81st Meeting of the SPS Committee
Communication from the World Organisation for Animal
Health (OIE)
The
following communication, received on 13 October 2021, is
being circulated at the request of the OIE.
_______________
The
World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) is pleased to provide this report
for the information of WTO Members attending the 81st meeting of the
SPS Committee.
The
report summarizes key activities in the OIE's standard-setting work programme,
along with updates on OIE capacity building activities.
1 Developments in the OIE standards for terrestrial and aquatic
animals
1.1. The four OIE Specialist Commissions met virtually during September
2021 to continue work to review existing, and develop new OIE 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.
1.2. As the outcomes of these meetings were not available at the time
this report was compiled, a verbal update will be provided to the Committee on
key outcomes.
1.3. Reports of these four meetings, including new and revised standards
circulated for member comments, will be available on the OIE website during
November 2021. The links to these reports, once available, are provided below:
-
Biological
Standards Commission September 2021 meeting report;
-
Scientific
Commission for Animal Diseases September 2021 meeting report;
-
Aquatic
Animal Health Standards Commission September 2021 meeting report;
-
Terrestrial
Animal Health Commission September 2021 meeting report.
1.4. The OIE would like to highlight to the Committee the following work
undertaken during these September meetings.
1.5. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The Terrestrial Animal
Health Standards Commission (TAHSC) in collaboration with the Scientific
Commission for Animal Diseases (SCAD), together with the recommendations from
several OIE ad hoc Groups, has undertaken an in-depth review of Chapter 11.4,
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, of the Terrestrial Code. Amendments include
updated provisions on the categorization of official BSE risk status as well as
revised provisions on BSE risk assessment and surveillance. The revised chapter
was circulated for member comments in the TAHSC September 2021 report. The
revised chapter will be proposed for adoption at the 2022 General Session.