The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE; www.oie.int) is an international intergovernmental organization founded in 1924 for improving animal health worldwide. As of June 2010, the OIE had 176 member countries.

The objectives of the OIE are to: (a) guarantee the transparency of animal disease status world-wide; (b) collect, analyze and disseminate veterinary scientific information, (c) provide expertise and promote international solidarity for the control of animal diseases; and (d) guarantee the sanitary safety of world trade by developing sanitary rules for international trade in animals and animal products.

Within the mandates of the OIE, the principal aim of import risk analysis is to provide importing countries with an objective and defensible method of assessing the disease risks associated with the importation of animals, animal products, animal genetic material, feedstuffs, biological products and pathological material.