91st Meeting of the SPS Committee
Communication
from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)
The following communication, received on 26 February 2025, is being circulated at the
request of the WOAH.
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The World Organisation for
Animal Health (WOAH) is pleased to provide this
report for the information of WTO Members attending the 91st meeting
of the SPS Committee.
The report summarises key activities in WOAH standard-setting work
programme, animal health information, capacity building activities and other
relevant topics.
1 WOAH General Session
1.1. The 92nd Annual General Session of the WOAH World
Assembly of Delegates will take place from 25 to 29 May 2025 in Paris. This
General Session will include the adoption of administrative and technical
resolutions, as well as an Animal Health Forum and Kiosks and Side-events.
The provisional programme will be available on the WOAH website in March
2025.
1.2. The focus of this year's Forum is 'Policy to Action: Vaccines and
vaccination' The forum will create a platform for dialogue between WOAH
Delegates, subject matter experts, civil society and private sector on the
barriers that are currently impeding the development and use of vaccines in
disease prevention and control strategies and explore how existing and upcoming
technologies may be combined with science-based vaccination policies to address
current and future animal health challenges.
1.3. Side events and kiosk exhibition stands will take place before and
after the daily plenary sessions. These activities will allow delegations and
other participants to interact with experts on a number of specific initiatives
relevant to WOAH members and its missions.
1.4. As has been done in recent years Pre-General Session Information
Webinars will be held in virtual mode to provide an opportunity for the
Presidents of the four Specialist Commissions to share information with members
and partner International Organisations on the standards to be presented for
adoption at the General Session. They will take place on 22 April 2025 for the
Biological Standards Commission (regarding proposed new and revised standards
for the Manual of Diagnostic Tests and
Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals), the 23 April 2025 for the
Terrestrial Animal Health Standards Commission (regarding proposed new and
revised standards for the Terrestrial Animal
Health Code) with support of the Scientific Commission for Animal
Diseases and the 24 April 2025 for the Aquatic Animal Health Standards
Commission (regarding proposed new and revised standards for the Manual of Diagnostic Tests for Aquatic Animals
and the Aquatic Animal Health Code).
Each webinar will be conducted with simultaneous interpretation in English,
French and Spanish and will be recorded and uploaded on the WOAH website.
2 WOAH international standards for terrestrial and aquatic animals
2.1. The four Specialist Commissions met during February 2025 to continue
work to review existing, and develop new, WOAH international standards in the Terrestrial Animal Health Code, the Aquatic Animal Health Code, the Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for
Terrestrial Animals and the Manual
of Diagnostic Tests for Aquatic Animals, along with other activities
relevant to each Commission's terms of reference.
2.2. The meeting reports of the Code Commission, the Aquatic Animals
Commission and the Biological Standards Commission provide information about
the new and revised texts that will be proposed for adoption at the 2025
General Session as well as information about other topics discussed during
these meetings including texts circulated for comment and other information.
The report of the Scientific Commission provides information about the
evaluation of dossiers for official status.
2.3. The official reports of these four Commission meetings will be
uploaded onto the Delegates website and the WOAH public website simultaneously
for each language (English, French and Spanish) once finalised in late
March/early April 2025.
2.4. In April 2024 WOAH started to implement a step-wise process for the
publication on the Delegate's website of comments submitted on new and revised
texts circulated for comments. This process will eventually include the
publication of comments and Commission responses on both the Delegate's and
WOAH websites.
2.5. The links to the February 2025 reports, once available, are provided
below:
-_
Biological Standards
Commission: February 2025 meeting
report;
-_
Scientific Commission for
Animal Diseases: February 2025 meeting
report;
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Aquatic Animal Health
Standards Commission: February 2025 meeting
report;
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Terrestrial Animal Health
Standards Commission: February 2025 meeting
report.
2.6. WOAH would like to highlight to the Committee the following work
undertaken during the February 2025 meetings:
2.1 Terrestrial Animal Health Code
2.7. The Terrestrial Animal Health Standards Commission circulated 25
texts (including glossary definitions and new and revised chapters) for
comments in its February 2025 report. Ten of these texts will be proposed for
adoption at the 92nd WOAH General Session in May 2025.
2.8. Chapters that will be proposed for adoption at the 92nd General
Session, included among others, revised Chapter 7.1. Introduction to the
recommendations for animal welfare, a new Chapter 8.Y. Infection with Nipah
virus, and a new Chapter 11.X. Infection with bovine pestiviruses (bovine viral diarrhoea).
2.9. Chapters circulated for comment, included among others, new Chapters
5.4., 5.5. and 5.6. on Measures and procedures applicable to the exportation,
transit and importation of commodities, respectively, Chapter 5.7. Border
inspection posts and quarantine centres, Chapter 4.X. Biosecurity, Chapter 8.X.
Infection with Crimean-Congo haemmorrhagic fever virus, and Chapter 10.X.
Infection with avian metapneumovirus.
2.2 Aquatic Animal Health Code
2.10. The Aquatic Animal Health Standards Commission circulated 49 texts
(including glossary definitions and new and revised chapters) for comments in
its February 2025 report. 46 of these texts will be proposed for adoption at
the 92nd WOAH General Session in May 2025.
2.11. Chapters that will be proposed for adoption at the 92nd General
Session, included among others, Chapter 4.X. 'Emergency disease preparedness',
Chapter 4.Y. 'Disease outbreak management', Chapter 4.Z. 'Control of pathogenic
agents in traded milt and fertilized eggs of fish', Chapter 5.X. 'Movement of
ornamental aquatic animals', and Chapter 10.X. 'Infection with Megalocytivirus pagrus 1'.
2.12. The default periods of time required for basic biosecurity
conditions and targeted surveillance for pathways to declare freedom from
disease for all WOAH listed aquatic animal diseases have been applied to all
disease-specific chapters and revised Articles X.X.5., X.X.6. and X.X.7. and
will also be proposed for adoption at the 92nd General Session.
2.13. Chapters circulated for comment, included among others, the new
draft Chapter 4.A. 'Application of compartmentalisation' based on the
circulated questionnaire and discussion paper.
2.3 Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals
2.14. The Biological Standards Commission circulated 28 chapters for
comments in its February 2025 report. All 28 chapters will be proposed for
adoption at the 92nd WOAH General Session in May 2025.
2.15. Chapters that will be proposed for adoption at the 92nd General
Session, included among others, Chapter 2.1.1. 'Laboratory methodologies for
bacterial antimicrobial susceptibility testing', Chapter 3.1.2. 'Aujeszky's
disease (infection with Aujeszky's disease virus)', Chapter 3.3.4. 'Avian
influenza (including infection with high pathogenicity avian influenza
viruses)', Chapter 3.6.1. 'African horse sickness (infection with African horse
sickness virus)', Chapter 3.6.5. 'Equine infectious anaemia', Chapter 3.9.1.
'African swine fever (infection with African swine fever virus)' (vaccine
section), and Chapter 3.9.2. 'Classical swine fever (infection with classical
swine fever virus)' (vaccine section).
2.4 Manual of Diagnostic Tests for Aquatic Animals
2.16. The Aquatic Animal Health Standards Commission circulated nine
chapters for comments in its February 2025 report. Six of these chapters will
be proposed for adoption at the 92nd WOAH General Session in May
2025.
2.17. Chapters that will be proposed for adoption at the 92nd General
Session, included among others, Chapter Infection with Bonamia exitiosa and Chapter Infection
with Bonamia ostreae, which have
been revised to align with the new template.
2.18. Chapters circulated for comment, included Infection with Perkinsus marinus, Infection with Perkinsus olseni and Infection with Xenohaliotis californiensis.
2.19. All four Specialist Commissions also progressed discussions of other
work items and updated work programme's considering the progress of work and
new requests.
3 WOAH Standards Online Navigation Tool
3.1. WOAH has launched a project aimed at improving how WOAH Standards
are displayed and made available to members and other users. The project will
enhance the display of the Aquatic Code,
Terrestrial Code, Aquatic Manual and Terrestrial Manual on the WOAH website.
The project will also include a specific tool aimed at providing specific
search functions for the visualisation of sanitary measures recommended for the
international trade of commodities.
3.2. The project is aligned with WOAH's 7th Strategic Plan and
will provide significant benefits for WOAH members, including enhanced
accessibility to WOAH Standards and efficiency in information retrieval,
supporting the implementation of WOAH Standards. The project will also bring
benefits to the Organisation itself, by improving the efficiency of internal processes
and the interoperability across various datasets related to WOAH Standards. The
new WOAH Standards Online Navigation Tool is expected to 'Go-Live' in March
2025.
4 Provision of scientific advice to the WOAH and its Members
4.1. The Director General establishes ad
hoc Groups to provide specific technical and scientific advice
required to support the work of the WOAH and the WOAH Specialist Commissions.
WOAH publishes information on its website providing the dates and terms of
reference of proposed ad hoc Groups as well as reports once these have been
validated and considered by the relevant Specialist Commissions. This
information is available on the WOAH website at: ad
hoc Groups information.
4.2. Two permanent WOAH Working Groups, Wildlife and AMR, also provide
specific technical and scientific advice required to support the work of WOAH
and the WOAH Specialist Commissions. Information and report of these Working
Groups is available on the WOAH website at: Working Groups &
Reports: OIE - World Organisation for Animal Health.
5 Self-declared Disease Status
5.1. In accordance with the provisions of the Terrestrial Code or the Aquatic
Code, WOAH members may wish to self-declare the freedom of their
country, zone or compartment from an OMSA listed disease. A Member wishing to
publish its self-declaration for disease-freedom, should provide the relevant
documented evidence of compliance with the provisions of the relevant chapters
of the Codes. WOAH screens any applications and considers them for publication
in accordance with its Standard Operating
Procedure.
5.2. All published self-declarations are available on the WOAH website
at: Self-declared Disease
Status - WOAH - World Organisation for Animal Health.
6 Official WOAH recognition of animal health status and control
programmes of Members
6.1. WOAH members can apply to be granted official recognition of animal
health status for foot and mouth disease (FMD), African horse sickness (AHS),
classical swine fever (CSF), contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), peste
des petits ruminants (PPR) and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) risk
status as well as the endorsement of official control programmes for CBPP, FMD,
PPR and dog-mediated rabies.
6.2. The _full list of countries and
their recognised status for AHS, BSE, CBPP, CSF, FMD, and PPR can be accessed on the WOAH website.
7 Monitoring implementation of WOAH international standards – WOAH
Observatory
7.1. The first edition of the WOAH Monitoring report (originally called
the Observatory Annual report), published in 2022, presented a systematic overview of the
implementation of a broad selection of WOAH Standards at global level. During
2024, the Observatory reviewed the original monitoring indicators. The second
edition of the Monitoring report will focus on Trade and sanitary measures,
Self-declaration and official status, Movement control, Zoning and
compartmentalisation, AMU/AMR and One Health. The dashboards embedding
monitoring indicators and factsheets for these six sections will accompany the
report. Publication of the second edition of the Monitoring report is expected
in mid-2025.
7.2. In parallel, the Observatory has finalised the thematic study
focused on the 'Use, challenges and impact of zoning' and concluded its second
phase which focused on the factors supporting or impeding the use of zoning by
trade partners, using supplementary data sources and methods to complement the
previous recommendations on this subject. The second phase of this thematic
study report will be available on the WOAH Observatory web pages in April 2025. The project's first phase assessed the use of zoning for avian influenza (AI), African swine
fever (ASF) and foot and mouth disease (FMD) and examine the associated
challenges, benefits and drawbacks.
7.3. Following the publication of the preliminary results of the second
thematic study focused on Animal Welfare in Transport
by Land and Sea in July 2024, an analysis
to identify success factors and barriers to the implementation of these
standards will be conducted during 2025.
7.4. A third thematic study currently underway is focused on 'The use,
challenges, and impact of compartmentalisation'.
7.5. A digital platform will be developed during the next two years to
collect and analyse data, visualise Observatory monitoring indicators and
provide WOAH members with access to their country specific profile.
8 Global strategy for prevention and control of HPAI
8.1. WOAH in collaboration with the FAO have finalised the Global
Strategy for the prevention and control of high pathogenicity avian influenza
(2024–2033) which will be published on the WOAH and FAO websites by end of
February 2025. A brief version of the strategy is published here. The updated Strategy adopts a systems approach, integrating HPAI
with other global issues with the aims of long‑term improvements in the poultry
sector. Emphasising the One Health approach, it advocates for collaboration
across public health, wildlife, and environmental sectors to protect and
transform poultry value chains. It provides a blueprint for countries to
formulate effective national plans based on the latest scientific advances and
the specific needs of their regions.
9 Global initiative for the global control of African swine fever
9.1. In January 2020, WOAH, in collaboration with FAO under the Global
Framework for the Progressive Control of Transboundary Animal Diseases
(GF-TADs), launched a joint initiative for the Global Control of African Swine
Fever (ASF) (2020-2025) aimed at bringing stakeholders from multiple sectors
together to improve coordination and galvanise the sustained effort and
political will needed for the global control of ASF. WOAH will review the
progress made for the current initiative and work with its partners to develop
the future global initiative.
9.2. Noting the interest and use by countries of candidate vaccines for
ASF, WOAH has drafted an international standard for the development and
manufacture of safe and effective ASF vaccines, which will be proposed for
adoption at WOAH's 92nd General Session in 2025. WOAH advocates for
the importance of using only high-quality vaccines with proven efficacy and
safety, which have been subject to regulatory evaluation and approval in
accordance with WOAH international standards.
10 Emergency management
10.1. WOAH is developing an incident management system (IMS) to support
the Organisation with its own institutional preparedness and response to
emergencies impacting or involving animal health. The development of an IMS was
recommended by a Technical Item on emergency management and mandated by members through its
accompanying Resolution No. 28 of the 89th General Session. WOAH's role in emergency
responses in-country, is mainly a convening body, sharing critical information
and providing science-based guidance for risk management and communication. It provides
experts support, offers technical support to member countries, and advocates
for the needs of Veterinary and Aquatic Animal Health Services, often in
collaboration with partners, and in limited situations provides more
operational support pending on the existence of mechanisms such as vaccine
banks or national projects. The WOAH IMS enables improved internal coordination
and efficiencies as well as support the utilisation of WOAH's resources and
collaboration with regional and international partners such as FAO and WHO. The
IMS consists of an institutional policy, operational manual, as well as
templates and standard operating procedures. WOAH staff are being trained on
the IMS and are participating in simulation exercises as part of the
Organisation's commitment to foster an emergency preparedness culture.
10.2. There is a growing need to support WOAH members in emergency
management due to the increasing range and complexity of hazards that can
impact animal health and trigger emergencies. Veterinary Services need to
consider their own capabilities, the consequences of emergencies and be able to
work with other parts of government and society. To this end, WOAH is
developing a chapter on emergency management for the Terrestrial Animal Health
Code through the support of the ad hoc Group on Veterinary Emergencies which
will define the foundations of emergency management and key principles. The
chapter is currently being finalised by the ad hoc Group, but the aim is to
have it adopted in 2027 for integration into the Terrestrial Animal Health
Code. It follows an all-hazards approach, therefore not limited to
infectious diseases.
10.3. WOAH will host the Global Conference on
Biological Threat Reduction from 28-30 October 2025,
aimed at addressing the evolving landscape of biological threats. The
Conference will bring together participants from diverse sectors to reflect on
past experiences, strengthen international collaboration, including with law enforcement,
and foster multi-sectoral partnerships in addressing current and future
biological risks. The event will aim to promote innovative strategies, enhance
global cooperation, and facilitate actionable commitments to safeguard global
health security.
11 Performance of Veterinary Services Pathway (PVS Pathway) and the PVS
Information System
11.1. The PVS Pathway is a comprehensive, staged approach providing a
series of sequential capacity building activities for the systematic
strengthening of Veterinary Services and Aquatic Animal Health Services.
Details about the PVS Pathway are available on the WOAH website.
11.2. Marking a significant milestone in WOAH's commitment to data-driven
decision making, the PVS Information System (PVS IS) was launched globally for
WOAH Delegates, Partners, and WOAH in 2024, with features to view PVS Reports,
see historical PVS Pathway engagement, dive into PVS Evaluation Reports to
explore Critical Competencies and Levels of Advancement as well as
recommendations, strengths, weaknesses and findings for each, and to view
performance data and trends for the first time through dashboards. The
digitalisation of all forms and data collection for new Evaluation type
missions was a major achievement, so that PVS Evaluation reports can be written
fully online and data insights in dashboards will be available in real-time.
Development of the PVS Gap Analysis Database begun and will continue through
2026. Work is also underway to improve reporting on the impact of PVS
Evaluation, with the launch in 2025 of an annual impact monitoring instrument
as a part of the PVS Theory of Change. More than 20 dashboards describing
performance of the programme as well as each Member and cohorts in the WOAH
ecosystem are now available in the PVS IS to Delegates, Partners, and WOAH
staff.
12 WOAH Training Platform: Veterinary Services competencies for trade
12.1. WOAH continues to advance the Competency Package on Trade of Animals
and Animal Products, reinforcing its commitment to high-quality,
competency-based training for Veterinary Services. Following the successful
release of the first module, International
Trade Regulatory Framework (available at: Course: International
trade regulatory framework WOAH eLearning Platform), WOAH has been actively
working on the production of ten additional e-learning modules, which are
expected to be published on the WOAH eLearning Platform by April 2025.
Translation of the first module into French and Spanish is underway.
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