Strengthening the Compliance of the OIC Member States
to International Standards
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recognition of conformity with EU standards is being negotiated, there are challenges related to non-
compliance of these sectors with EU safety standards.
In the agriculture sector, the causes of non-compliance are multiple. They can be product specific, such
as the failure to comply with SPS measures and requirements imposed by Egypt’s main trading partner,
the EU. The number of SPS measures imposed on Egypt increased exponentially from 18 in 2006 to 888
in 2012, where all SPS measures on products actually exported by Egypt (vegetables, beans and seeds)
came from European countries, and were justified by food safety and protection of humans, animals, and
plants from pests and diseases (El-Enbaby et al , 2014).
Non-compliance with European SPS measures is mainly related to pesticide residue in fruit and
vegetables. In the past, white fly infections in citrus and brown rot in potato exports have been major
causes of detention. To face this problem, two Ministerial Decrees had been issued in the past to
mandate good production techniques and biosafety of agricultural products. The Ministry of Agriculture
and the Ministry of Industry and Trade have also issued the organizing rules for potatoes, groundnuts,
vegetables (beans, onions, and garlic), fruits (grapes, citrus, strawberry, and cantaloupe), and cut
flowers. These decrees specify the locations that are permitted to grow exportable crops and determine
types and sources of seeds as well as methods of seed treatment and pest control for crops and soil (IMC,
2007). The impact of such measures seems, however, limited. EU notifications of non-compliance of
Egyptian exports with food safety requirements rose from 36 in 2011 to 55 in 2014 (RASFF, 2014).
Although there has been an increase in the number of notifications, that could be related to increased
stringency on the European side—an issue Egyptian exporters, and the quality infrastructure supporting
them, need to deal with.
In the processed food sector, compliance with safety measures remains a major problem and the
possibility of accessing the EU market remains limited. To meet international requirements on
protection of human health, improvements in hygiene standards are required throughout the value
chain. This includes farms, transportation, processing, and packaging. The necessary resources to ensure
compliance with such requirements are substantial and require significant training as well. This has
resulted in a recent trend to export food products to less restrictive African markets, especially with the
decline in exports to some PAFTA members since the beginning of political unrest in the region.
Another cause of non-compliance is related to the complexity of the internal quality infrastructure. Abu
Hatab and Hess’s (2013) survey results suggest that agricultural export firms suffer from the
multiplicity of export inspection and supervision authorities, and the persistence of outdated laws and
regulations that are not in accordance with current domestic and international practice. Conformity
assessment is carried out by different entities in the local and export markets, with different rules and