Developing countries are increasingly coming under pressure to improve their delivery of veterinary services as a prerequisite for entering the competitive arena of international trade in animals and animal products. The demands placed on developing countries by predominantly developed countries to comply with international disease prevention standards have also resulted in increasing demands on the financial, human and technological resources of these developing countries. The minimum requirements of the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and the standards, guidelines and recommendations of international standard-setting organisations, such as the OIE (World organisation for animal health), are evaluated in terms of the opportunities embedded within these guidelines for developing countries. Such an evaluation indicates that the rights and obligations contained in these standards, guidelines and recommendations do not necessarily protect only the interests of developed countries but also encourage developing countries to work towards the levels of compliance and disease prevention required by their potential trade partners. The costs of this compliance can be reduced by exploiting more cost-effective alternatives for delivering services, when dictated by budgetary constraints. International organisations have illustrated on many occasions, and through a variety of development programmes, that they do indeed realise their responsibility towards developing countries in the areas of increased capacity building and technical assistance. If international organisations can refocus their interventions on the actual and specific needs of developing countries, then they can help to expedite the process of compliance with international standards.