SPSBCAR1 Learning Guide

UNDERSTANDING SANITARY &

PHYTOSANITARY (SPS) AGREEMENT FOR A

BETTER AGRIBUSINESS IN CARIBBEAN

COUNTRIES.STAGE II

1st EDITION

LEARNING GUIDE

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Understanding SPS Agreement for a better Agribusiness… Stage II. 1st Edition LEARNING GUIDE

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Presentation

Welcome to the e-learning Understanding Sanitary & Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement for a Better Agribusiness in Caribbean Countries (Stage II), 1st Edition! Throughout the different modules theoretical materials are presented, the reading of which is neces-sary to participate and complete the activities and forums included in the module. The knowledge acquired in each module is essential for proper use of the rest of the course, so that it is particularly important to make an effort to deliver activities on time.

The teaching team will work in a coordinated way along the whole course, and at the beginning of the week the participants will be told which tutor is in charge of each activity.

Target Audience

Generally speaking, the course is aimed at officials of the competent authorities in the field of animal health, plant health and safety that have direct involvement in the creation and implementation of sanitary measures for products subject to internatio-nal trade.

The participants should be at least a Bachelor´s Degree and/or posse five (5) years of experience in Agronomist, Veterinarian, Bachelor Food, Law or related field. It is advisable three years’ work experience related to policy issues in animal/plant/food safety oriented international trade (imports-exports) of animals, plants and food.

Duration

The course will last four teaching weeks (plus one week for Preliminary Activities and one week for retakes) organised in weekly modules. Each week opens with a mes-sage from the corresponding tutor that participants will find posted on the notice board; the tutor will use the message to introduce the central points of the issue to be dealt with and propose the keys to complete the week’s work.

General Objective

To provide expertise on the general principles of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Me-asures Agreement of the World Trade Organization and its execution in countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.


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Specific Objectives

To deepen the implementation of the Basic Principles of the SPM Agreement of the WTO.

To develop an interactive course that includes innovative and practical elements (such as the SPM Committee Guidelines of the WTO, country experiences, SPM databases).

To made Modules available that make a special reference to practical cases in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean.

To encourage the interaction of national civil servants of the region, the exchan-ge of experiences and the analysis of SPM implementation cases by means of the E-learning course.

Learning methodology

Although the basic teaching model for online courses is based on the group learning model, this course can be combined with other methods such as project-based or case-study-based learning.

The learning activities included in the course may require the students to:

Read and use the mandatory texts for each module at all times. Furthermore, at times additional material is provided (PowerPoint presentations, articles, etc.) relating to the modules that will enable the students to expand their knowle-dge and help them to complete some of the proposed exercises. The tutors will announce the possible need for supplementary reading materials and will provide the specific materials when they are required in some of the work mo-dules.

Perform tutored exercises, where the students must apply the main concepts linked to the course and reflect upon the important aspects they have looked at in each module. When the answers provided by the student are based on the na-tional legislation of their respective country, the article applicable to the specific case will preferably be supplied. Answers to these exercises must be written in a document that is to be sent to the tutor via the platform, attaching it to the task section of the corresponding module (instructions for this can be found in the video tutorial Navigating the Virtual Classroom available on the platform). When the tutor indicates as such, the answer to the exercises must be limited to the maximum length established to resolve it.

Self-assessment exercises (test). This activity is based on understanding the con-cepts and analysing the correct use of such concepts in order to put them into


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practice later on in the respective practical exercises. The tutor may limit the number of attempts available to the student to complete the tests.

Discussions and reflections on topics of interest included in the weekly discus-sion forums, using the virtual platform’s tools, enabling a dialogue to be maintai-ned between the participants and the tutors. Active participation in the forums proposed in the different modules and analytical reading of the contributions made by the tutor and the other participants is recommended. In some cases the forums will be used for collaborative activities in which the students must resolve the proposed cases together.

Voluntary contributions that the students can make on the specific forums pro-posed for such purpose relating to applicable legislation in their respective coun-tries or to specific domestic situations.

Below we detail the benefits of interacting with the modules’ content and the rela-tionship between the theory and the practice of the participants in their organisa-tions, and the learning activities.

The Forums

In the virtual classroom the communication process becomes especially important and learning and understanding benefit from all the course’s participants commu-nicating with each another. The forums are a privileged area to foster communica-tion and socialisation. The forums will be different depending on their purpose. The course will feature “thematic forums”, “teamwork forums”, “the coffee house” and possibly a “queries forum”.

Thematic Forum

This will be a thematic meeting point or a place for theoretic-conceptual socialisation. Participants will be able to explain, debate or disagree on topics that are being stud-ied in the thematic forums. They are a space that enables the thematic field and the perspective of knowledge relating to the subject-matter of the course to be expand-ed, which is possible thanks to the contributions of the course’s attendants, who expand and enrich the branch of knowledge.

The “thematic forums” are generally intended for questions that aim to provoke a reaction from the participants with regard to the different areas of study. Two “the-matic forums” will be available to the participants throughout the course. The “the-matic forum” is the space that excels at enriching understanding through everyone’s contributions and fosters discussion relating to the topics being studied.


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The participants in the thematic forums play a leading role. For example:

They prepare and present their contributions. Their contributions must be short and focused. The participants may make several contributions in a forum and they are expected to not only put forward their points of view, but to also take note of the contributions of others in order to make comments.

Contributions developed personally will be given preference over those that are limited to merely copying pre-existing texts. (e.g. legal texts).

The questions that the forum opens with are related to the topic in question and discussions relating to topics that do not fall within the context at hand must be avoided.

The forum must be closed with a summary of the questions that were under dis-cussion. The tutor may request some of the course’s participants to perform such summary.

The Social Forum

This is a space that will be open throughout the course; the students will be able to drink a “virtual coffee” or the drink of their preference, and they will be able to talk about different topics, be they personal, cultural, sport-related, etc., depending on the participants’ motivation and interests. The idea is that they will be able to inter-act in a role different from that of addressing the topics of study, thus strengthening both professional and personal relationships.

Question Forums

There is a possibility that, at the teacher’s/tutor’s initiative, a forum may be estab-lished in a course, which is specifically designed to answer questions related to any exercise that is to be submitted, software that has been installed for any activity, etc. The teacher/tutor will answer questions within 24 hours.

The question forums allow answers to be provided that may be useful for all of the course’s participants.

Implementation of the Course

The entire course will be provided via the Capacity Building Program Web portal (Trade and Integration Sector) in an asynchronous fashion. The participants will in-teract with the tutors and the other students using the Virtual Classroom’s commu-


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nication tools at a time of their choosing. There will be no activities that require all the participants to meet face-to-face, or any mandatory activities that require them to connect to the internet at the same time. There is the possibility of a synchronous activity being proposed, but in any case this would be voluntary.

The course’s participants will form a team of up to 40 members (a maximum of 50 during the course Preliminary Activities that deal with learning how to use the plat-form’s tools) who will progress through the course with the support and technical assistance of a Technical and Pedagogical Coordinator (TPC). Additionally, every week there will be a tutor/teacher guiding the participants through the contents of the course’s module and units, offering guidance regarding the implementation of the activities, and providing assessment tools that enable the participants to discov-er their progress in the course. Therefore, each participant must pay attention to messages they are sent by the tutor/teacher in order to make the learning process a smooth, informative and positive experience.

The course includes discussion activities (forum, individual and group activities) that allow participants to improve their mastery of a particular objective and the tutor to assess the performance of each of the participants.

In order to determine whether participants manage to successfully complete the course, the course director will consider both their performance in the activities and the quality of participation throughout the course.

When the participant chooses to access the Virtual Classroom is up to them and will depend on when is convenient for each participant and how they choose to organise themselves.

Sunday at midnight, local time in each country, is the deadline for submitting the ex-ercises for each module; therefore, the exercises that are not submitted within this period will not be corrected until the retake week.

A calendar will be uploaded each week that will provide guidance with regard to the activities that must be completed in each of the modules. The activities for a specific week of the course must be completed during that week and not be delayed into the following week.

Responsibilities of Those Involved in the Learning Process

Learning will be based on exchanges that include the management and the teacher/tutor of the course. Their commitments are detailed below:


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The Role of the Course Director

The course director will assume the following commitments:

To supervise the courses’ teaching material;

To monitor the teacher’s/tutor’s work;

To participate in the course from time to time;

To review the participants’ assessments and to make the decision with regard to the corresponding academic certificates;

To intervene in the possible appeals regarding disagreements between teacher/ tutor and participants relating to marks.

The Role of the Teacher/Tutor

The teacher/tutor will focus on providing guidance, monitoring and encouraging the participants, using the communication resources provided by the virtual classroom: messages, forums and notices. Their commitments during the course are summarised in the following points:

To reply to messages within 24 hours.

To review the work submitted as soon as possible and, in any case, provide fee-dback for the final projects that are submitted by the participants no more than two days after the completion of their module.

To provide the participants with guidance relating to the course dynamics and to facilitate exchanges between the participants.

The Role of the Technical Pedaogical Coordinator (TPC)

During the course the participant will have the advice and support of “the Course Technical and Pedagogical Coordinator” (TPC), Andreea Ilin, relating to any questions that may arise regarding the platform’s tools and browsing the course. To contact the coordinator participants can send an email from the course’s plat-form.

In the event they encounter difficulties in accessing the Platform they can contact the TPC through her email address: [email protected]

mailto:ailin%40ceddet.org?subject=


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WHAT SHOULD I DO IF…I don’t receive a reply within 24 hours from the tutor of the module that is being taught? You may check with the TPC, indicating how you have tried to contact the tutor. The TPC will try to get your message to the tutor.

I don’t remember how to use one of the course’s tools and after chec-king the Navigation Tutorial Video and/or I still have doubts? Write to the TPC using the internal messaging service (or via external email if the previous option is unavailable) indicating the exact problem.

I experience difficulties in accessing the course? Write to the TPC ex-plaining your problem.

The Participant’s Actions

Participants must be responsible for their own learning process and will have the following obligations:

To complete all the planned course activities in a timely fashion. Furthermore, they must reply to the queries and tasks set by the teaching team.

They must pay attention to the general instructions and specific directions set in each module, study the theory for the chapter, and then perform the activities relating to the chapter.

To check the notice board on a regular basis and participate actively in the cour-se’s debating forums.

They must organize their time so that they can effectively meet the demands of the course, for which they will need to dedicate around 12 to 15 hours per week

They will be aware of the difficulties that arise during the course and communica-te with tutors and technical assistants in order to seek solutions to problems.

They will clearly indicate their doubts and requirements, as well as openly sharing their professional experience with the group.

They must complete all the mandatory activities proposed by the teaching team (both individual and group activities) in order to receive the certificate.

To inform the teacher/tutor of the exceptional circumstances that may prevent them from taking part in the course in a normal fashion and undertake to catch up in the retake week(s).


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To complete the module surveys as well as the final survey at the end of the cour-se (the certificate will not be awarded if the final survey is not completed, even if the mark obtained is 65 or higher).

The participant may be expelled from the course if they do not behave appropria-tely in the virtual classroom after being warned by the teacher/tutor and/or TPC regarding the inappropriate nature of their behaviour.

Teaching Resources and Materials

The course will feature the teaching resources and materials that facilitate the partic-ipants’ learning process:

Learning guide and work plan (the latter will be uploaded on a weekly basis).

Content developed specifically for the course: class sessions, documents, reading guides and analysis diagrams.

Cases and teaching activities.

Reference material: reading material taken from texts and books that will be pro-vided to the participants electronically.

Assessment of the Participants

The participants will be continually assessed by having their work, activities and par-ticipation in the forum’s debates reviewed. All course activities are mandatory (un-less otherwise indicated) since each contributes to learning, but not all are assessed and have a bearing on the overall course mark.

Additionally, participants must take a knowledge questionnaire at the beginning and end of the course. This is a requirement to start the course and be award the certif-icate upon completing it. The questionnaire aims to discover the participants’ prior knowledge and what they have learned during the course. The results have no bear-ing on the overall mark achieved by the participant throughout the course and will only be used to improve the quality of the INDES courses, in line with the learning requirements of its target audience.


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General Criteria for Assessing Activities

Upon completion of each module, the tutor will assess each of the completed ac-tivities, obtaining a mark that is in line with the work performed. Besides, a global module grade will be assigned. This module grade will only be considered as satisfac-tory (minimum of 65 points out of 100) if all module activities have been individually graded as satisfactory. The module global grade will not be an automatic arithmetic mean, as the tutor will take into account in a qualitative fashion:

The quality of the exercises submitted in the task section

The quality of the contributions made in the debating forum, as well as their con-tinuous participation in the forum throughout the week.

The completion of the self-assessment exercises

Collaborating in group activities (particularly participation in the forum)

Regularly following the course

Submitting the activities in the established timeframes.

All activities will be graded on the basis of a 1-100 score, and it is necessary to obtain in each of them a minimum grading of 65 to pass the course.

The participants will be able to check in the platform the result obtained in each ac-tivity after the end of the corresponding module. If they have to catch-up with some activity, it will be indicated which one/s and the date for catching – up.

The activities will be retaken during the catching-up weeks. By the end of those peri-ods, the corresponding tutor will assign the grades.

It is a must to perform all activities (with a minimum grade of 65 in each of them) to obtain the course certificate. An average of 65 or superior will not be enough if there are any activities left.

Nonetheless, the course director, taking into account all tutors’ evaluations, will be responsible for the final course grading. Such grading will be communicated once all Closing activities (post-test and final course evaluation) have been done. Such final grading will take into account different factors, such as the student progress throughout the course and the relative difficulty of the different activities.

As long as the participant has obtained a final score of 65 or higher, and has com-pleted the pre and post test evaluation and the final survey, a certificate will be delivered.

The certificates are only delivered in a digital format through the platform, so that the participant himself can print it out if he wishes. In such case, the printed certifi-cate will be considered the original document that has been delivered in electronic format. On the other hand, whoever needs a confirmation of the certificate’s validity


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shall contact INDES [email protected] and the institution will verify the person’s participation in the course.

The participant will receive a certificate according to the following criteria:

Regular certificate: final score of 65-89 points.

Certificate with honours: final score of 90 points or higher.

The name appearing in the certificate will be the one indicated by the participant himself when he got registered in the Portal. Students are therefore responsible of the accuracy of their data.

IMPORTANT NOTE

For the calculation of hours of the certificate, 15 hours per module will be considered. For the purpose of this computation, the hours of the Preliminary activities or Closing Activities will not be contempla-ted.

mailto:[email protected]


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CURRICULAR STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE

Module 1. Risk Assessment

There are two types of risk assessment as defined by Annex A.4 of the SPS Agree-ment:

Risks arising from pests or diseases (Animal and Plant Risk Assessment): the eva-luation of the likelihood of entry, establishment or spread of a pest or disease wi-thin the territory of an importing Member according to the SPS measures which might be applied, and of the associated potential biological and economic conse-quences; or

Food-borne risks (food safety risk assessment): The evaluation of the potential for adverse effects on human or animal health arising from the presence of ad-ditives, contaminants, toxins or disease-causing organisms in food, beverages or feedstuffs.

General objectives

To understand the main provisions of the WTO/SPS Agreement, in particular:

To identify recommended methodologies for risk assessment;

To share information on LAC risk assessment and experiences.

Unit I. Recommended Methodologies

Learning objectives

Understand the main concepts of Risk Assessment on Animal Health, Plant Heal-th and Food Safety.

To identify the three parts of the whole process of Risk Assessment.


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Unit II. Plant Health Risk Assessment Models

Learning objective

Understanding of risk assessment procedures developed by Plant Protection Convention and National Plant Protection Organisations.

Unit III. Animal Health Risk Assessment Models

Learning objective

Understanding the main concepts on Animal Health Risk Assessment.

Unit IV Food Safety Risk Assessment Models

Learning objectives

Understanding main concepts on food safety risk assessment

Providing guidance to national governments for risk assessment, risk manage-ment and risk communication with regard to food related risks to human health

Module 2. Equivalence

General objective

Learn about the different provisions developed by the Three Sisters regarding Equivalence and gain insight into the Latin America and the Caribbean cases on this issue.

Unit I. Equivalence

Learning objectives

Understand the main concepts of Risk Assessment on Animal Health, Plant Heal-th and Food Safety.

To identify the three parts of the whole process of Risk Assessment.


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Module 3. Control, inspection and approval procedures

General objectives

To acknowledge further information on international standards on control, ins-pection and approval procedures.

To gain insight into Latin America and Caribbean experiences with conformity assessment, control, inspection and approval procedures.

Module 4. Transparency in action

General objective

Overview the level of implementation of transparency obligations, taking into ac-count the level of development of WTO Members. Evaluate the main necessities identified by WTO members in order to strengthen the observance of transparen-cy rules. In this regards, we will identify positive experiences in order to “inspire” other countries.

Unit I. Implementation of transparency obligations established in the SPS agreement

Learning objectives

Overview the level of implementation of transparency obligations and specially the main features regarding notifications, in order to gain knowledge on the cu-rrent situation for the identification of those items where there is room for im-provement.

Understand which the main topics are regarding the effective operation of NNA and ENQ in order to get full advantage of them. Understand which are the main concerns regarding their operation in order to find possible solutions to improve their functioning.

Unit II. Practical recommendations for enhancing transparency

Learning objectives

Gain knowledge on useful variables that can be used in order to assess the ope-ration of existing notification procedures and in the identification of possible co-rrective measures to improve them. Identify key areas where there could be room


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for improvement: institutionalization, training, knowledge shearing, designation of contact points, interdisciplinary work and coordination with other Members.

Take advantage of available resources on practical issues and recommendations that WTO countries may consider in order to improve the efficiency of their NNA and ENQ.

Identify electronic tools that may help the management of SPS NNA for the stren-gthening of national capacity on SPS issues.

Gain knowledge of other Members’ positive experiences in order to strengthen observance of transparency rules and identify useful tools that can be replicated.


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COURSE PROGRAMME

Week and Content Objectives

Activities

Required timeNo Description Type of

activities

Weighting score

towards the module

global grade

Week 1:

Preliminary Activities

11th-13th April

Determine the previous knowledge of the participants.

Have all participants complete their profile accurately

Get to know the participants’ expectations

Meet your classmates

1 Pretest evaluation

Individual, compulsory,

non-evaluable (in relation to

the final course grade)

3-5 hours

2 Profile updating

3 Uploading a document

4 Introduction forum

Week 2:

Module 1

18th-24th April

There are two types of risk assessment as defined by Annex A.4 of the SPS Agreement:

• Risks arising from pests or diseases (Animal and Plant Risk Assessment): the evaluation of the likelihood of entry, establishment or spread of a pest or disease within the territory of an importing Member accord-ing to the SPS measures which might be applied, and of the associated potential biological and economic consequences; or

• Food-borne risks (food safety risk assessment): The evaluation of the potential for adverse effects on human or animal health arising from the presence of additives, contaminants, toxins or disease-causing organisms in food, beverag-es or feedstuffs.

5 Discussion Forum Individual, compulsory 30%

15 hours6 Tutored Exercise Individual, compulsory 50%

7 Test (self-evaluation) Individual, compulsory 20%


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Week and Content Objectives

Activities

Required timeNo Description Type of

activities

Weighting score

towards the module

global grade

Week 3:

Module 2

25th April – 1st May

Learn about the different pro-visions developed by the Three Sisters regarding Equivalence and gain insight into the Latin America and the Caribbean cases on this issue.




Week 4:

Module 3

2nd – 8th May

To acknowledge further information on international standards on control, inspection and approval procedures.

To gain insight into Latin America and Caribbean experiences with conformity assessment, control, inspection and approval procedures.




Week 5:

Module 4

18th-24th April

Overview the level of implementation of transparency obligations, taking into account the level of development of WTO Members. Evaluate the main necessities identified by WTO members in order to strengthen the observance of transparency rules. In this regards, we will identify positive experiences in order to “inspire” other countries.


15 hours15 Tutored exercise Individual, compulsory 50%


Week 6:

Final catch-up week and Closing activities

16th - 22th May

During this week, participants with pending activities must complete them, getting in touch if necessary with the corresponding tutor.

Besides, all participants shall complete the post-test and the course satisfaction survey as a sine qua non for getting the final course certificate.

17 Post-test evaluation

20 minutes

18 Course satisfaction survey


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The Team

Course Director

Gustavo Idigoras.

Gustavo Idigoras has a degree on political sciences and a master degree on in-ternational affairs and business and a PhD in Agricultural Business Administra-tion. He is also International Consultant on SPS and agriculture trade. Gustavo is Director of Center of Studies for Agrifood Sector, National University of Lomas de Zamora, publishing several studies on food supply, private standards, interna-tional market access, biotechnology, food safety and markets and others topics.He has regional experiences, since he was for three year Head of International Te-chnical Assistance Team at “EU-MERCOSUR SPS Harmonization Project working in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. He was Minister Counselor Agricola Argentina to the EU Representative, and at FAO, OECD, WTO, and other forums. Former National Director of Markets, Ministry of Agriculture and Former Director of International Affairs of SENASA Argentina.

The Teaching Staff

Gustavo Idigoras (see Course director).

Roxana Blasetti.

Master Degree in Latin American Integration Policy. Lawyer. Deputy Director of the “Specialization in Agribusiness Negotiations and International Trade” Buenos Aires University. Professor: La Plata University; FLACSO University; Republic Uni-versity, Uruguay. Associate Researcher of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies on Industrial Property and Economics Law (CEIDIE), Buenos Aires University, Ar-gentina.

Former National Director of Agribusiness International Relations, Ministry of Agri-business of Argentina. Official delegate in the Committee on Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary Measures (SPS) since 1999 to 2012. Member of the argentine delegation in several WTO and MERCOSUR dispute settlement procedures. Representative of Argentina in the MERCOSUR-UE bi-regional negotiations, with especial focus on SPS Chapter. She also takes part in multiple international forums (e.g. WTO, FAO, CODEX, WIPO). Former Director of International Affairs of SENASA and for-mer Director of Intellectual Property Rights Office. Author of several papers on this subject.

Documents

SPSBCAR1 Learning Guide