The Straits Times
April 24, 2009
New quarantine rules soon, says AVA
I REFER to the Forum Online letter, 'Ease up on rigid quarantine rules for pets' (April 10).
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) is responsible for safeguarding animal and public health in Singapore from the introduction of animal diseases.
One important animal disease is rabies. Rabies is a fatal disease in both animals and humans. Hence, the AVA treats the prevention of rabies incursion into Singapore very seriously.
The requirement to quarantine imported dogs and cats is part of our risk management approach for this disease. This risk management approach has kept Singapore free from rabies since 1953.
At the same time, we regularly review our risk management measures to keep in line with developments in science and technology. We are pleased to inform you that the AVA will implement a new set of import and quarantine requirements as part of our risk management approach to the import of dogs and cats into Singapore. AVA has forwarded a notification on the new import and quarantine requirements to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for comments by exporting countries, in accordance with our WTO obligation.
The AVA aims to implement the new quarantine policy from Jan 1 next year. Readers may find more details at the following links:
docsonline.wto.org/DDFDocuments/t/g/sps/NSGP36A1.doc
docsonline.wto.org/DDFDocuments/t/g/sps/NSGP37.doc
Goh Shih Yong
Assistant Director, Corporate Communications
for Chief Executive Officer
Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority
