. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/929 
11 June 2009 
 (09-2855) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
IPPC'S CONTRIBUTION ON CONTROL MANAGEMENT, INSPECTION 
AND APPROVAL PROCEDURE 
 
Submission by the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC)
 
 
 
 The following communication, received on 8 June 2009, is being circulated at the request of the IPPC
. 
 
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Proposal by China :  "( c) The SPS Committee should draw th e attention of OIE, IPPC and CODEX of 
the discussion and consult with them regarding th e development of relevant international standards 
pertaining to control, inspecti on and approval procedures, such as  sampling, on-site inspection, 
determination of soil freedom, etc.,  to further the implementation of Article 8 of the SPS Agreement."  
(G/SPS/W/234, para. 6 refers) 
 
1. Some adopted ISPMs, draft ISPMs as well as speci fications for ISPMs relating to the issues 
raised by China are given below.  The contents from a phytosanitary perspective, relate to specific 
topics and may not therefore provide comprehensiv e or specific guidance as required to address the 
issues raised under speci fic circumstances. 
I. CONTROL/MANAGEMENT 
2. The following ISPMs  provide some guidance with respect to control procedures but perhaps 
insufficient information on the broader issue of control: 
• Specification No. 35: Trapping procedures for fruit flies of the family Tephritidae  – very 
specific control procedures for e.g trapping; 
 
• ISPM No. 28 (2009) Phytosanitary treatments for regulated pests  – more conceptual than 
specific; 
 
• ISPM No. 18 (2003) Guidelines for the use of irradiation as a phytosanitary measure  - 
 gives some specific guidance on export ( 8.1) and import inspection (8.3);  
• ISPM No. 04 (1995) Requirements for the establishment of pest-free areas
; 
 
• ISPM No. 10 (1999) Requirements for the establishment of pest free places of production and 
pest free production sites ; 
 
• ISPM No. 30 (2008) Establishment of areas of low pest prevalence for fruit flies 
(Tephritidae ); 
 G/SPS/GEN/929 
Page 2  
 
  • ISPM No. 15 (2009) Regulation of wood packaging material in international trade
; 
 
• Specification No. 22: Research protocols for phytosanitary measures (treatments ). 
 
II. INSPECTION: 
3. ISPM No 23: Guidelines for inspection and ISPM No. 31 (2008) Methodologies for sampling 
of consignments are two adopted standards addressing  inspection methodology, for e.g. Section 2.4 of 
ISPM 23. 
4. Specification No. 42:  Pre-clearance for regulated articles  is among the priorities for standards 
and includes answers to the specific issue of preclearance/preinspection: 
"in exceptional cases, for facilitating trade logis tics at the request of the exporting country, 
contracting parties may bilaterally negotiate  an agreement for allowing clearance in the 
country of origin by the NPPO of the country of destination. Arrangements of that nature may 
be called pre-clearance. Also joint auditing of  the export certification system to facilitate new 
trade may be called pre-clearance. The agreem ent should include procedures for the regular 
review, intensity reduction, phasing-out a nd termination of the arrangements. 
 
 Currently, some countries apply various arrange ments of this kind. Arrangements differ 
significantly between countries and may in  some cases turn out discriminatory and un-
transparent. The standard will provide general guidance to criteria that may justify such 
arrangements and to their use and implementation co mpatible with the basic principles of the 
IPPC." 
 
III. APPROVAL PROCEDURE  
5. The following ISPMs contain approval proce dures related to the topic being addressed: 
• ISPM no 24: Guidelines for the determina tion and recognition of equivalence of 
phytosanitary measures ; 
 
• ISPM No. 29 (2007) Recognition of pest fr ee areas and areas of low pest prevalenc ; 
 
• ISPM No. 15 (2009) Regulation of wood packaging material in international trade ; 
 
• Suppression and eradication procedures for fruit flies  – a high priority topic for 2013; 
 
• In relation to determination of soil freedom,  Specification No. 43: Movement of soil and 
growing media in association with plants in international trade (Rev.1)  has already been 
developed. 
 
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