Promoting food safety, animal and plant health is vital for countries to protect health, access markets and trade, which in turn supports economic growth and livelihoods. For developing countries, this means putting in place SPS measures to meet the international standards set out in the WTO SPS Agreement.
Evaluating SPS capacity on food safety, animal and plant health is a first step to identify and address priorities, including the development of needs-based projects. Tools developed by FAO/WHO, OIE and IPPC provide the evidence and knowledge for making informed decisions on SPS investments.
Existing SPS-related capacity evaluation tools and their application
While the standards of Codex, OIE and IPPC are recognized by the SPS Agreement, many more organizations are involved in SPS capacity building and have developed accompanying evaluation tools.
- IPPC Phytosanitary Capacity Evaluation Tool (PCE)
- FAO/WHO Food Control System Assessment Tool
- FAO Guide to assess biosecurity capacity (Part 2 of the FAO Biosecurity Toolkit)
- OIE PVS Tool for the Evaluation of Performance of Veterinary Services
- OIE PVS Tool Strengthening the Veterinary Services: investment case and financing recommendations
- OIE PVS Pathway: reflections and directions at the 10-year mark
- OIE PVS Pathway Evolution - Case Studies
- IICA Performance, Vision and Strategy (PVS) for National Veterinary Services
- IICA Performance, Vision and Strategy (PVS) for National Food Safety Services
- IICA Performance, Vision and Strategy (PVS) for National Plant Protection Organizations
- IICA Performance, Vision and Strategy (PVS) for SPS: An Institutional Vision
- UNDP/GEF National Capacity Self Assessments (Resource Kit No. 3)
Briefing - Driving knowledge on food safety, animal and plant health: SPS capacity evaluation tools in action
An STDF Briefing sets out the latest examples on the ground.
Workshop on SPS-related capacity evaluation tools – 2008
Capacity evaluation tools developed by international organizations were the subject of an STDF workshop held in Geneva in March 2008. Information on this workshop, including presentations on SPS-related capacity evaluation tools and approaches, is available on the WTO SPS gateway.
Publication on capacity evaluation tools
The STDF released a publication providing information on the scope and use of 12 capacity evaluation tools developed by international organizations. This publication is a useful reference for all those interested in evaluating capacity needs in the SPS area. It covers sectoral tools related to food safety, animal and plant health, as well as cross-sectoral tools and related methodologies.