G/SPS/GEN/188 2 
 
4 March 2021 
(21-1827) Page: 1/5 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
 
REPORT OF INTERNATIONAL PLANT PROTECTION  CONVENTION (IPPC)  
TO THE SPS COMMITTEE MEETING ON 25 -26 MARCH 2021  
COMMUNICATION FROM THE IPPC SECRETARIAT  
The followi ng communication, received on 2 March 2021, is being circulated at the request of the 
International Plant Protection Convention secretariat  (IPPC).  
 
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1  THE COMMISSION ON PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES (CPM -15, 2021)  
1.1.  The COVID -19 pandemic had major effects on the organization of the CPM plan ned for 2020 
and as such, it was postponed to 2021. The fifteenth meeting of the Commission on Phytosanitary 
Measures (CPM) will be held virtually on 16 and 18 March and 1 April 2021. CPM -15 (2021) papers 
are posted on the International Phytosanitary Porta l (IPP).1 
1.2.  Despite the challenge of pandemic in 2020, the IPPC secretariat  worked with contracting parties 
and garnered their support to have the CPM Bureau make some decisions on behalf of the CPM. 
Ten virtual meetings of the CPM Bureau were held in 2020.  In addition, two sessions of Strategic 
Planning Group and two meetings of the IPPC Financial Committee were also held, all by virtual 
means.  
1.3.  The CPM Bureau used the CPM -14 (2019) endorsed version of the IPPC Strategic Framework 
(SF) (2020 -2030) and have i ntegrated the implementation of the SF and its development agenda 
items in the IPPC secretariat  Work Plan and Budget for 2021, which will be presented to the CPM. 
In addition to the routine work of the CPM, it will review and discuss the revision of the St rategic 
Planning Group's terms of reference and consider the establishment of three CPM Focus Groups on: 
1) Implementation of the IPPC Strategic Framework's (2020 -2030) Development Agenda items; 
2) Communications; and 3) the Impact of climate change on pla nt health. Furthermore, the Bureau 
recommended a proposal for the CPM to authorize them to operate on behalf of the CPM during this 
pandemic, at least for the remainder of 2021 (Role of the CPM Bureau and IPPC secretariat  during 
times of emergencies or cri ses). 
1.4.  The IPPC CPM subsidiary body, the Standards Committee (SC) recommended four draft ISPMs 
(Determination of pest status in an area, Requirements for the use of modified atmosphere 
treatments as phytosanitary measures, Requirements for NPPOs if authorizing entities to perform 
phytosanitary actions  and the 2018 amendments to ISPM 5 ( Glossary of phytosanitary terms )) and 
seven phytosanitary treatments (PTs) to the CPM -15 (2021) for adoption.  
1.5.  One draft CPM recommendation ( Safe provision of food and other humanitarian aid to prevent 
the introduction of plant pests during an emergency situation ) for adoption and one draft CPM 
recommendation for approval for consultation ( Facilitating safe trade by reducing the incidence of 
contaminating pests associate d with traded goods ) are being presented to the CPM -15 (2021).  
1.6.  The IPPC CPM subsidiary body, the Implementation and Capacity Development Committee (IC), 
will present their accomplishments from 2020 as well as propose adjustments to the list of 
Implementati on and Capacity Development topics for technical resources. Revised terms of 
 
1 CPM-15 (2021) website: https://www.ippc.int/en/cpm -sessions/cpm -15/. G/SPS/GEN/188 2 
 
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  reference for the IC will also be presented for adoption. In addition, a specific report on the activities 
and plans for 2021of the IC Sub -group, the Sea Containers Task Force (SC TF) will be provided, some 
additional details are provided below.  
2  STANDARDS COMMITTEE  
2.1.  The 37th meeting of the Standards Committee (SC) took place virtually from 16 to 19 November 
2020 to advance the work of the IPPC community on the development of Internat ional Standards 
for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs).  
2.2.  The SC reviewed and approved three Specifications ( https://www.ippc.int/en/news/ippc -
standards -committee -approved -three -new-specifications/ ) on various topics, including system 
approaches for phytosanitar y certification of seeds and criteria for the determination of host status 
for fruit flies. These two specifications lay the groundwork for the development of new Annexes to 
the adopted standards on Determination of host status of fruit to fruit fly  (ISPM 37) and International 
movement of seeds  (ISPM 38) in 2021. Finally, the third specification defines the scope and tasks 
of the new Technical Panel on Commodity Standards (TPCS).  
2.3.  Among other important agenda items, the SC had a productive discussion on the path forward 
for the reorganization of the pest risk analysis (PRA) standards into a suite of standards and decided 
to finalize the draft specification on Reorganization of pest risk analysis standards  (2020 -001) after 
the meeting. The SC also discussed th eir involvement in relation to activities within the IPPC 
Strategic Framework 2020 -2030. The report of the SC November 2020 virtual meeting is available 
on the IPP at:  
https://www.ippc.int/en/core -activities/standards -setting/standards -committee/ . 
2.4.  The next meeting of the SC is planned for May 2021. However, focused meeting may take 
place in April 2021.  
3  IMPLEMENTATION AND CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE  
3.1.  In 2020, the  Implementation and Capacity Development Committee (IC) has conducted most 
of its work virtually. Since November 2020 the IC has held three virtual meetings, summarized 
below:  
a. IC VM08 (November) : the IC elected a new Chairperson (Dominique PELLETIER, Canad a) 
and a new Vice -Chairperson (Christopher DALE, Australia). The committee reviewed the 
list of Implementation and Capacity Development (ICD) subjects with a focus on setting 
priorities.  
b. IC VM09 (December) : During this meeting the IC discussed the activit ies of the 
IC Sub-group: Sea Containers Task Force and related Programme on sea containers. 
The IC reviewed and approved for consultation a draft terms of reference for the 
IC sub-group on National Reporting Obligations (NROs) and considered the IC's 
involvement with explanatory documents for ISPMs and the IC's future role. In addition, 
the IPPC secretariat  presented the 2021 work plan for the Implementation Facilitation Unit 
(IFU).  
c. IC VM10 (January) : The IC reviewed a summary of their e -Decisions made in 2 020 and 
were presented the results of a pilot Design Thinking study on "How to leverage digital 
methods to efficiently deliver implementation and capacity development (ICD) 
phytosanitary activities at global, regional and national levels". The purpose of t his study 
was to get user input from National Plant Protection Organization staff in developing 
countries on how to compensate for the lack of face -to-face workshops during COVID -19 
and how best to develop phytosanitary capacity.  
3.2.  For full details, please consult the IC reports of these meetings on the IPP.2 
 
2 IC meeting reports: https://www.ippc.int /en/core -activities/capacity -development/capacity -
development -committee/ . G/SPS/GEN/188 2 
 
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  4  EMERGING PESTS  
4.1.  While the new programme on Pest Outbreak Alert and Response Systems is being guided by 
the dedicated CPM Focus Group, concrete pilot activities are being developed on Spodoptera 
frugiper da (Fall Armyworm). Prevention, preparedness and response guidelines for countries where 
Spodoptera frugiperda  is absent or of limited distribution have been developed and are open for 
comments until 15 March 2021 via the IPPC secretariat 's Online Commenti ng System.  
5  PROMOTING TRADE FACILITATION  
5.1.  e-Commerce : The IPPC secretariat  is continuing to work to strengthen collaboration with 
national plant protection organizations and key international organizations, such as the World 
Customs Organization, Universal Postal Union and World Trade Organization to address the 
phytosanitary risks associated with e -Commerce and continues to support an informal network of 
e-Commerce experts. A working group of e -Commerce experts has been established and tasked with 
developin g an IPPC e -Commerce Guide for plants, plant products and other regulated articles 
(2017 -039).  
5.2.  Ephyto : The IPPC ePhyto Solution continues to grow and improve. 92 Countries are now 
connected to the IPPC ePhyto Solution, and additional countries have sent re gistration requests or 
are in the process of doing registration. There is now a Business Process Analysis framework 
available to assist countries in the process of not only implementing the ePhyto Solution, but how 
to prepare for implementation as well. Fo r the coming year, the IPPC intends to continue improving 
the system by introducing additional features to the GeNS such as SPS Messaging (UNCEFACT term 
- certification status, inspection reports, etc.), setting up appointments for export and import 
inspec tions (via a "channel" connection, adding harmonized system (HS) codes to the system) 
as well as conducting several workshops on ePhyto in collaboration with the Industry Advisory Group 
and the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation. The Secretariat also c ontinues to work with the World 
Bank on implementing ePhyto in Zambia and investigating opportunities elsewhere. Finally, 
the EU TRACES system will soon begin to issue ePhytos for export through the ePhyto Hub in addition 
to receiving ePhytos as is already  the case since last year. Visit the ephyto website3 for additional 
information.  
5.3.  Sea Containers : The Sea Containers Task Force (SCTF) met virtually in December 2020 and 
January 2021 and their 2021 work plan has been approved by the IC. The two main object ives of 
the SCTF are: 1) Measuring the impact of the Container Transport Units (CTU) code; and 2) Increase 
in awareness of the risks of pest contamination of sea containers.  
5.4.  Highlights of their 2021 work plan are to explore the use of the World Customs Org anization 
(WCO) Authorized Economic Operators (AEOs) and the WCO Data Models (DM) for sea container 
cleanliness purposes, to participation in the revision of the CTU Code as well as to enhance Industry 
Surveys and to contribute to the International Maritim e Organization's (IMO) Inspection Programmes 
to include provisions to help ensure CTUs are clean and free of contaminating pest.  
6  PHYTOSANITARY CAPACITY EVALUATIONS  
6.1.  Phytosanitary Capacity Evaluations (PCE) are proceeding virtually in the Caribbean (Bahamas, 
Dominica, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago) and in Sri Lanka. A PCE is about to start in Nepal, 
with the financial support of the World Bank.  
7  STRENGTHENING COMMUNICATION AND ADVOCACY  
7.1.  The IPPC website or International Phytosanitary Portal (IPP ) went through a major revision last 
month from the software and infrastructure point of view. The IPPC secretariat  in collaboration with 
the FAO IT division migrated the IPPC website to a new Cloud Server (AWS). The new AWS Cloud 
server is continually mon itored, it secures and hardens the infrastructure of the website. 
The infrastructure is constantly upgraded to minimize security vulnerabilities. The processes and 
procedures to deploy system updates have been standardize d to reduce to minimum human errors . 
 
3 ePHyto website: http://www.ephytoexchange.org . G/SPS/GEN/188 2 
 
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  7.2.  The IPPC secretariat  is taking the opportunity of this migration to revise the IPPC website 
architecture and upgrade the system using the latest version of the software and application 
environment.  
7.3.  In addition, an IPP assessment in being carried out by a n external company in view of seeking 
better solutions for organizing the contents, resulting more user friendly and more efficient in the 
retrieval of data, with the overall objective to communicate better the IPPC mandate and improve 
user experience.  
7.4.  A Phytosanitary Systems landing page4 was released last year in collaboration with the 
IC members. The landing page is composed of several component pages. Each component page 
brings together ISPMs, CPM Recommendations, Guides and training materials and cont ributed 
resources on a given subject. A few new component pages have been added. SPS members are 
encouraged to visit these webpages and provide comments to support continual improvements to 
these pages ( ippc@fao.org ). 
7.5.  An animated infographic developed in collaboration with the International Plant Protection 
Convention (IPPC) Secretariat and the Joint FAO/IAEA Programme of Nuclear Techniques in Food 
and Agriculture. This short video on 'Fruit Fly International Standards Ca n Help Gain Market Access5' 
was published in six languages (English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish).  
7.6.  All Announcements6, News7 and Calls8 are posted on the IPP. WTO Members are encouraged 
to subscribe to each to help ensure you get timely notifications related to our activities.  
8  INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF PLANT HEALTH  
8.1.  In light of the first International Plant Health Conference (IPHC) being postponed due to travel 
restrictions caused by the COVID -19 pandemic, the IYPH International Steerin g Committee (ISC) 
recommended at their 14th meeting that the first International Plant Health Conference should take 
place in the week of 12 May 2022 instead, which may also coincide with celebrations of the first 
International Day of Plant Health.  
8.2.  The IYP H ISC decided to hold a series of events prior to the IYPH closing ceremony on 1 July 
2021 and to establish a path leading towards the first IPHC next year. A virtual launch of the study 
report on the impacts of climate change on plant health on 1 June 202 1 opens the series. The launch 
will be followed by a two -day webinar on 29 -30 June 2021 focusing on food systems and climate 
change, and their connection with plant health. Two more webinars are planned for October and 
December, the latter focusing on syne rgies between plant health and fruit and vegetables, at the 
occasion of the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables 2021.  
8.3.  The IPPC secretariat  is planning on hosting a side event during the week of this SPS Committee 
meeting (2 3 March 2021, 1 3:30-14:30), please check for updated information.  
9  HIGHLIGHTS ON ACTIVITIES FOR THE NEXT FOUR MONTHS (UNTIL JULY)  
9.1.  The main meeting of the IPPC secretariat  for the remaining of 2021 are being planned to be 
held virtually including the CPM -15, the SC and IC as well as  other working groups. All events 
organized by the IPPC secretariat  are posted on the calendar on the IPP.9 
 
4 Phytosanitary System landing page is available at: https://www.ippc.int/en/core -activities/capacity -
development/phytosanitary -system/ . 
5 FF ISPMs can help ga in market access: http://www -naweb.iaea.org/nafa/resources -
nafa/multimedia.html . 
6 IPPC Announcements: https: //www.ippc.int/en/news/category/announcements/ . 
7 IPPC News: https://www.ippc.int/en/news/category/ippcnews/ . 
8 IPPC Calls: https://www.ippc.int/ en/calls/ . 
9 IPPC secretariat  calendar: 
https://www.ippc.int/en/year/calendar/?year=2021&month=1&day=1&hour=0&minute=0&second=0 . G/SPS/GEN/188 2 
 
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  9.2.  The IPPC secretariat  has been following some of the informal work the WTO is doing on 
e-Commerce and have approached the WTO to consider holding a lunch time session on 
phytosanitary considerations related to e -Commerce.  
9.3.  The IPPC secretariat  is planning to publish a bi -monthly IPPC newsletter, stay tuned.  
9.4.  During its final year of work, the SCTF has planned a number of virtual sessions and 
intersessio nal work to complete tasks outlined.  
 
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