John Hedley, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Plant Quarantine, noted that there had been substantial developments in the global plant quarantine situation. These could be seen in the development of standards and the administration of the interim commission on phytosanitary measures (ICPM). These developments have been reflected in the activities of the APPPC in the last two years.
Regional technical consultations on draft international standards for phytosanitary measures: August 2000 and August 2001
There have been two of these meetings, both held at FAO, in Bangkok. The draft standards under consultation in 2000 and 2001 were discussed by experts from Asian countries and a number of recommendations for amendments prepared. These recommendations are sent to the interim standards committee for consideration. The meetings have been successful in clarifying issues in the draft ISPMs and in making useful recommendations for amending the drafts. The meetings were funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the IPPC Secretariat.
APPPC working group meeting on regional phytosanitary standards setting: June 2001
A working group drafted a list of proposals for regional standards and standards setting procedures for the 22nd session of the APPPC to consider. This is reported in detail elsewhere in this report.
The ICPM and associated meetings
Dr Hedley noted the input from Asia and the Pacific region into the 2nd and 3rd sessions of the ICPM. The region had also substantial input into the meetings of the interim standards committee which now meets twice in each year. Both of the meetings on strategic planning and technical assistance were held in the region last year. APPPC experts also took part in many of the other ICPM meetings on the composition of the Standards Committee, the continued development of the glossary of phytosanitary terms, the exploratory WG on phytosanitary aspects of GMOs, biosafety and invasive species and working groups on wood packing, systems approaches, pest reporting, dispute settlement procedures and information exchange.
