Lesson 1: What is the IPPC?
Topic 1: A Brief History of the IPPC
The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) has been revised several times to reach its present form. Although the IPPC has gone through many changes, its mission has stayed the same: to prevent the spread and introduction of plant pests while reducing trade interference. Understanding the benefits, rights, and obligations of the IPPC will help you become an effective participant of the IPPC.
Objectives:
- Describe when, how, and why the IPPC came into force
- Describe the harmonization role of the IPPC
Origin and History of the International Plant Protection Convention
The IPPC is an international treaty that defines basic rights and obligations for its members. The IPPC helps prevent the spread and introduction of plant pests and reduces interference with international trade. Authority comes from the agreement of the 177 member nations who have signed the IPPC. Contracting parties meet international treaty obligations by developing plant health laws at the national level. This ensures that national actions are in line with international requirements.
What is the Harmonization Role of the IPPC?
As of July 2012, the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) had adopted 36 International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs), with many more in various stages of development. An ISPM is a plant health standard, developed by consensus of IPPC member countries, that contains principles, rules, guidelines, definitions, or characteristics for plant-health activities. The ISPMs developed by the IPPC play an important role in supporting harmonization, as required by the WTO SPS Agreement. To fully understand the concept of harmonization and its relationship to ISPMs, consider the global plant trade situation before ISPMs existed. At that time, the 177 countries that are currently IPPC members operated in the trade arena more or less independently and in an uncoordinated fashion, without a shared understanding of plant-health concepts, principles, or definitions. There was no common guidance for plant health practices, such as inspection, surveillance, or pest risk assessment. There was no common understanding of principles like transparency and phytosanitary necessity. There was no common understanding of definitions like “quarantine pest”. ISPMs describe fundamental plant-health terms and concepts. A common understanding of these terms and concepts facilitates trade and reduces the source of technical trade differences and disputes by making accepted international trade practices clear. It also helps all IPPC member countries to participate in plant trade.
Harmonization — A Real World Example
To understand the application of harmonization in international plant-health standards, let us look at the use of wood packaging material. Almost all internationally traded goods are carried in wood crates, boxes, pallets, dunnage, etc., and these are manufactured from raw wood.
Raw wood can pose a plant health risk when it has not been treated to remove or kill pests. International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) 15, Regulation of Wood Packaging Material in International Trade, outlines phytosanitary measures to reduce the risk of introducing and spreading quarantine pests on packaging material made of raw wood. These measures include the use of wood from which the bark has been removed and on which heat treatment or methyl bromide fumigation has been used to kill or remove pests. A procedure to mark the wood with a code that identifies the country of origin, the producer, and the treatment applied is also required.
Worldwide adoption of procedures described in ISPM 15 is an example of harmonization of phytosanitary measures to kill or remove pests. The widespread application of the internationally recognized ISPM 15 mark on wood packaging material helps safe trade. The National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) of the exporting country ensures that wood packaging material used for international shipments is marked as described in ISPM 15.The importing country’s NPPO recognizes the mark on the wood packaging and identifies that it has been treated or manufactured in compliance with ISPM 15. When countries worldwide use and recognize the same ISPM 15 measures and mark, it is easier for them to evaluate the phytosanitary status of wood packaging material used in international trade.
Harmonization does not mean that a contracting party must always follow IPPC standards when applying plant health measures. Member countries have the sovereign right to apply measures that are different from international standards as long as the measures are technically justified and science-based. Member countries may also accept measures that are different from ISPM standards through bilateral agreement with their trading partners. It is important to remember that harmonization does not prevent plant-health disputes and disagreements between trading partners from occurring. Interpretations about how to apply standards and what they mean can vary. However, ISPM standards provide a common foundation for applying measures, for challenging measures, and for resolving disputes when they occur.
The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) is an international treaty that establishes basic rights and obligations for its members in order to prevent the spread and introduction of plant pests and to minimize interference in international trade. In the case of the IPPC treaty, authority is derived through the agreement of the 177 member nations who have signed the Convention. Harmonization allows all IPPC member countries to engage in plant trade based on a common understanding of what a plant-health measure or a process is and when and how it is appropriately applied.
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