2454 final report.pdf - Agra CEAS Consulting

Evaluation of the Community Plant Health Regime: Final Report
DG SANCO Evaluation Framework Contract Lot 3 (Food Chain)
At the international level, efforts for the harmonisation of phytosanitary legislation through
the development of standards are led by the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM)
which is the governing body of the IPPC. CPM‘s mission is to develop cooperation between
countries in protecting the world‘s cultivated and natural plant resources from the spread and
the introduction of pests of plants, while minimising interference with international trade and
movement of plants and plants products. The IPPC secretariat is responsible for coordinating
the IPPC work programme, which includes:
Developing International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM);
Providing and facilitating information exchange between countries;
Providing capacity building technical assistance to facilitate implementation of ISPM.
The IPPC started its standard setting work in 1991, with the first International Standard on
Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) approved in November 1993. It is noted that the EU acceded
to the IPPC in 2004, and that all EU-27 MS are members of the IPPC on their own right
(similar arrangements exist at the level of the EPPO).
So far, 29 standards have been adopted at IPPC level (see list in the table below) and there are
about ten new ISPMs in development 264 .
In the general survey, all of the MS CAS and stakeholders consider that the CPHR, as it
stands, sufficiently takes into account IPPC guidelines, although a large majority consider this
to be only partly the case, suggesting there would be scope for further convergence:
General survey results
Q 10. 10.2. Does the CPHR sufficiently take into account of the IPPC guidelines and WTO-SPS rules?
MS CAs
Stakeholders
Fully 8 out of 23 8 out of 29
Partly 15 out of 23 12 out of 29
Not at all 0 0
Do not know 0 9
The evaluation of the implementation of the CPHR during the last 15 years in section 3, has
highlighted several areas where greater convergence to IPPC standards should be sought. It is
noted that IPPC standards are non mandatory, and that at international level all countries aim
to abide but divergence in interpretation occurs due to the different approaches that countries
follow to achieve the various objectives, as stated in the IPPC. In particular, this includes:
ISPM 5 (glossary of phytosanitary terms): need for clarification of certain commonly
used terms in the EU (e.g. HO, IAS, new finding, outbreak etc.) to ensure alignment
with ISPM 5 definitions;
ISPM 11 (PRA RQPs) and ISPM 21 (PRA RNQPs): need to complete the current
PRAs conducted at either MS or EC level (EFSA) with the economic impact analysis
264 FAO (2007) Independent Evaluation of the Workings of the International Plant Protection Convention and its
Institutional Arrangements
Food Chain Evaluation Consortium 297