WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/618 
18 January 2006 
 (06-0229) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
SUMMARY OF THE WORK OF  
THE INTERNATIONAL PLANT PROTECTION CONVENTION (IPPC) 
JUNE 2005 – JANUARY 2006 
 
Submission  by the International Plant Protection Convention Secretariat
 
 
 
 The following submission, received on 15 January 2006, is being circulated at the request of 
International Plant Protection Convention Secretariat.  
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1. The amendments to the International Plant Protection Convention came into force on 
2 October 2005.  The FAO Conference and th e Interim Commission on Phytosanitary Measures 
(ICPM) ceased to be the governing bodies of the IPPC and will be replaced by the Commission on 
Phytosanitary Measures (CPM). 
2. The first Session of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures will be held on 
3-7 April 2006 in Rome, Italy and will be open to a ll contracting parties of the IPPC (non-contracting 
parties may attend as observers).  Credentials would be required for each contracting party 
representative. 
The development, adoption and monitoring of the implementation of ISPMs 
 
Standards Committee 
 
3. The seventh meeting of the Standards Co mmittee was held in Rome, November 2005. 
4. The following four draft standards and the modification to the methyl bromide schedule in 
Annex 1 of ISPM No. 15 for adoption by the CPM.   
• Revision of ISPM No. 1:  Principles for the protection of plant health; 
• Guidelines for consignments in transit;  
• Requirements for the establishment and mainte nance of pest free areas for tephritid fruit 
flies; and 
• Diagnostic protocols for regulated pests. 
Expert working group 
 
5. Expert working group meetings develope d drafts for the following standards: 
 
• Classification of commodities by phytosanitary risk related to level of processing and 
intended use; 
• Guidelines for the formatting/drafting of ISPMs; G/SPS/GEN/618 
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  • Use of integrated measures in a systems approach for pest risk management of citrus fruit 
for citrus canker; 
• Guidelines on sampling of consignments; 
• Guidelines for regulating potato micro pr opagation material and minitubers in 
international trade; 
• Guidelines for the recognition and establishment of pest free areas and areas of low pest 
prevalence; and 
• Revision of ISPM No. 2 ( Guidelines for pest risk analysis ). 
Technical panels 
 
6. Meetings of Technical Panels were held on the 
• Diagnostic Protocols met in December 2005; 
• Pest Free Areas and Systems Approaches for Fruit Flies; 
• Phytosanitary Treatments; and 
• The Glossary Working Group met in October. 
Explanatory documents 
 
7. One explanatory document, for ISPM No. 20 ( Guidelines for a phytosanitary import 
regulatory system ), has been published on the IPP. 
 8. The following draft explanatory documents are at advanced stages of development: 
• ISPM No. 14 ( The use of integrated measures in a systems approach for pest risk 
management );  
• ISPM No. 15 ( Guidelines for regulating wood packaging material in international trade );  
• ISPM No. 16 ( Regulated non-quarantine pests: concept and application );  
• ISPM No. 17 ( Pest reporting );  
• ISPM No. 18 ( Guidelines for the use of irradi ation as a phytosanitary measures ); and 
• ISPM No. 24 ( Guidelines for the determination and recognition of equivalence of 
phytosanitary measures ). 
Focus group meetings  
 
9. The Secretariat convened two focus group meetings: 
• Funding options of the IPPC; and 
• International recognition of pest free areas). 
Information exchange 
 
IPPC advocacy documents  
10. The Guide to the International Plant Protection Convention  is currently being updated. 
Following the first session of the CPM, a thorough  review will be undertaken and it will be made 
available in all FAO languages. 
The International Phytosanitary Portal 
 
11. Upgrading and improvement of the Internati onal Phytosanitary Portal (IPP) continued. 
Navigation is now available in English, French a nd Spanish.  The programming to accept Arabic and 
Chinese characters is complete and translation will start (subject to funding) as soon as suitable 
Arabic and Chinese translators are identified.   G/SPS/GEN/618 
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  Capacity-building workshops 
 
12. The IPPC Information Exchange Capacity Building Programme  was initiated at a regional 
level in 2005 to ensure that countries: 
• have a basic understanding of their national information exchange obligations under the 
IPPC; 
• are introduced to the International Phytosanita ry Portal (IPP) as the preferred official 
phytosanitary information system that help s countries to meet these obligations with 
minimal costs and efforts; and 
• develop the ability to upload and maintain their own phytosanitary information in the 
IPP. 
13. Eight regional information exchange capacity  building workshops for nominated national 
plant protection/information officers have been completed. 
Table 1.  Regional information exchange capacity building workshops 
 
Regions Date Countries Lang. Contracting 
Parties NPPO 
Editors RPPO 
Editors 
Africa – Anglophone December 
2005 19 En 10 20 2 
Africa – 
Francophone January 2006 23 Fr 18 23 3 
Asia January & 
March 2005 15 En 12 17 1 
Caribbean November 
2005 12 En 11 15 2 
Central Europe February 
2005 11 En 11 15 2 
EPPO* November 
2005 11 En 10 11  
Latin America November 
2005 13 Es 13 13 2 
Pacific May 2005 15 En 13 19 3 
 Total 119  98 133 15 
* for European countries other than those represented in the workshop for Central Europe.  
 
 
The provision of dispute settlement mechanisms  
 
14. In 2005, the Secretariat did not receive any request for assistance in dispute settlement. 
15. During 2005 the Subsidiary Body on Dispute Se ttlement of the CPM finalized an advocacy 
document on dispute settlement and a dispute settleme nt manual.  These will initially be distributed 
electronically in English only, and will be finali zed and translated into FAO languages subject to 
available resources after the first session of the CPM. G/SPS/GEN/618 
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  The development of phytosanitary capacity of Members 
by promoting the provision of technical assistance 
 Regional workshops on draft ISPMs  
16. Seven workshops were held in various regions to strengthen th e country consultation stage of 
the standard setting process, by providing the opportunity for discussion among developing countries 
of the five draft ISPMs and proposed modification to the methyl bromide schedule in Annex 1 of ISPM No. 15.  A total of 114 countries participated in these workshops, reflecting a very high level of 
interest. 
Table 2. Regional workshops on draft ISPMs in 2005 
 
FAO Region Language Location Countries invited Countries 
attended 
Latin America & the Carribean Spanish Santiago, Chile 19 14 (74%) 
Latin America & 
the Caribbean English Port of Spain, 
Trinidad 14 10 (71%) 
Africa 
(Francophone) French Accra, Ghana 28 22 (79%) 
Africa 
(Francophone) English Accra, Ghana 20 18 (90%) 
Asia English Bangkok, 
Thailand 28 19 (68%) 
Near East Arabic Cairo, Egypt 18 16 (89%) 
Southwest Pacific English Apia, Samoa 19 15 (79%) 
TOTAL    146 114 (78%) 
 
 
International workshop on Pest Risk Analysis 
 
17. An international workshop on PRA was held in Niagara Falls, Canada, 24-28 October 2005.  
The workshop was attended by 145 delegates re presenting 63 different countries, including 50 
developing country delegates whose par ticipation was funded by the sponsors.  
18. The workshop provided an opportunity to:  
• explore methods and procedures for applying the IPPC PRA standards; 
• share experiences on how to use PRA as a decision making tool; 
• present tools for completing PRAs; 
• strengthen international PRA e xpertise and communication; and 
• build a collaborative international PRA network. 
Workshop on the practical application of ISPM No. 15 
 
19. To assess the success of the IPPC workshop on the practical application of ISPM No. 15 that 
took place in 2005, the IPPC Secretariat is mon itoring SPS notifications of implementation of the 
standard.  Between March and November 2005, 11 countries have notified that they have 
implemented or intend to implement the standard.  They are:  Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, 
Egypt, Guatemala, Korea (Republic of), Paragua y, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.   G/SPS/GEN/618 
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  Promotion of IPPC and cooperation with the relevant international organizations 
 
20. The Secretariat has been represented at a range of meetings with international and regional 
organizations including WTO-SPS Committee, Conve ntion for Biological Diversity, Cartagena 
Protocol, and the Biological Weapons Convention.   
WTO-SPS Committee 
 
21. The Secretariat continues to work closely with the WTO-SPS by attending all formal and 
some informal WTO-SPS Committee meetings, and by either participating directly or recommending 
appropriate consultants in SPS regi onal and sub-regional workshops. 
Table 3.  WTO-SPS workshops in 2005 
 
Date Region Location 
16-18 February Caribbean Jamaica 
1-5 August Southern Africa South Africa 
3-5 October Francophone West Africa Mali 
10-12 October South-East Asia Thailand 
21-24 November Pacific Fiji 
30 Nov - 2 December Central America Nicaragua 
 
 
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