courses for Produce Safety Alliance
growers on regulations, requirements and GAP, and delivered official Preventive
Controls for Qualified Individuals (PCQI) workshops. The workshops provided
free FDA-certified training materials on FDA's Food Safety Modernization Act
(FSMA) and the Preventive Controls for Human Food final rule, preparing
participants to lead and support the creation, development and implementation
of a Food Safety Plan in processors. Some of the countries that participated in
the last three months were: Barbados, Guatemala and Honduras. There are
plans to carry out this type of activities in El Salvador in the next few
months.
2.4 Voluntary Third Party Assurance with the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency (CFIA)
2.7. In collaboration with CFIA Canada, IICA facilitated two virtual
workshops on voluntary third party assurance (vTPA). The first workshop,
conducted for BAHA Belize, focused on integrating vTPA Information into the
CFIA's Risk-Based Inspection and Auditing Approach (ERAs), CFIA's ERAs for
Import, and the Development of ERA/Import Risk Assessment (IRA) Models. The
second workshop, organized for SENASA Honduras, covered various topics
including the inclusion of vTPAs in risk profiling model, differences in risk models
with different vTPAs, development and demonstration of risk model, recognition
and selection of vTPAs by CFIA, availability of public database, data exchange mechanisms,
and impact of vTPAs on inspection frequency.
2.8. In March, our focus will be on developing policy paper proposals and
outlining a roadmap aimed at institutionalizing risk-based inspection models
that incorporate vTPA risk frameworks in both Honduras and Belize. This
initiative highlights our commitment to enhancing food safety measures and
regulatory practices in collaboration with stakeholders from both countries.
Through these efforts, we strive to foster a more robust regulatory environment
that effectively addresses emerging challenges and ensures the integrity of
food supply chains.
2.5 Workshop on African Swine Fever Prevention and Control in the
Americas
2.9. Hosted in a physical format in March 2024 in Costa Rica, this event
is the result of an agreement between IICA and Agriculture and Agri-food Canada
(AAFC), which was also joined by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in
the design and organization of the Workshop.
2.10. A group of 12 countries, considered as priority for Canadian
technical cooperation (Bahamas, Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic and
Trinidad and Tobago), was invited for a discussion covering the different
topics related to the prevention of ASF, including epidemiological and
laboratory diagnosis of the disease. An extensive list of existing gaps and
opportunities for international technical cooperation among Canada and the
participants was identified to strengthen prevention against ASF in our hemisphere.
For further information, please contact José H. Urdaz (jose.urdaz@iica.int).
Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on
Agriculture (IICA)
Agricultural Health and Food Safety
http://www.iica.int
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