G/SPS/GEN/1951/Rev.1  
 
14 October 2021  
(21-7820) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS AND BEST PRACTICES  
IN PEST RISK IDENTIFICATION, ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT  
WTO SPS COMMITTEE – PROPOSED THEMATIC SESSION  
COMMUNICATION FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION  
Revision  
The following document, received on 14 October 2021, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of the European Union . 
 
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1  BACKGROUND  
1.1.  The plant health international standards laid down by the International Plant Protection 
Convention (IPPC) aim to protect sustainable agriculture and enhance global food security, protect 
the environment, forests, and biodiversity, and facilitate economic and trade development. Over the 
years, the IPPC has developed numerous importa nt guidance such as the International Standard for 
Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) 20: Guidelines for a phytosanitary import regulatory system which 
provide a foundation for the organization and regulation of safe trade in plants and plant products. 
Other im portant achievements of the IPPC to be highlighted in this context are ISPM 2 (Guidelines 
for pest risk analysis), ISPM 11 (Pest risk analysis for quarantine pests) and ISPM 21 (Pest risk 
analysis for regulated non -quarantine pests).  
1.2.  Notwithstanding these accomplishments in establishing international standards aimed at 
facilitating international trade, the approval procedures for plants and plant products, including fruit 
and vegetables, still can be complex and on some occasions long and burdensome.  
1.3.  This i s witnessed by the significant number of specific trade concerns raised by WTO Members 
on a recurring basis in the WTO SPS Committee agenda.  
1.4.  International trade in plants and plant products, including fruit and vegetables, is hindered by 
undue delays in de aling with import applications. This is economically unsustainable and inefficient. 
In many of these cases, the pest risk analysis presents the bottleneck in the approval procedure.  
2  SESSION OVERVIEW  
2.1.  The thematic session will provide an opportunity for WTO Members to increase their awareness 
about the relevant ISPMs and to elaborate and corroborate how these are reflected in their national 
import phytosanitary regimes. In particular, Members are invited to share best practices in 
conducting pest risk analyse s efficiently and apply effective risk management options that are 
facilitating trade.  
2.2.  The session will focus on trade -related questions and aim to identify best practices, in particular 
on issues such as:  
(1) Identification of pests of phytosanitary concern;  G/SPS/GEN/1951/Rev.1  
 
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  (2) Use of reference databases (Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International, CABI; 
European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization, EPPO);  
(3) Performance of pest risk analyses (PRAs);  
(4) Use of standard risk mitigation measures;  
(5) Phytosanitary certification/phytosanitary import conditions;  
(6) Review of available risk management options based on the IPPC standards.  
3  OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOME  
3.1.  The thematic session will provide Members an opportunity to learn from one another's best 
practices . 
3.2.  Sharing experiences about the challenges, as well as the benefits, of defining safe trade 
conditions for plants for planting, fruit and vegetables will contribute to building confidence among 
trading partners when recognizing or seeking recognition of th eir phytosanitary measures including 
regional conditions.  
3.3.  In addition, the session's outcome may feed into the work programme of IPPC by identifying 
possible existing gaps in the relevant standards, if any, or new projects that are desirable from a 
trade p erspective.  
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