The Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Project, is one component of the 10European Development Fund (EDF) Programme titled “Support to the Caribbean Forum of ACP States in the Implementation of Commitments Undertaken under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)”. The overall objective of the SPS Project is to strengthen the capacity of CARIFORUM States for international market access through compliance with Europe’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, as well as improve capacity for developing regionally harmonized SPS measures.
Project Actions:
The SPS Project actions are directed towards creating and/or strengthening Regional and National SPS systems through systematic focus on alleviating constraints in the areas of legislation, coordination and capacity building:
- Legislation: Establishment of a sound and comprehensive national and regional legislative framework for plant and animal health, including fisheries, food safety, and related environmental monitoring;
- Coordination: Development and organization of an efficient responsive institutional framework and mechanism for coordination of SPS issues at both the national and regional level; and
- Capacity Building: Development of the human resources to support the SPS regime.
This will aim to improve the capacity of public and private sector stakeholders in areas such as;
the application of good agricultural, manufacturing and laboratory practices, HACCP and risk analyses, pest identification and food safety.
Expected Outcomes:
Through the implementation of project actions the following outcomes are expected:
- Enhanced Agricultural Health and Food Safety (AHFS) Systems - Strengthened enforcement of legislation, standards, guidelines, measures for increased production and marketing of agricultural and fisheries products
- Improved coordination to support the SPS regime - Enhanced institutional capacity of national and regional regulatory bodies and the private sector to meet SPS requirements of international trade
- Enhanced trade opportunities within European and other international markets Implementation:
The Project commenced on September 3, 2013 and is being implemented by the InterAmerican Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) over 42 months in collaboration with the following partners:
CARICOM Secretariat (CCS), Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) and the SPS committee of the Dominican Republic (Comité Nacional para la Aplicación deMedidas Sanitarias y Fitosanitarias –(CNMSF).
The following CARIFORUM States are the primary beneficiaries of the Project’s activities:
Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, The Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago.
