VN speeds up realization of SPS Agreement

VGP – The PM approved on Monday, November 17, the National Plan of Action to accelerate Việt Nam’s realization of the World Trade Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS).

November 18, 2008 11:39 PM GMT+7

Good agricultural practices should be popularized

The measures to realize the SPS Agreement include the building of systems to monitor dangers of food contamination and diseases infected through food; establishing a network and realizing national programs to prevent pests and epidemics; researching post-harvest measures to process and store products before export.

It is also necessary to set up Vietnamese standards on food safety and hygiene, and animal and plant quarantine commensurate to those of the CODEX Alimentarius Commission, World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC); and design the “Single Standard” for products for exports and domestic consumption.

As a WTO member, Việt Nam pledges to apply good agricultural practices (GAPs), good animal husbandry practices (GAHP), good farming practices (GFPs), good manufacturing practices (GMP) and the hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP).

The country will also establish a network for urgently coping with food poisoning cases and diseases, pests and pandemics for plants and animals. At the same time, a strategy will be worked out to vaccinate against such harmful epidemics as foot-and-mouth disease, classical swine fever, blue-ear disease and bird flu.

By Phương Uyên