./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/GEN/449
30 October 2003
(03-5782)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English
SUMMARY OF THE WORK OF THE INTERNATIONAL
PLANT PROTECTION CONVENTION (IPPC)
JUNE – OCTOBER 2003
Statement by the IPPC at the meeting held on 29-30 October 2003
1. The Informal Working Group on Strategic Planning and Technical Assistance (SPTA) met in
October 2003.  Recommendations from this meeting will be considered at the Interim Commission on
Phytosanitary Measures (ICPM) on the future directions for all IPPC activities, including standard-setting, information exchange and technical assistance.
Standard Setting
2. A Focus Group on Standard Development was convened in July 2003 to review the standard
setting process.  Recommendations from this meeting were passed on to the October 2003 meeting ofthe SPTA.  The SPTA have reviewed the proposals of the Focus Group on Standard Development and
will be proposing to the ICPM some procedural changes to the IPPC's standard setting process to be
able to meet the increased demand for new International Standards on Phytosanitary Measures
(ISPM).
3. Four Regional Technical Workshops on Draft ISPMs were held for Asian-Pacific, Franco-
African, Latin American and Caribbean,  and Near East countries.  These workshops help to build
national capacity in reviewing and preparing commen ts on draft ISPMs that are circulated for country
comments.  They provide a good opportunity for coun tries to be involved in the standard-setting
process.  Regional comments can then be used as the basis for countries to submit their own
comments on these draft ISPMs to the Standards Committee.
4. Two Expert Working Groups (EWG) have already met to draft ISPMs on equivalence and on
the use of integrated measures in a systems approach for pest risk management of citrus fruit for citruscanker.  Several more EWGs are scheduled to meet over the next few months, including several
EWGs which will use an E-mail discussion to work on ISPMs.
5. The IPPC Secretariat has now published the fo llowing ISPMs, which are available in green
book form or may be down loaded from the International Phytosanitary Portal (IPP) (www.ippc.int):
• ISPM # 11 Rev. 1: Pest Risk Analysis for quarantine pests including analysis of
environmental risks
• ISPM # 15: Guidelines for regulating wood packaging material in international trade
• ISPM # 18: Guidelines for the use of irradiation as a phytosanitary measure
• ISPM # 19: Guidelines on lists of regulated pestsG/SPS/GEN/449
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6. The country consultation period has just ended for the following three draft ISPMs:
• Guidelines for an import regulatory system
• Pest risk analysis for regulated non-quarantine pests
• Supplement to ISPM No. 11 (Pest Risk Analysis for quarantine pests) on Pest Risk
Analysis for living modified organisms
7. Country comments on these draft standards have been compiled by the IPPC Secretariat and
the Standards Committee will begin reviewing comments next week.
Information Exchange
8. The International Phytosanitary Portal (IPP) is co ntinuing in order to provide the structure for
countries to fulfill their reporting obligations under  the IPPC for information exchange.  The IPPC is
a l s o  t a k i n g  a n  a c t i v e  p a r t  i n  F A O ' s  International Portal on Food Safety Animal and Plant Health,
which is a joint undertaking among standard setting organizations and WTO .
Technical Assistance
9. A workshop on Invasive Alien Species (IAS) and the International Plant Protection
Convention was held in September 2003 in Braunschweig, Germany.  This workshop was set up to
help phytosanitary experts, environmentalists, and regulators exchange ideas and learn how the IPPC
and related tools may help in the management of IAS.  A diverse group of over 110 participants fromdeveloped, developing, and least-developed countries with environmental, phytosanitary, and
regulatory backgrounds attended this workshop.  The programme addressed some of the most topical
issues that are confronting both phytosanitary services and environmental protection agencies with
regard to invasive alien species.  Presentations and discussions explained the role of the IPPC, ISPMs
and systems developed through the IPPC framework, including Regional Plant ProtectionOrganizations (RPPOs), and identified how these systems could contribute to the management and
mitigation of risks posed by invasive alien species relevant for plants. The IPPC is grateful to
Germany for providing funding for this workshop which also covered the travel expenses of
50 participants from least-developed and developing countries.
10. The close cooperation between the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the IPPC
experiences further progress through the development of a Memorandum of Cooperation between the
Secretariats of the CBD and the IPPC, which will be signed shortly.
11. In addition, the IPPC continues to provide phytosanitary expertise to FAOs Technical
Cooperation Programmes.
Budget
12. The IPPC Secretariat would like to remind members that FAO conference will be meeting
this December.  It is at this meeting that the FAO budget allocation to the IPPC Secretariat will be
determined based on FAO members' directions.
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