Role of the SPS Sub-committee as a Policy Organ Ms. Martha Byanyima COMESA Secretariat 3/15/2018 Workshop on SPS Coordination - GENEVA 17/10/2011
Content 1. 2. Legal Basis of the SPS sub committee Role of the SPS Sub committee o Implement Council Decisions o Formulate programmes o Coordination 3. Council Decisions Related to SPS Measures 4. Challenges 2
Legal Basis - COMESA Treaty o The Technical Committee on Agriculture (TCA) is established by Article 15 of the Treaty, to report to the Ministers of Agriculture. o The Council of Ministers (23 rd), Nairobi, Kenya, 2007 established the SPS Sub committee under the Technical Committee on Agriculture for effective coordination of SPS matters at regional level, meets annually o Council of Ministers (27 th), Lusaka, Zambia 2009 – adopted the SPS Regulations, established the SPS Unit to function as a secretariat of the SPS Sub committee 3
Role of the SPS Sub committee 1. Implement Council Decisions 2. Formulate programmes o Partnerships with specialized technical/scientific institutions (CABI, KEPHIS, SADCAS) o Resource mobilization through the CAADP framework 3. Coordination o National level - Coordinates implementation of Council Decisions and programmes o Regional level – Joint programmes with SADC & EAC (Tr. FTA - 565 million and GDP US$1 Trillion) o International level - Coordinate member countries to participate in the work of ISSBs, requested observer status in the SPS Committee 4
Council Decisions related to SPS measures (1) The 23 rd Council of Ministers - Directed SPS Authorities to address SPS challenges in the STR; o Estimates show that informal trade UNRECORDED TRADE (Often confused with Smuggling) contributes to over 30 -40% of overall intra-regional trade in COMESA o STR is a Council Directive - A Simplified procedure which allows semi-illiterate and localized small traders be able to apply customs procedures benefiting them for duty free under the COMESA FTA 5
Council Decisions related to SPS measures (2) o STR allows governments to easily take stock/statistics of small scale trade that would otherwise be lost through informal means o STR Tools: o Simplified customs document o Simplified certificate of origin o Common list of products – agreed billaterally 6
Council Decisions related to SPS measures (3) Traders noted non friendly SPS measures constitute NTBs, particularly; a) b) c) d) Multiple border inspections – plant health, animal health and food standards inspections Mutual trust in SPS certificates( between countries) Integrity of regulatory systems Centralized services – import permits, SPS export certificates, high costs 7
Council Decisions related to SPS measures (4) Some of the proposed solutions a) Single inspection at one stop border posts b) Decentralized certification services c) “Equivalence” of SPS systems Measures Agreed Bilaterally Relaxed SPS d) The 27 th Council of Ministers – Established the ‘Green Pass Certification Scheme” – Free movement where “equivalence” has been established 8
Challenges o Effective Communication – International level o Varying Capacity – National Level o Resources – Very limited 9
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