Presidency pushes through more effective international standards for phytosanitary care

Tisková zpráva Press Release Communiqué de presse

Prague, 9 April 2009
 

Presidency pushes through more effective international standards for phytosanitary care

The Czech Presidency and the Commission rounded off a week of intensive negotiations within the Commission for Phytosanitary Measures in Rome by reaching consensus on new international standards and criteria for phytosanitary care.
 
In international trade, these principles should help the EU, above all, prevent the spread of pests and pathogenic agents injurious to woody species through wooden packaging and to enhance the level of phytosanitary care, especially in third countries from which goods of plant origins are exported to EU Member States.
 
The meeting was attended by the representatives of more than 170 countries from all over the world. On the basis of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), to which these countries are members, the measures taken to prevent the introduction and spread of organisms harmful to plants and plant products thus apply in all of the 173 countries, including all EU Member States.
 
One of the achievements of the Presidency is the revision of the international standard IPSM 15 (International Phytosanitary Measures), which lays down technical requirements documenting the absence of tree bark, thereby reducing the risk of the spread of harmful organisms. Another achievement is the approval of the new Classification of Commodities by phytosanitary risk, which simplifies and further specifies the implementation of phytosanitary measures in relation to international trade. The classification lists examples of commodities and the optimal procedure for their processing, so that they could no longer represent a risk, in terms of the spread of harmful organisms. The approval of the amendment to the international Glossary of Phytosanitary Terms is also of great importance, as are other technical measures that were adopted, and on which compromise was found with other countries from all over the world.
 
The Presidency achieved no mean feat when it pushed through most of the EU’s positions, which was appreciated by the chair of the meeting, Reinouw Bast-Tjeerde. The significant success of the Czech Presidency was confirmed by the head of the IPPC Secretariat, Peter Kenmore, IPPC Secretary Ralf Lopian, as well as the representatives of the EU Member States.

Tereza Dvorácková
Spokeswoman of the Ministry of Agriculture