National SpS Coordination Mechanisms - Standards and Trade ...

The SPS-PVS tool: Performance Vision Strategy for Sanitary and PhytosanitaryImplementationThe Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) has designed instruments forevaluating the performance and implementation of development strategies for the institutionsinvolved in agricultural health and food safety. This includes the Performance Vision Strategyfor Sanitary and Phytosanitary Implementation (SPS-PVS) tool which addresses SPS measuresfrom an institutional, international, and horizontal perspective. Institutional and international,because it focuses on the responsibility of national public and private entities of maximizing thebenefits from and compliance with commitments made by the country to internationalstandardization organizations and the WTO. Horizontal, because it analyses all sectors ratherthan just one in particular.The goal of the SPS-PVS tool is not to assess the performance of technical functions. Itsobjective is rather to determine the characteristics of the various means of coordination andcommunication used to take advantage of the multilateral trade system at a national level.Thirty-four countries in the Americas have applied the tool under an STDF-funded project. Alarge number of technical experts from ministries and entities responsible for food safety, plantand animal health, and foreign trade, have benefited from it. Based on the applications and ondirect observations in developing countries that actively participated in the SPS Committee, fivevariables were identified that appear to be fundamental for fostering active participation:(1) Coordination and interaction mechanisms: mechanisms that allow the variousstakeholders involved in the processes of SPS negotiations, administration andimplementation to carry out monitoring and follow-up tasks, evaluate theimpact of the SPS and take advantage of opportunities that arise in theinternational forums.(2) Priority assigned to SPS issues: the level of support that the national authoritiesaccord to the development of national capacities in the area of SPS.(3) Human resources: the resources assigned to attract and retain professionalshaving technical capacity and leadership qualities.(4) Coordination between Capital and the Mission in Geneva: to improve thecountry's international participation through links and feedback between theexperts working in the country and the representatives to the WTO.(5) Financial and technical resources: this refers to the country’s technical andfinancial capacity to implement the SPS and play an active role in the WTO SPSCommittee.These fundamental variables were identified following five years of observation in the countriesof the Americas that have an active international participation in the SPS Committee.Therefore, they constitute "lessons learned" in institutional capacity building that can bereplicated and adapted to other countries.Sources: Bolaños and Cordero, 2008, STDF/PG/108 project reports21 19