ANDEAN COMMUNITY

DECISION 328: Andean Agricultural and Livestock Health

CONSIDERING the Article 74 of the Agreement, Decisions 16, 92, 122, 127 and 195 of the Commission and the Proposal 254 of The Joint; and

WHEREAS it is imperative that the Andean Subregion update the mechanism that allows Member Countries to maintain continuous and coordinated supervision against the risk of attack by pests and exotic diseases in agriculture and livestock, as well as to prevent dissemination and contagion of those presently existing in its territory, without same constituting a blanket restriction on intra-subregional agricultural and livestock trade;

Adhering to the spirit and the provisions of the Cartagena Agreement, Member Countries must provide lively intra-subregional trade of farm products, facilitating the stocking of markets with goods from the subregion to replace importation from other areas;

Said brisk trade requires raising the sanitary levels of agricultural and livestock production, the application of common appropriated norms for the prompt and safe mobilization of agricultural and livestock products, object of the interchange and the establishment of joint action programs;

The Andean Presidential Council, at its Fourth Meeting held in La Paz, Bolivia, agreed on the adoption of a Common Andean Agricultural and Livestock Policy, which on the subject of Agricultural and Livestock Health covers the evaluation of existing national and subregional norms and programs, to pursue its updating and coordination;

HEREBY DECIDES:

THAT THE ANDEAN AGRICULTURAL AND LIVESTOCK HEALTH SYSTEM SHALL

Article 1: To update the Andean Agricultural and Livestock Health System that serves as a framework for the preservation and improvement of the sanitary state of agriculture and livestock of Member Countries by complying with sanitary regulations and as a legal instrument for facilitating the trade of agricultural and livestock products insofar as compliance with the sanitary requirements is concerned.

Article 2: The objectives of the Andean Agricultural and Livestock Health System are as follows:

a) To coordinate and develop at the Andean level the actions of Subregional Agricultural and Livestock Health, within the priorities of the integration process and the guidelines established in the present Decision, in order to favor trade interchange, improvement of foodstuffs production and productivity, the economic development of Member Countries and contributing to the protection of human health.

b) To participate jointly in international negotiations or with third countries on technical and commercial subjects related to agricultural and livestock health. Such positions shall be adopted through the Andean Technical Committee on Agricultural and Livestock Health.

c) To maintain continuous and coordinated surveillance of the risk of pests and exotic diseases attacking subregional agriculture and livestock.

d) To prevent dissemination and contagion by already existing pests and diseases within their territory, without constituting blanket restrictions on intra-subregional agricultural and livestock trade.

e) To make available deft procedures for applying Andean Agricultural and Livestock Health instruments and ensure compliance with Andean health regulations.

f) To harmonize phytosanitary and zoosanitary legislation for the adoption of subregional sanitary norms and to harmonize sanitary registers.

g) To favor cooperation and development of joint action programs for the exclusion, prevention, control and eradication of vegetable and animal pests and diseases.

CHAPTER I
ELEMENTS OF THE SYSTEM

Article 3: The Andean Agricultural and Livestock Health System covers the following elements:

a) The General Index of Sanitary Regulations.

b) Institutional Structure.

c) Inventory of Pests and Diseases of economic importance, affecting the subregional agriculture and livestock.

d) Physical infrastructure available for the Agricultural and Livestock Health.

e) The Register of Subregional Regulations applicable to intra-subregional agriculture and livestock trade with third countries.

f) Joint Action Programs for sanitary protection of agricultural and livestock.

g) The Andean Technical Committee on Agricultural and Livestock Health (COTASA).

h) National Andean Technical Committees on Agricultural and Livestock Health.

CHAPTER II
GENERAL INDEX OF SANITARY REGULATIONS

Article 4: The General Index of Sanitary Regulations is a summary compilation of existing provisions on vegetable and animal health in the Subregion and in each of the Member Countries, filed and classified so as to permit their fast identification. Said provisions shall have attached their official texts in cases where they are required.

- The function of the General Index of Sanitary Regulations is to facilitate the identification of norms according to categories covered by the Andean Agricultural and Livestock Health System.

- The Joint is responsible for consolidating and maintaining the information updated in the General Index of Sanitary Regulations. For this purpose, Member Countries must send the official texts of existing Sanitary Regulations and of those regulations to be adopted in the future, according to the terms of the present Chapter.

- Member Countries will ensure that the information reaches The Joint through the Offices of Animal Health or Vegetable Health.

- The updating of the General Index of Sanitary Regulations implies the incorporation of new norms and the removal of those norms that were derogated.

Article 5: Said compilation shall contain the following standard identification points:

a) Type of provision, law or decree with weight of such executive decree, regulation, ministerial agreement, administrative provision, in that order;

b) Numbed of legal provision;

c) Date of issue and validity; and

d) A phrase manifesting, essentially, the content of same.

Article 6: For the purpose of order and classification of the Index regulations, these shall be included, as pertinent, in the following categories:

a) General Sanitary Regulations;

b) Specific Sanitary Regulations;

c) General Sanitary Regulations for Importation;

d) Specific Sanitary Regulations for Importation;

e) General Sanitary Regulations for Exportation;

f) Specific Sanitary Regulation for Exportation.

ANNEX V of the present Decision indicates the content and scope of each of these categories.

CHAPTER III
INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE

Article 7: The institutional structure shall cover the conformation, hierarchy, objectives, functions and technical personnel of the official bodies responsible for designing and applying the norms, faithfully for carrying out the health programs, as well as the subregion and national Technical Committees and other bodies or entities providing sanitary services according to law.

CHAPTER IV
INVENTORY OF PESTS AND DISEASES AFFECTING
SUBREGIONAL AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK

Article 8: Member Countries shall transmit to the Joint the Inventory of Plagues and Diseases that affect their domestic agriculture and livestock. The Joint will consolidate the information and draw up the Subregional Inventory of Plagues and Diseases that are economically important to the Andean Area, which shall be approved by Resolution of the Joint of the Cartagena Agreement.

Countries shall remit information within a term not greater than sixty (60) working days after the present Decision is approved, according to the format in ANNEX 1.

For a Member Country to declare itself free from pests or disease it shall act according to the criteria and procedures established by the Andean Technical Committee on Agricultural and Livestock Health, which may, if necessary, take into account the criteria and procedures established by specialized international agencies (FAO, WEO, WHO/PAHO) and Regional Sanitary Protection Agencies (RSPA).

Whenever a Member Country detects the presence of a new plague or disease, or manages to eradicate pests or disease, it shall communicate same to the Joint, accompanied by the corresponding technical card filed. The Joint, upon prior verification if necessary, shall proceed to enter same in the respective subregional inventory and to inform other Member Countries of same.

CHAPTER V
PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE OF AGRICULTURAL AN LIVESTOCK HEALTH

Article 9: The physical infrastructure shall include information and description of the installations, quarantine stations, ports, airports, postal customs and border posts authorized for trade, fumigation and disinfecting installations and equipment, production centers for biologicall and therapeutical products, quality control centers, diagnosis laboratories, field offices, etc. of both the public and private sectors.

Said description shall cover the operative capacity of the installations used to apply sanitary treatments and shall be subject to the filed card that appears in ANNEX II of the present Decision.

CHAPTER VI
SUBREGIONAL SANITARY REGULATIONS REGISTER

Article 10: The general purpose of the Register of Subregional Sanitary Regulations is to contribute to safe and brisk handling of agricultural and livestock products traded at the subregional level and with third countries. Said Register seeker compliance with the following specific objectives:

a) To prevent the infestation of plagues and exotic diseases that might threaten agriculture and livestock in the subregion;

b) To prevent or diminish the dissemination of diseases and the proliferation of existing plagues in the Subregion;

c) To make available timely and generalized knowledge of the health requisites that must be met in the interchange of agricultural and livestock products;

d) To develop harmonized sanitary regulations; and

e) To prevent that sanitary regulations being utilized as blanket restrictions on intra-subregional trade.

Article 11: The Register of Subregional Regulations is made up of the following elements:

a) A Register of Subregional Sanitary Regulations to be applied in the trading of agricultural and livestock products;

b) A Basic Catalog on Pests and Diseases Foreign to the Subregion.

c) Phytosanitary and Zoosanitary Certificates and Phytosanitary and Zoosanitary Permits.

Section I
Register of Subregional Sanitary Regulations

Article 12: The Register of Subregional Sanitary Regulations shall contain the common norms adopted by Resolution of the Joint of the Cartagena Agreement, as an indispensable sanitary requirement or guarantee for trading agriculture and livestock products and their articles within the Subregion.

In order to invoke sanitary regulations passed by a Member Country, towards another Member Country, these shall be inscribed in the Subregional Register according to the procedures established in Article 30 of the present Decision. Member Countries shall remit information to The Joint according to ANNEX V-1.

The Registered Subregional Sanitary Regulation shall come into force once published in the Official Gazette of the Cartagena Agreement.

The Member Country that considers that one or various common regulations, whose reason for their creation has now disappeared, represent obstacles to trade of agricultural and livestock products, may request the Joint to study the case, accompanying the application with the supporting technical documentation.

The Joint may:

- Resolve the case directly;

- Convoke a meeting of the Andean Technical Committee on Agricultural and Livestock Health; or

- Submit to a direct consultation of the official representatives of COTASA;

Based on the above a Resolution will be issued which shall be respected by the interested parties.

Article 13: Only agricultural and livestock products originating in the Subregion and imported by any Member Country may be the object of application of the registered Sanitary Regulations, only.

It is therefore understood that the importation of agricultural and livestock articles or products coming from the Member Countries, that satisfy the requirements established in these norms, as well as the sanitary certificates issued in compliance with same, may not be ignored or be subject to the imposition of additional or different conditions of a sanitary nature, except those cases identify in Article 17 of this Decision.

Article 14: The country that wishes to apply sanitary regulations that are not registered, should previously request from the Joint their incorporation in the Register according to the procedure established in Article 30 of the present Decision.

Article 15: Wherever applicable the Registered Regulation should determine clearly the following aspects:

a) The product or group of products to which it refers;

b) The objective or immediate destination of said products, determining whether they are for consumption, elaboration, research and scientific purposes, reproduction or breeding, formation or expansion of germplasm and semen banks;

c) The specifications or restrictions of the place of origin or physical location of the agricultural or livestock production, from which the products referred to in the regulation are obtained;

d) Specification related to the gathering, packing, storing and transportation of the products from their place of production to the port of shipment or last exit station from the exporting country, toward the importing country;

e) Specification relating to the inspection: treatment, vaccinations, periods of observation and quarantine, among others, with a clear indication of the substances and compounds required:

- Products of prohibited application.

- Required times and doses.

- Terms or margins of tolerance prior to final shipment within which to apply treatment.

- Levels of residual toxicity, indicating those that are established in the Alimentary Codex FAO/OMS.

- Percentages of permissible intermingling in the case of bulk shipments, capable to contain impurities or strange substances.

- Requisites, if any, regarding the taking of samples for analysis, their volume, etc.

- All other data that concerns the objective recognition of the sanitary state of a shipment and the application of sanitary prevention or control treatments that reduce or eliminate the risks of contagion and dissemination of pests and diseases.

- In the case of biological products, there shall be specified the production strains if they deal with antigenics, live or inactive vaccines, and production methods and tests of innocuousness and sterility.

f) Certification of the sanitary entities of the exporting country authorized by the respective Plant Protection and Animal Health Organizations of the Member Countries, or by those bodies officially authorized by the Ministries of Agriculture, whose signatures and seals shall automatically be considered as valid and sufficient by agriculture and livestock Health authorities of other Member Countries. For such purposes the respective official authorities of the Member Countries should remit to Member Countries and to the Joint the lists of persons authorized to issue said certification with their respective signatures and seals.

g) In exceptional cases, explicit identifying of official documents of a sanitary nature that must support the shipment, required in addition to the Sanitary Certification issued by the entities referred to in the previous sub-paragraph. In these cases there should be indicated their validity, duration and the authority or administrative group of the receiving country to which said documents must be addressed in order that same proceeds to authorize the pertinent measures to despatch the shipment and to deliver same to its destination.

h) Requirements and specifications relating to the transport of the products in the cases of land, air, maritime, lake or river transport; types of holders indicated and permitted, corrals of cattle, general, required cooling systems with the required temperatures, among others. In the case of large or small livestock on transportation, whether the trips be of such duration that they require provision of water and forage for animals, the Regulation shall also indicate the sanitary requisites within which those must be complied with, as well as any other relative care regarding rest, hygiene and general preservation of good condition.

i) There shall be specified similarly the requirements for inspection, treatment, quarantine, observation, that must be complied with upon arrival of the shipment at the importing country and, in all cases in which it is possible, other measures and requirements that the interested parties must satisfy to conclude the despatch locally of the merchandise once the Registered Regulation has been attended to and faithfully applied.

j) There shall be determined the requirements and sanitary controls for the luggage of international passengers and mail parcels that arrive in the country by any means of transport.

Article 16: The Andean Technical Committee of Agricultural and Livestock Health shall draw up, unofficially or at the request of some Member Country, the Joint or the Agriculture and Livestock Council, the sanitary regulations at the Subregional Level they consider advisable. To this effect, they shall apply to the Joint that, in collaboration with the Member Countries or with specialized international agencies, a Preliminary Draft of the Regulation be drawn up, which shall be submitted to the consideration of Member Countries, in order to receive their observations.

The Joint shall adopt, through a Resolution, the Andean Sanitary Regulation, which shall be registered for its application at the subregional level according to the procedures established in Article 30.

Article 17: In cases where sudden outbreaks or infestations of any nature whatsoever occur within the Subregion or outside of it, in areas presently or potentially dangerous to contagion, there shall be demanded that when a Member Country that it has to establish limitations or prohibitions distinct from those indicated in the Registered Regulations, it may dictate temporary norms, specifying the term of validity, which must be in agreement with the technical criteria adopted by the Andean Technical Committee, which may take into account those established by Regional and International Agencies (RIA, OIE, FAO), related to quarantine principles and risk analysis.

The country that has taken such measures shall proceed immediately to notify the Joint, by fax or telex, which in turn shall do so immediately to the other Member Countries, in order to prevent any harm that might affect them.

The Joint, per se or at the request of any Member Country, and through a Resolution, following the established technical criteria, may suspend or modify the measure at any moment whatsoever, should investigations in the case demonstrate that same does not imply any risk to the Member Country that established it, or for the Subregion.

Article 18: If a Member Country consider that the application of sanitary measures by another member country makes it the object of unjustified restriction of its exportations, it may request the country that applies to reconsider these measures, attaching to the petition the necessary technical documentation.

If no agreement is reached between both countries, the country that feels aggrieved may have recourse to the Joint attaching to the petition of the supporting technical documentation.

The Joint within a period of not more than six working days may request or carry out a verification in situ through an inspection and when it deem necessary shall order a laboratory analysis, for which the country formulating the restriction must provide the necessary facilities and the aggrieved country must cover all the costs arising from this measure.

To interpret the results of the inspection and of the laboratory analyses, there shall be taken into account the harmonized legal provisions and regulations, if any. Should it be necessary, the Joint, in common accord with the countries involved, may agree to request technical assistance from international bodies or from specialized experts in agricultural and livestock health.

Continue on to: Section XI