SubISO

ISO 11784/85 Update - WG3 meeting in Lugano

The meeting opened at 13:00h on 26 April, 1999, in Lugano, Switzerland. At the opening of the meeting, when the agenda item "Approval of the draft agenda" was formally raised by the Chairman of the WG3, Mr. Eradus, there was a call from the floor pointing out that a letter from Mr. Zens of SC19, returning ISO 11784/85 to WG3 for revision and correction, should have been received by Mr. Eradus. Since all the subsequent agenda points depended upon the continuance of ISO 11784/85 in their present form, Mr Zens' communication should be the first item addressed by the working group. The return of the standard for revision would obviously require changes in the entire meeting agenda. Thereupon Mr. Eradus acknowledged that he had in fact received the communication. However, since the communication had been faxed to him on the proceeding Friday morning (NB: that would have been 23 April, 3 days earlier), he stated that there had not been time to have it photocopied for the WG3 meeting. Consequently, he explained, he could not distribute it to the members of the working group at this time.

Mr. Eradus stated that he would arrange to have the copies made by the following day. An objection waas made that this would not provide sufficient time for working group members to review the documentation and for the group to develop an appropriate response. (When the copies of Mr. Zens' communication were distributed the following day, it was actually dated the 14th of April , 10 days prior.)

Mr Eradus paraphrased the letter by Mr. Zens aloud. WG3 was being asked to elaborate solutions according to the proposal of the ISO Central Secretariat, taking into account the items stated in the proposal submitted by the Russian Federation and the comments contained in document N137 and N137 rev.1

It was then stated for the record that it would be necessary for WG3 to accept the mandate to revise the standard, in compliance with the wishes of the 14 "P" member nations who had expressed concerns about the flaws in ISO 11784/85.

On the second day, Mr Eradus distributed Mr. Zens' communication to the members of WG3.

The communication included several documents:

Mr Zens subsequently announced that a subcommittee to study changes in ISO 11784/85 would be formed and that the committee members would be: Mr. Cees vant Klooster (Holland), Mr. Wim Eradus (Holland), Mr. Ronny Geers (Holland), Mr. Rudolf Artman (Germany), Mr. Torben Almedal (Denmark), Mr. George Tucker (U.S.A.) and Mr. John Volijk (Canada). The composition of the committee was determined upon unilaterally by the leadership of WG3. There was no vote and no deliberation permitted on the composition of the committee.

National delegates attending the session were asked about progress in implementing ISO 11784/85 in their various countries. The delegate for the Russian Federation stated that the Russian Federation had ISO 11784/85 in suspended condition because of the problems with ISO 11784/85. The Canadian delegate stated that there are serious issues with ISO 11784/85 that need to be discussed and resolved, and that there is a problem with duplicate ID codes, and that Canada believes these issues must be addressed by WG3. Fred Nind stated that the UK was proposing to eliminate quarantine requirements for imported animals with micro chips. Lionel Sheridan, an observer from New Zealand, stated that a joint committee from New Zealand and Australia had been formed, and that the vote approving ISO 11784/85 as the national standard in both New Zealand and Australia would close on Friday 30 April and that both countries would subsequently implement ISO 11784/85 as national standards for livestock and for pet identification. **

Manufacturers present in WG3 continued to insist that there were no problems with ISO 11784 and ISO 11785 and refused to recognise that ISO 11784 and ISO 11785 in their present form are in need of revision. The minutes of the meeting, as resolved upon by WG3 members in attendance, stated that WG3 maintains the "suitability of the standard for intended applications." However, it was requested that a dissent be put on the record, stating that it was apparent that the standard was not suitable for the intended applications, and that a majority of the "P" member nations had registered their objections to the standard and that the fact that the standard was back in WG3 for revision spoke for itself.

The minutes resolved upon by the WG3 members in attendance also specified that a committee was being formed to study proposals to improve the standard.

“Proposal
(a) can be for further research
(b) proposal for update.

Proposal
  • clear description of the problem
  • written text in two columns: today's text / proposed text

To be reviewed by:
  • Cees vant Klooster, Wim Eradus, Rudolf Artman, Ronny Geers, Torben Almedal, George Tucker, Mr. John Volijk
  • WG3."

**This was not quite correct. In fact, when the vote in IT28 closed Friday 30 April, ISO 11784/85 did not reach the requisite majority approval and, per the regulations of Standards Australia, will be returned to committee.

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