Terrestrial Animal Health Code
Terrestrial Animal Health Code |
The OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code (hereafter referred to as the Terrestrial Code) establishes standards for the improvement of terrestrial animal health and welfare and veterinary public health worldwide. The health measures in the Terrestrial Code should be used by the Veterinary Authorities of importing and exporting countries to set up measures providing for early detection, reporting and control of pathogenic agents, including zoonotic ones, in terrestrial animals (mammals, birds, reptiles and bees) and preventing their spread via international trade in animals and animal products, while avoiding unjustified sanitary barriers to trade.
The standards in the Terrestrial Code have been formally adopted by the World Assembly of OIE Delegates, which constitutes the organisation's highest decision-making body. This 27th edition incorporates modifications to the Terrestrial Code agreed at the 86th General Session in May 2018.
This edition includes an updated version of the table of contents, User's guide, Glossary and the revised text in the following articles and chapters:
Diseases, infections and infestations listed by the OIE (Articles 1.3.1., 1.3.2., 1.3.4. and 1.3.5.);
Procedures for self-declaration and for official recognition by the OIE (Chapter 1.6.);
Import risk analysis (Articles 2.1.1. and 2.1.3.);
Criteria applied by the OIE for assessing the safety of commodities (Chapter 2.2.);
Zoning and compartmentalisation (Chapter 4.3.);
Collection and processing of oocytes or in vitro derived embryos from livestock and equids (Chapter 4.8.);
The role of the Veterinary Services in food safety (Chapter 6.2.);
Harmonisation of national antimicrobial resistance surveillance and monitoring programmes (Chapter 6.8.);
Monitoring of the quantities and usage patterns of antimicrobial agents used in food-producing animals (Chapter 6.9.);
Prevention and control of Salmonella in commercial pig production systems (Articles 6.14.2., 6.14.3. and 6.14.16.);
Introduction to the recommendations for animal welfare (Chapter 7.1.);
Welfare of working equids (Articles 7.12.7.);
Infection with bluetongue virus (Chapter 8.3.);
Infection with Brucella abortus, B. melitensis and B. suis (Article 8.4.10.);
Infection with rinderpest virus (Article 8.16.2.);
Infection with lumpy skin disease virus (Articles 11.9.4., 11.9.5., 11.9.6. and 11.9.15.);
Infection with Burkholderia mallei (Glanders) (Chapter 12.10.).
This edition also includes five new chapters on following titles:
Application for official recognition by the OIE of free status for African horse sickness (Chapter 1.7.);
Application for official recognition by the OIE of risk status for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (Chapter 1.8.);
Application for official recognition by the OIE of free status for classical swine fever (Chapter 1.9.);
Application for official recognition by the OIE of free status for contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (Chapter 1.10.);
Application for official recognition by the OIE of free status for foot and mouth disease (Chapter 1.11.);
Application for official recognition by the OIE of free status for peste des petits ruminants (Chapter 1.12.);
Vaccination (Chapter 4.17.);
Introduction to recommendations for veterinary public health (Chapter 6.1.);
Animal welfare and pig production systems (Chapter 7.13.).
The development of these standards and recommendations is the result of the ongoing work by the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Standards Commission (hereafter referred to as the Code Commission). This Commission, which comprises six elected members, meets twice yearly to address its work programme. The Code Commission draws upon the expertise of internationally renowned specialists to prepare draft texts for new articles of the Terrestrial Code and to revise existing articles. The views of OIE National Delegates are routinely sought through the twice yearly circulation of draft texts. The Code Commission collaborates closely with other Specialist Commissions of the OIE, including the Aquatic Animal Health Standards Commission, the Biological Standards Commission and the Scientific Commission for Animal Diseases, to ensure that the recommendations contained in the Terrestrial Code are based upon the latest scientific information.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (hereafter referred to as the SPS Agreement) formally recognises the role of the OIE as the international standard setting organisation for animal health and zoonotic diseases. According to the SPS Agreement, WTO Members should align their import requirements with the recommendations in the relevant standards of the OIE. Where there are no OIE recommendations or if the country chooses a level of protection requiring measures more stringent than the standards of the OIE, these should be based on an import risk analysis conducted in accordance with Chapter 2.1. The Terrestrial Code is thus a key part of the WTO legal framework for international trade.
The Terrestrial Code is published annually in the three official OIE languages (English, French and Spanish). An unofficial translation into Russian is also available from the OIE upon request. The Terrestrial Code may be viewed and downloaded from the OIE Web site at http://www.oie.int.
The User's guide, which follows this foreword, is designed to help Veterinary Authorities and other interested parties to use the Terrestrial Code.
We wish to thank the members of the Code Commission, Delegates and the experts participating in Working Groups and ad hoc Groups and other Specialist Commissions for their expert advice. Finally but not least, my thanks go to the staff of the OIE for their dedication in producing this 27th edition of the Terrestrial Code.
Members of the
OIE Code Commission (2017-2018):
President:
Dr Etienne Bonbon
Vice-President:
Prof. Stuart C. MacDiarmid
Vice-President:
Dr Gaston Maria Funes
Members:
Dr Masatsugu Okita, Dr Emmanuel Couacy-Hyman and Prof. Salah Hammami
July 2018
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