G/SPS/GEN/2107   
9 March 2023  
(23-1751) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: Spanish  
 
  
MEASURES AIMED AT ESTABLISHING REGIONALIZATION CRITERIA  
IN RELATION TO QUARANTINE PESTS FOR CHILE  
COMMUNICATION FROM CHILE  
The following communication, received on 8 March 2023, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Chile. 
 
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1.  Pursuant to Article 5 and Article 6 of and Annex A, paragraph 3(c), to the Agreement on the 
Application of Sanitary and  Phytosanitary Measures, Chile hereby informs WTO Members of the 
regionalization criteria in relation to quarantine pests for Chile, drawing particular attention to the 
following:  
i. The Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) is the authority responsible fo r protecting 
the country's phytosanitary resources.  
ii. As a Member signatory to the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and 
Phytosanitary Measures, Chile must ensure that its phytosanitary measures are adapted 
to the regional characteristics of the areas  from which the product originated and to 
which the product is destined.  
iii. Article VII of the 1997 International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), to which Chile 
is a signatory, stipulates that contracting parties shall establish and update lists of 
regula ted pests, using scientific names, and make such lists available to the Secretary, 
to regional plant protection organizations of which they are members and, on request, 
to other contracting parties.  
iv. The importing contracting party establishes and updates lists of regulated pests in order 
to assist it in preventing the introduction and/or spread of pests and to facilitate safe 
trade by enhancing transparency.  
v. To this end, SAG, by means of the relevant pest risk analyses, regularly updates Chile's 
list of quarantine pests and their hosts. These pests are covered by the phytosanitary 
regulations with which regulated articles must comply, where applicable, in order to 
enter the country.  
vi. As a result of its agricultural surveillance and forest surveillanc e programmes, SAG is 
able to verify which pests are absent from or present in Chile, determining the presence 
of quarantine pests subject to official control and regularly updating their distribution.  
vii. The distribution of pests present in part of the nation al territory, and subject to official 
control for the purposes of containment, suppression or eradication, varies depending 
on the official control measures applied and the biology of the pest.  
viii. Of the quarantine pests included on the list established by Ch ile on the basis of 
international guidelines and the aforementioned actions, particular attention is drawn 
to those with a high probability of introduction and spread, with the potential to cause G/SPS/GEN/2107  
 
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  an economically and environmentally significant impact, and which are therefore high 
risk, such as:  
▪ Xylella fastidiosa : a bacterium absent throughout the territory of Chile, 
responsible for diseases with very serious consequences in numerous species of 
agricultural interest, affecting more than 300 hosts in a wide range of climatic 
zones, and able to survive during storage and transport, it has therefore been 
qualified as a pest posing a high level of risk.  
▪ Fruit flies: since 1995, Chile has declared itself to be free of tephritid fruit flies 
which are of global eco nomic importance. This is a comparative advantage for 
exporters of fresh fruit and vegetable products. Within the American continent, it 
is the only country to be classified as free of these insects. The Fruit Fly 
Programme, through a responsive national d etection system, is tasked with 
preventing the establishment of this pest in the country. The quarantine pests, 
the Mediterranean fruit fly ( Ceratitis  capitata ), and the genera Anastrepha  spp. 
and Bactrocera  spp., are absent from our country.  
▪ Trogoderma gr anarium : this polyphagous insect is one of the most destructive 
pests of stored grains and, unlike other dermestidae, it prefers plant matter. 
Although it can attack almost any kind of material, it tends to prefer dried plant 
matter, grains and animal matt er. Severe infestations of this insect cause 
qualitative degradations in grains by depleting specific nutrients. This insect's 
habits, such as hiding in cracks in walls and floors, where it can survive for several 
years without food, make it difficult to d etect, control and eradicate. In addition, 
it has been reported that the insect has developed resistance to phosphine and 
other insecticides, making it even more difficult to control. All of the foregoing, 
together with the high cost of control measures an d potential quarantine 
restrictions, means that it can be classified as a pest posing a high level of risk.  
▪ Lymantria dispar : considered  to be one of the most important defoliator pests at 
the global level, because it is highly polyphagous, feeding on over  500 varieties 
of forest, fruit and ornamental trees and shrubs. It can strip a tree of all its foliage. 
The main pathway by which this pest spreads to other countries is on ships that 
have spent time in countries where the pest is present during the moth' s flight 
period. Females are attracted to the ships' lights at night and lay their eggs on 
the vessels. The eggs can survive for up to 24 months. The eggs hatch to reveal 
first-instar larvae, which can be borne by the wind, thus introducing them into 
new t erritories. In Chile, the Asian spongy moth has been intercepted and 
controlled on infested ships from parts of Asia where the pest is present, without 
introducing this pest into Chile's  national territory.  
▪ Grapevine flavescence dorée phytoplasma: consider ed to be one of the most 
serious diseases that is known to affect grapevines. Depending on the intensity 
of infection, yields may decrease drastically and the quality of the wine is affected 
by high acid and low sugar contents of infected clusters. The dis ease was first 
reported in France, where some commercial producers recorded substantial 
losses. The leafhopper Scaphoideus titanus  is the primary vector of the 
phytoplasma.  
▪ 'Candidatus  Liberibacter africanus', ' Ca. Liberibacter americanus', ' Ca. 
Liberibact er asiaticus' (Huanglongbing (HLB)): this is the most serious disease of 
citrus in the world. Once a tree is infected there is no cure, causing a decline in 
vigour, twig dieback and, ultimately, the death of the plant. Infected trees 
produce bitter and irr egularly -shaped fruit. HLB has destroyed citrus production 
in various parts of the world, including some states in Brazil, Mexico and the 
United States, and has caused huge economic losses due to the reduction in 
yields, decline in fruit quality, tree deat h, destruction of orchards, vector control 
measures and modernization of nurseries' plant production systems.  G/SPS/GEN/2107  
 
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  ▪ Erwinia amylovora : a destructive pathogen that not only destroys the year's crop, 
but can also kill mature trees in a season, resulting in huge lo sses. Fire blight is 
also a barrier to market access between countries where the disease has been 
reported and countries free of fire blight. Although it can use other natural 
openings, Eriwinia amylovora  uses flower blossoms as the main entry pathway. 
If the host is sensitive and the weather conditions are favourable, the bacteria 
move rapidly from the flower to the pedicel and then to the branch, reaching the 
main branch and sometimes the trunk, killing the tree.  
ix. The current measures and pest lists are se t out in SAG Resolution No. 3080 of 2003 and 
amendments thereto, which is available in Spanish at https://bcn.cl/2wg4b  or which 
may be requested by email from the Chile SPS enquiry point ( sps.chile@sag.gob.cl ). 
2.  Lastly, Chile states that this communication is being made for the purposes of transparency, 
without prejudice to the country's rights and obligations under the SPS Agreement.  
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