Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently not able to export most of its agricultural products of animal origin (such as dairy products, honey, meat, etc.) into the European Union. This situation is due to the non-fulfillment of certain requirements by EU in field of food safety and quality control. At the same time it can be expected that this problem will further deteriorate when Croatia, the largest and most important BiH trade partner, enters the EU in 2013.

In order to export to the EU, a third country has to prove fulfillment of all relevant requirements by submitting the National Residue Monitoring Plan (NRMP) and then it has to pass the evaluation carried out by The Food and Veterinary Office of the EU directly on site. However, nowadays there are very few accredited laboratories in BiH to control the quality of residues and the quality of veterinary inspection services remains insufficient as well.

This project contributes to the removal of export barriers imposed on products of animal origin to the EU, through strengthening the capacity of national veterinary laboratories and veterinary inspection services involved in the implementation of the NRMP in accordance with EU standards. The objective will be achieved through increasing the capacity and competence of relevant institutions, through training, consulting support and supervision of employees of four selected laboratories in the residual analysis. Laboratories will also be supported in the introduction of new analytical methods and they will receive technical support for the accreditation process. Improvement of veterinary inspection services will be achieved by strengthening the capacities of the responsible institutions, training of Bosnian veterinary inspectors (State Veterinary Office of BiH, or inspectorates at the entity level) and subsequent organizational and professional support in training of veterinary inspectors in BiH. The project will also focus on strengthening the overall support to the implementation of the NRMP from relevant state institutions. Implementation of the project will be then conducted in close collaboration with the State Veterinary Office BiH and other competent state institutions responsible for the implementation of the NRMP.

On-site coordination and financial management of the project on the behalf of Bosnian partners will be carried out by representatives of the project FARMA (joint project Swedish development agency Sida and the American development agency USAID), with the financial support of U.S. Donors Challenge Fund.