Ministry of Commerce And Supplies - Enhanced Integrated ...

N T I S20108.5 Conclusions and RecommendationsThe recommendations in this chapter are both a synthesis of a wide range of literature that has beengenerated on the potential of these exports for Nepal, combined with the specific issues that relate to TPC. 17Such certification is a complex process which is attained at enterprise level and which allows trading entitiesto demonstrate legal compliance, i.e. ‘due diligence’ in the traded good. As such the role of government islimited to ensuring that the enabling environment for TPC exists. Since individual small-scale farmers, forinstance, have little control over their environment and have poor or uncertain access to clean water, goodtechnical advice, appropriate inputs, fair and transparent marketing channels, effective marketing, and so on,this is an area where government can intervene to help.The actions outlined in this report, therefore, focus not on TCP per se but on the policy and enabling environment.Service provisions, such as accredited food testing laboratories, are only useful in the context of market-led,dynamic, pro-active entities such as cooperatives, growers associations, and commercial processors which canuse these services effectively. These are explained in more detail below and summarized in Table 8.4.Status of Legal ReformThe status of SPS-related legislation in Nepal is summarized in Appendix 3: Revised Legislative Action Plan,January 2010. For the most part, the necessary reviews and updated legislative programme for SPS-relatedtrade are complete. However, the following legislative issues are still outstanding and need to be addressedas a matter of priority:1. Regulations under the new Plant Protection Act of 13 September 2007 have just been adopted. This isa positive development;2. In 2004, FAO assisted in the preparation of Draft Law/Amendment to the current Food Act 1966.However, this law is still being reviewed by the DFTQC in light of certain issues relating to technicalaspects of implementation. The draft needs urgent attention as the current Food Act has beenamended four times since 1966 and there are 105 regulations attached to it, which leads to difficultieswith interpretation and enforcement. A second mission from FAO to review issues that have arisensince the 2004 Technical Assistance mission may need to be considered;3. Both the Animal Health and Livestock Act 1998 and Nepal Veterinary Council Act 2055 (2000) needurgent review. This is currently being done internally at DoLS. It is strongly suggested that the OIE beapproached directly for assistance as they have the capacity and programme for just this sort of inputto members who request it.Less urgent requirements that are indirectly SPS related are the necessary development of a National HoneyBee Policy and the drafting of a National Honey Bee Act.Strengths/Weaknesses of Regulatory AgenciesIn respect of the product groups exported by Nepal (Table 8.4) to current and potential destination markets,the following basic strengths and weaknesses apply:Strengths:1. The DoA has the personnel and facilities to comply with fumigation requirements for lentils and toissue credible phytosanitary certificates;17There is no opportunity in the context of this report to review the issues in terms of TPC. Suffice it to say that this is a common theme in allthe export sectors reviewed in this report. The existing literature is reviewed in The relationship of third party certification (TPC) to sanitaryand phytosanitary standards (SPS) and the international agri-food trade: final report. RAISE SPS GLOBAL ANALYTICAL REPORT #9. It is crucialto understand that TCP is in many respects a market-led tool, which, in its safety aspects, is a private sector response to legislated food safetyrequirements of governments as well as international trade agreements.202NEPAL TRADE INTEGRATION STRATEGY 2010BACKGROUND REPORT