SANITARY & PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES: THEMATIC SESSION

SPS Committee Thematic Session on Regionalization

The SPS Committee agreed, at its March 2017 meeting, to hold a thematic session on regionalization immediately preceding its July 2017 meeting, based on a proposal submitted by the European Union (G/SPS/W/293). The session will provide an opportunity for WTO Members to increase their awareness of regionalization principles, and learn from each other by sharing experiences about the challenges, as well as the benefits, of implementing regionalization in practice. This, in turn, should contribute to building confidence among trading partners when recognizing or seeking recognition of their regionalization measures. The session will also focus specifically on animal diseases and allow for the discussion of the implementation of the regionalization concept from the perspective of an importing, as well as an exporting party.

The programme and the report of the Thematic Session are contained in documents G/SPS/GEN/1567 and G/SPS/R/87, respectively.

Programme (in PDF format)

Chairperson: Mr Marcial Espinola

1. International Rules and Guidelines

Provisions of the SPS Agreement on regionalization (Article 6) and relevant guidelines (G/SPS/48)
Speaker: Ms Anneke Hamilton, WTO Secretariat
Presentation

Relevant jurisprudence on regionalization (Article 6)
Speaker: Ms Marisa Goldstein, WTO Secretariat
Presentation

OIE standards on regionalization
Speaker: Dr Matthew Stone, Deputy Director-General, OIE
Presentation

Followed by Q&A session

 

2. Sharing of national experiences

Part 1: Exporting Members' perspective

Speakers:

  • Dr Andrea Gavinelli, Head of Unit G3 — Official Controls and Eradication of Diseases in Animals, Directorate General for Health and Food Safety, European Commission, European Union
    Presentation
  • Dr Wolf Maier, Senior Expert, Unit D3 — Agriculture, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Market Access, Biotechnology, Directorate General for Trade, European Commission, European Union
    Presentation
    Application of regionalization in the EU: The recent experience of HPAI
  • Dr Olga Shevchenko, Head of Directorate for International Cooperation Organization, State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection, Ukraine
    Presentation
    Experience of Ukraine in the recognition of HPAI regionalization and BSE risk status by trading partners
  • Dr Humberto Ismael Maldonado Caceres, SPS Assessor, Directorate of Administration of Foreign Commerce, Ministry of Economy, Guatemala
    Presentation
    Classical swine fever in Guatemala: Experiences in surveillance, control and the  eradication process, 2013-2017
  • Dr Nikolai Vlasov, Deputy Head of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance, Russian Federation
    Presentation
    Russian Federation's experience in the application of the regionalization principle
  • Dr Mpho Maja, Director of Animal Health, Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, South Africa
    Presentation
    Living regionalization

Followed by Q&A session

 

Part 2: Importing Members' perspective

Speakers:

  • Dr Takahiro Kitano DVM, Assistant Director, Animal Health Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), Japan
    Presentation
    Japan's experiences on regionalization
  • Dr Joyce Bowling, National Director of the Regionalization Evaluation Services Staff, USDA APHIS Veterinary Services, United States
    Presentation
    Regionalization Evaluation Services: Recognizing the animal health status of foreign regions

Followed by Q&A session

 

3. General Discussion