. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/SPS/GEN/1168 
6 July 2012 
 (12-3615) 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
IPPC CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures – 10-11 July 2012 
Agenda Item 9 (c) - Information from Observers 
 
 
 The following communication, received on 5 July  2012, is circulated at the request of the 
International Plant Protection Convention secretariat (IPPC). 
 
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1. As noted previously to this Committee, th e seventh Commission on Phytosanitary Measures 
(CPM-7), in March 2012, established an IPPC Capacity Development Committee (CDC), with 
specific Terms of Reference and Rules of Procedure.  The first meeting of the CDC, together with the 
existing Expert Working Group on Capacity  Development (EWGCD), is planned for 3-
7 December 2012 in Rome, Italy.  Until the CDC be comes operational, the EWGCD will continue its 
work in the area of capacity development. 
2. The third meeting of the EWGCD took place in Cairns Australia, on 21-25 May 2011.  All 
FAO regions were represented.  An observer fro m the Standards and Trade Development Facility 
(STDF) also participated in the meeting.  During the meeting, the IPPC National Capacity 
Development Strategy adopted by CPM-7 was pre sented to the group.  In response, the EWGCD 
recommended that the IPPC National Capacity Deve lopment Strategy should be sent to various 
stakeholders and donors and promoted in a series of occasions and events, that information on the 
strategy should be provided as part of different t ypes of capacity development activities e.g. training, 
and that EWGCD members would promote the strategy in their own regions. 
3. Following a presentation of the Terms of Referen ce and Rules of Procedures of the CDC, the 
CDC discussed the criteria and qualifications that  the future members of the committee will need.  
The secretariat will be issuing an open call to Re gional Plant Protection Organizations and National 
Plant Protection Organizations for candidates for me mbership of the CDC, with the Bureau making 
the final selection this fall. 
4. The IPPC secretariat also introduced to the EWGCD a phytosanitary technical resources page 
on the web ( http://www.phytosanitary.info ), as well as the Global Phytosanitary Capacity 
Development Projects Database (int ernal and global).  Additional e fforts are continuing within the 
Secretariat to develop a roster of consultants,  an activities database, as well as a donors table. 
5. The EWGCD reviewed the list of compiled phyt osanitary technical resources and developed a 
table on the criteria to categorize the technical reso urces.  These criteria will be helpful to decide 
which resources are to be included in the resources page.  Use of language, criteria for inclusion or 
exclusion and the procedures for review of documents  were discussed.  It was decided that technical 
resources could be proposed in any language, with priority given to UN languages.  The EWGCD also G/SPS/GEN/1168 
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  discussed the possibility of preparing projects an d activities related to resource mobilization and 
advocacy for capacity development, as well as any re lated capacity development activity in the IPPC. 
6. The secretariat gave a report on the status of the application of the Phytosanitary Capacity 
Evaluation Tool (PCE) and provided examples of national action plans prepared by four countries using the tool.  The EWGCD decided to include an update on the application of the PCE as a standing 
agenda item in the meetings of the CDC.  In a ddition, the Secretariat reported that seven regional 
workshops are projected to be held in 2012.  The purpose of the workshops is to discuss draft 
standards. These workshops provide an opportunity to discuss other IPPC-related areas of information 
exchange, implementation a nd capacity development. 
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