The Agriculture Council has approved a revision of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) to strengthen its role in setting international standards. Council also decided that the European Union should become a party to the IPPC in its own right, alongside the 25 EU Member States. Both decisions recognise the growing importance of the IPPC in the international trading system. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) recognises the right of WTO members to impose restrictions on imports if these are needed to protect their agriculture from plant diseases or pests. This right is set out in the WTO’s Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures (SPS Agreement), which also calls on the IPPC to provide international standards to help ensure WTO members develop a harmonised approach and do not use such measures as unjustified barriers to trade. The revised Convention formalises the IPPC’s Secretariat and establishes a governing body, the “Commission on Phytosanitary Measures”, for the setting of International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures. These will be recognised under the SPS Agreement. The standard–setting process in the IPPC emphasises participation, consultation and technical competence. The new rules explicitly foresee the participation of bodies such as the EU.

The IPPC is a multilateral Treaty created under the auspices of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The Convention was adopted by the FAO in 1951 and has bee revised twice before (in 1979 and in 1997). At present 56 out of the 127 member countries of the Convention have accepted the text of the latest revision. Two thirds of member countries need to accept the new rules for them to enter into force. This is expected to happen in the next two to three years.

EU membership of the IPPC will allow Europe to have a greater impact in developing international plant health and plant protection rules. It will also reinforce the credibility of the EU’s own rules in this area and ensure they are in line with international standards.

For further information about the EU’s plant health and plant protection rules see: http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/plant/index_en.htm