ECIATA-EDULINK II Dissemination Workshop on Enhancing Capacities of Agriculture Trade Agreements for the Development of Regional Agriculture & Food Markets 23rd – 24 th March, 2015 Meaglent Hotel Accra By Mariella Sandini, Team Leader TRAQUE implemented by

General Principles of the EU Food Law Specific Rules for Food Import

Disease in chilli pepper field in rotation with rice – Ghana Northern region

TRAQUE in GHANA The EU, through its supports to the TRAQUE Programme, is helping Ghana to build up the technical capacities for proving compliance with these EU technical regulations. It provides support to a sizable number of laboratories, in terms of equipment and training, in order to update the testing methods, to improve the quality of testing laboratories, and to achieve international recognition of their results.

The support of TRAQUE to metrology and government laboratories

The EU Market 500+ million consumers Expect high quality food from around the globe any time and at affordable prices No tolerance for risk – Consumers demand variety, quality and safety – SPS regulations govern feed and food safety, animal health and plant health – WTO rules demand non-discrimination – Administration cannot take chances

How does it work? The main elements Commitment to high level of protection Objective-oriented, non-prescriptive law Clear allocation of responsibility Continuous scrutiny, inspection and controls Transparency, peer pressure Independent scientific advice Dispute settlement mechanisms Training

… in EU there are three key commitments High level of protection Plant and animal protection Transparency … and three supporting legislations: General Food Law Regulation 178/2002 Principles of Official Controls Reg. 882/2004 SPS agreement /measures (WTO)

General Food Law (Reg 178/2002) Article 18 – Traceability All food, feed and animals: One step up, one step down. Article 20 – Recall Operators must recall if they have ‘reason to believe’ that products are unsafe. Recalls must be reported to authorities. Article 11 - Imports Food and feed imported into the Community complies with food law or conditions recognised as equivalent. Article 12 - Exports Food and feed exported shall comply with the food law.

Plants, fruit and vegetable The same rules apply to EU businesses and operators in foreign countries Plant Health requirements. Residue tolerances must be met. Entry via any border post. Importer is responsible and liable.

Trade policy must ensure that food is safe and meet SPS measures In recent years, the application of SPS measures for imports has increased considerably This may create serious problems for EU exporters who are not prepared to cope with the requirements

SPS measures are applied to protect human, animal and plant life or health within the territory of a country from risks arising from plant pests (insects, bacteria, virus), additives, residues (of pesticides or veterinary drugs), contaminants (heavy metals), toxins or disease-causing organisms in food, beverages or feedstuffs, and diseases carried by animals.

The European Commission is responsible for ensuring that EU legislation in this area meets the EU's international obligations of the WTO SPS Agreement and that rules are correctly implemented in the EU Member States (internal market) and abroad (imports from third countries)

Interceptions 432 interceptions from 2011 to april 2014: the imported consignments of the referred products contained harmful organisms (insects, fungi, bacteria, viruses) which are not authorised to enter into the EU.

What to do? Producers: good agricultural practices to ensure plant protection Traders: verification of quality and phytosanitary compliance of products to be traded Control organism (National Plant Protection Organisation – NPPO): efficiency of controls

EU Requirements for veg import Health control (food law, hygiene, microbiological criteria, contaminants, pesticides) Plant health control (harmful organisms) Marketing standards Other requirements

Food Hygiene Requirements to be respected by food business operators in third countries It is the responsibility of the importer to ensure compliance with the relevant requirements

Other requirements Registration of food businesses (for food of plant origin, usually sufficient that exporting establishments in third countries are known and accepted as suppliers by importers into the Community) General implementation of procedures based on the HACCP principles, after primary production;

Microbiological criteria Regular testing against the criterion is not useful in normal circumstances for fresh, uncut and unprocessed vegetables and fruits, excluding sprouted seeds, Escherichia.Coli and Salmonella for pre-cut fruit and vegetables (ready-to eat) and unpasteurised fruit and vegetable juices

Contaminants Aflatoxins in groundnuts, nuts, dried fruit, some species of spices Ochratoxin A in dried vine fruit Patulin in fruit juice, apple product Lead in fruit and vegetables, fruit juice Cadmium in fruit and vegetables Tin in canned food

Pesticides residues Lists of EU MRL sorted by pesticide, crop group or commodity, available on sticides/index_en.htm

Plant Health/1 Directive 2000/29/EC of 8 May 2000 on protective measures against the introduction into the Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products and against their spread within the Community (OJ L 169, , p. 1–112) ANNEX V B Lists the products which are potential carriers of harmful organisms of relevance for the EU and subject to systematic inspections when originating in territories outside the EU

Plant Health/Import into EU Systematic inspection for certain FRUITS, e.g. Citrus L. (citrus), Fortunella Swingle (kumquat), Poncirus Raf., and their hybrids, Momordica L. (balsam pear / bitter cucumber) Solanum melongenaL(eggplant/aubergine) Annona L. (pond-apple), Malus Mill. (apple), Mangifera L. (mango), Passiflora L. (passionfruit), Psidium L. (guava)

Marketing standards (Quality) EU regulations laying down the marketing standards DEFINITION OF PRODUCE PROVISIONS CONCERNING QUALITY – Minimum quality requirements – Minimum maturity requirements – Classification (‘Extra’ class, Class I, Class II) PROVISIONS CONCERNING SIZING PROVISIONS CONCERNING TOLERANCES – Quality tolerances

Documentation on the web General Information: Food and Veterinary Office: European Food Safety Authority

Ghana situation The European Commission considers that the total number of interceptions and in particular those with the critical commodities from Ghana mean pronounced phytosanitary risk for the European Union and at the same time they reflect the inefficiency of the phytosanitary export controls in Ghana.

Interceptions on Produce Exported to the EU from Ghana In the non-EU trade alert list (based on Europhyt data), Ghana has been subject to more interceptions than any other country between 1 February 2014 and 31 January It is number 1 on the alert list, receiving a total of 314 interceptions due to HOs during this period. Thrips, Fruit flies, Thaumatotibia leucotreta,Thrips White fly On Luffa, Capsicum, peppers, eggplants, Ipomea, lagenaria

Action plan The EU asked the NPPO (National Plant Protection Organisation of Ghana – the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Department) to send an action plan by 30th September detailing the measures to be put in place to correct the problems that were giving rise to the interceptions. They warned that if no major improvement was seen, the EC could consider taking emergency measures at EU level restricting the import of the most problematic commodities.

The main commitments of the action plan/1 Ensure that the NPPO has access to adequate facilities and equipment for performing inspections, to ensure that an efficient and reliable inspection may be carried out for 17 regulated plant produce exported to the EU, in line with the relevant additional requirements listed in Annex IV, Part A, Section I to Council Directive 2000/29/EC and Section 3.4 of ISPM 7 and Section 1.4 of ISPM 23

The main commitments of the action plan/2 Ensure that the NPPO has access to adequate facilities and equipment for performing inspections, to ensure that an efficient and reliable inspection may be carried out for 17 regulated plant produce exported to the EU, in line with the relevant additional requirements listed in Annex IV, Part A, Section I to Council Directive 2000/29/EC and Section 3.4 of ISPM 7 and Section 1.4 of ISPM 23

The main commitments of the action plan/3 Ensure that officials responsible for performing the export inspections have an appropriate level of expertise and technical information in line with Article 2(1)(i) of Council Directive 2000/29/EC and Sections 3.1 and 3.3 of ISPM 7.

The main commitments of the action plan/4 Revise the export procedures to ensure that all lots of regulated material that have been declared by the exporter, are subject to an appropriate inspection to confirm that the relevant additional requirements contained in Annex IV, Part A, Section I to Directive 2000/29/EC have been fulfilled and to ensure the accuracy of these declarations

The main commitments of the action plan/5 Ensure that only Citrus fruits that complies with the requirements of Annex IV, Part A, Section I to Council Directive 2000/29/EC and in particular item 16.3 (c) with respect to Cercospora angolensis and item 16.4 (c) or (d) with regards to Guignardia citricarpa is exported to the EU.

The main commitments of the action plan/5 The sample size used for the inspection of plant products immediately prior to export is revised to ensure that an appropriate probability of finding any harmful organisms present is applied, in line with ISPM 31

The main commitments of the action plan/6 Ensure that appropriate equipment is in place in facilities authorised to carry out heat treatment of wood packing material, to enable the NPPO to verify that the minimum treatment specified in ISPM 15 has been applied

Results of the action plan The problem for Ghana is that the number of interceptions registered in the EU has not shown the dramatic decrease expected (and needed) since an action plan was introduced: 19 interceptions in October 2014 (including 16 for False Coddling Moth on Capsicum) 64 in November (including 51 for False Coddling Moth on Capsicum) 9 in December 29 in January 2015 This means that Ghana remains very much in the spotlight and needs to address the problem with some urgency

Key messages 1.Africa’s food and agricultural exports must comply with the importing countries’ sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements. Inability to comply would mean lost market opportunities and lost revenue. 2.SPS compliance involves action by farmers and others in the value chain, as well as government and regulatory bodies. Private and public sector actors must work together to fulfill their complementary roles.

3. Policy makers can make better decisions on SPS capacity development by: using available tools to identify and prioritise interventions; (drawing from analyses that show what works well; ensuring recognized good practices are used). 4. Countries in Africa must also use SPS measures to reduce the risk of importing contaminated food, or new pests and diseases of plants and animals. (This protects the crops and livestock that create food security and export revenue, and ensures that citizens have safe food to eat).

Solutions to allow small producers to increase their performance in terms of quality and earning A long list to go …. Starting for example from promoting operational farmers groups and cooperatives.

There is a great potentiality that cannot be spoiled