Presidency to stress high level of international plant protection

Tisková zpráva Press Release Communiqué de presse

Prague, 27 March 2009
 

Presidency to stress high level of international plant protection

The objective of the upcoming session of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures, which will be held at the end of March/beginning of April in Rome, is to push through more efficient international rules for plant trade.

These rules should protect the Community against the introduction and spreading of harmful organisms and plant pathogens.

In today’s globalised world, international plant trade carries a high risk of introducing exotic organisms harmful to plants into Europe. Here, besides not having to face any natural enemies, these pathogens are usually highly resilient against plant protection products. The introduction of efficient rules is therefore an important preventive step to reduce losses in crop yields. The Presidency wants to contribute to this objective at the Rome session of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures, which will be looking for specific tools to prevent the spread of plant diseases in relation to international trade in plants and plant products.

“At the session of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures, the Presidency will promote rules that will prevent the introduction of dangerous and harmful plant pathogens on the territory of the EU through plant commodity imports from third countries while simplifying international trade in plants and plant products”, explains Czech Agriculture Minister Gandalovic. These measures will, for example, include rules for setting up areas free of harmful organisms which can export plants without having to meet further requirements concerning treatment by plant protection products. “Furthermore, another priority of the Community is to prevent the spreading of pests and pathogens of wood in wooden packing materials used in international trade. At the same time, we want to strengthen the level of phytosanitary care, particularly in third countries which export products of plant origin to EU Member States”, adds First Deputy Minister Ivo Hlavác.

The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) was established in 1951 under the auspices of FAO as an international platform for plant protection coordination. Today, it has 170 signatories from all around the world. The EU as such joined the Convention in 2004. The Convention’s executive body is the Commission for Phytosanitary Measures (CPM), which adopts specific measures against the introduction and spreading of organisms harmful to plants and plant products, especially phytosanitary standards setting out rules to prevent the spreading of pests and plant pathogens in international trade in plants and plant products. The CPM meets every year at the FAO seat in Rome. This year, the session is scheduled to take place from 30 March to 3 April.

Tereza Dvorácková
Spokeswoman of the Ministry of Agriculture