Transcript FAO’S Development Law Service - COP-PPLD

FAO’S Development
Law
Service
Law and Development at FAO
“Sound legal frameworks are essential to achieving
sustainable agricultural development and effective
natural resource management”
Role of Development Law Service
(DLS)

Focal point for the legal aspects of
agriculture and natural resource
management

Assistance with the design of
appropriate legal frameworks
Specific Functions
1)
Legal advisory services to
Member Countries
2)
International legal
instruments
3)
Legal information
4)
Research and studies
5)
Capacity building
Principles of Advisory Assistance

Advice tailored to specific national context

Sharing experiences and solutions

National law in compliance with international
obligations

Multidisciplinary approach

Involvement of all categories of stakeholders
Comparative advantage of legal
assistance from DLS

Legal advice by lawyers on aspects of agriculture

Consistent recommendations across countries

Benefit of comparative experience

Quality control from centralized unit

Independence of ideas and objectivity of advice

Innovative solutions at countries’ disposal
Other reasons for requesting DLS
assistance

Too many different issues to address

Lack of time

Lack of lawyers

Lack of knowledge of international context and obligations

Lack of comparative examples
FAO Legal Office work in the
veterinary field

Animal Production

Meat Inspection

Animal Genetic Resources

Dairy Sector

Animal Movement

Animal Feed

Animal Identification

Veterinary Drugs

Animal Health

Veterinary Services

Animal Welfare

Veterinarians and

Slaughterhouses

Products of Animal Origin
Paraveterinarians

Control Measures for Specific
Diseases
Reasons to reform of National
Veterinary Legal Frameworks

The legislation is outdated or has gaps

To meet international obligations

To harmonize their laws in accomplishment with regional
arrangements

New national policies in place

Governments need new powers which existing legislation does
not provide for

Foreign investment is often triggered by updates to the legal
framework
The process of drafting legislation in
technical assistance projects
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Compile and analyze existing legislation (not just
veterinary legislation)
Determine the hierarchy of existing legislative
instruments and the status of veterinary law
Find out what is actually happening on the ground
with the current written law
Identify challenges, gaps, areas for improvement
Propose a number of solutions for the legal
framework (taking into account national capacities
and the country context)
Characteristics of a good legislative
drafting process
 Extensive
participation of:

Government

Private stakeholder

Consumer groups
Key issues (1)
1.
2.
To understand what to address through
main law and what through subsidiary
instruments: sometimes, it’s not
possible or not easy to amend principal
legislation
To identify which problems need
legislative solutions and which can be
resolved through other means
Key issues (2)
3.
4.
5.
Not to confuse policy and law
To resolve policy issues before drafting
legislation
To build capacity in the country
Some Recent Examples of
FAO Legal Assistance…
Examples (1)

Animal Health

Panama: Draft Animal Health Law and Regulations

West Africa Region: Draft Animal Health Regulation

Cambodia, Timor Leste: Draft Animal Health Laws

Meat Inspection

Somalia: Draft Law on Meat Inspection and Control
Examples (2)

Dairy Products

Uruguay: Law on Milk Production and Commercialization of Milk
Products

Veterinary Drugs

Mozambique: Draft Veterinary Drugs Law

Livestock Identification

Ukraine: Draft Legislation on Establishment of Livestock
Identification System
Examples (3)

Animal Feed

Central America: Draft Regional Regulation on Feed Safety

Specific Animal Diseases

Lithuania: Proposed Regulations for Measures to Control
Transmission of Echinococcocis

Veterinary Profession

Rwanda: Draft Legislation on Veterinary Profession
Examples (4)

Paraveterinarians

Jordan: Recommended
Amendments to Take Account
of Village Animal Health
Workers

Dairy Development

Barbados: Draft Dairy
Development Board Act
Publications...
Legislative Studies
Legal Papers Online
THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION 
Contact us:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
For more information:
www.fao.org/legal/