G/SPS/GEN/2066  
20 October 2022  
(22-7861) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
 
APEC ELECTRONIC VETERINARY AND PHYTOSANITARY CERTIFICATE (E -CERTIFICATE) 
APPLICATION WORKSHOP SUMMARY  
SUBMISSION FROM THE SEPARATE CUSTOMS TERRITORY OF TAIWAN,  
PENGHU, KINMEN AND MATSU  
The following communication, dated 1 9 October 2022 , is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu . 
 
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1.  Chinese Taipei hosted an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) virtual workshop on the 
Applicat ion of Electronic Veterinary and Phytosanitary Certificate (e -certificates) on 13 -14 October 
2022, to share experiences and challenges from building electronic veterinary and phytosanitary 
certificate systems and discuss relevant alternative ways, security  issues or concerns including 
digital technology like QR Code or an official website as equivalent to the paper/e -certificate. 
The virtual workshop proposed under the APEC Agricultural Technical Cooperation Working Group 
was funded by APEC and the organize r, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and 
Quarantine (BAPHIQ), Chinese Taipei, co -sponsored by Chile, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, 
Peru and Thailand, was attended by 144 participants from 14 APEC economies including Australia; 
Canada; Chile; Hong Kong, China; Japan; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; the Russian Federation; 
Singapore; Chinese  Taipei; Thailand; the United States and Viet Nam.  
2.  An electronic veterinary or phytosanitary certificate system can reduce trade time, costs and 
fraudu lent certificates. Especially during the COVID -19 pandemic crisis, the application of electronic 
veterinary or phytosanitary certificates minimizes the risk of physical contact. During this period, 
the Asia -Pacific region has expanded the application of di gital trade facilitation measures to seek an 
improvement of the efficiency and effectiveness of cross -border trade operations. The increased use 
of electronic veterinary or phytosanitary issuing and exchange systems among APEC economies has 
led to safer, f aster, and cheaper global trade.  
3.  During the workshop, representatives and experts from relevant international organizations 
introduced the bilateral or multilateral development and application of e -certificates in the global 
and Asia -Pacific regions, inclu ding IPPC ePhyto Solution and e -certification of live animals and animal 
products. Some economies shared about the successful use and benefits of such technologies. 
Through the sharing of the speakers, participants were encouraged to discuss the challenges  in the 
application of veterinary or phytosanitary e -certificate, in order to minimize the impact and make 
trade more stable. It also provided an opportunity for economies to discuss the feasibility and 
challenges of implementing alternatives to e -certific ates, such as QR Codes or an official website 
which provides complete details of the certificates. Finally, future developments of e -certificates 
were discussed, and recommendations for further cooperation were also provided. A pre -workshop 
survey was cond ucted among APEC economies to gather information back -to-back on these issues. 
The main conclusion and pre -survey results include: (a) the desire for a multilateral veterinary 
e-certificate system; (b) the urgency of expanding the IPPC ePhyto solution to i nclude more types 
of products and more economies, including non -IPPC members since ePhyto users still need to make 
separate bilateral agreements with them; and (c) the need to develop security measures to prevent 
repeated use of photocopy paper certificate s. 
4.  As next steps, APEC economies will work together to build "an open, fair, transparent, productive, 
sustainable and resilient APEC food system" as the goal set in the APEC Food Security Roadmap G/SPS/GEN/2066  
 
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  Towards 2030. Capacity building and best practice sharing pr ograms will be developed for wider 
adoption and successful use of e -certification by all stakeholders from public and private sectors 
along the food supply chains. Moving forward, this will also help promote global trade towards a 
safer, faster and cheaper  direction.  
 
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