The

World Organisation for Animal Health The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), formerly the (OIE), is an intergovernmental organization coordinating, supporting and promoting animal disease control. Mission and status The main objective of the WOAH is to control epizo ...

's Terrestrial Animal Health Code (TAHC) implements improvement standards of worldwide animal health and welfare and public health from a

veterinary Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

point of view. It includes standards

international trade International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (see: World economy) In most countries, such trade represents a significan ...

in terrestrial biological specimens (such as

mammals Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fu ...

and

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

) and their merchandise. National veterinary authorities use it to provide for early detection of

pathogens In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a ger ...

and to prevent the transfer of same by international trade in animals and animal merchandise, while skirting "unjustified sanitary barriers to trade". The standards in the TAHC have been adopted by the World Assembly of the OIE, the predecessor of the WOAH. The

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and ...

(WTO)

Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, also known as the SPS Agreement or just SPS, is an international treaty of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It was negotiated during the Uruguay Round of the General Agree ...

"recognises the OIE as the international standard setting organisation for animal health and

zoonotic diseases A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a bacterium, virus, parasite or prion) that has jumped from a non-human (usually a vertebrate) to a human. ...

and specifically encourages the Members of the WTO to base their"

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...

and

regulations Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. F ...

"on international standards, guidelines and recommendations, where they exist." The TAHC had been through 28 editions as of August 2019.

Compartmentalisation

The idea of compartmentalisation was instigated by the OIE to foster more international trade in case an

exporting country International trade is the exchange of Capital (economics), capital, goods, and Service (economics), services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (see: World economy) In most countr ...

has confirmed a case of

exotic disease Exotic may refer to: Mathematics and physics * Exotic R4, a differentiable 4-manifold, homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to the Euclidean space R4 *Exotic sphere, a differentiable ''n''-manifold, homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to the ordinar ...

. Whereas in the 20th century all products from the exporting nation would be affected by bans, compartmentalisation allows trade to flow from theoretically non-affected zones. In other words, compartments can be split up into geographic regions, or corporate structures, or any number of discriminants as long as they are split on a scientific basis.

Antimicrobials

In May 2018, at the 86th General Session of the OIE, several revisions to international standards and guidelines were discussed. New worldwide guidelines were issued with regards to increased veterinary supervision of the use of

antimicrobials An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms or stops their growth. Antimicrobial medicines can be grouped according to the microorganisms they act primarily against. For example, antibiotics are used against bacteria, and antifungals ar ...

in animals.

Growth promotion

In May 2018, at the 86th General Session of the OIE held in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, several revisions to international standards and guidelines were discussed. A new worldwide applicable definition of non-veterinary medical use included growth promotion as a legitimate aim.

Treat, control and prevent

In May 2018, at the 86th General Session of the OIE held in

, several revisions to international standards and guidelines were discussed. New worldwide applicable definitions of to treat, to control and to prevent were instituted.

References

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External links