IPPC manual on ‘Market Access - a guide to phytosanitary issues for national plant protection organizations’
The IPPC Secretariat recently published a new manual on ‘Market Access - a guide to phytosanitary issues for national plant protection organizations’. This manual was launched at the Workshop on SPS-related market access challenges ; opportunities, organized by World Trade Organization (Geneva, CH, 2013-10-14/18). It provides a guide to phytosanitary issues for national plant protection organizations, with the objective to provide information and context on phytosanitary aspects of market access negotiations. The manual describes a process that can be followed to gain market access with the least hindrance to trade but, at the same time, preventing the introduction and spread of pests into new areas.
The Market Access guide covers:
- Rights and obligations of the NPPOs as they apply to trade in plants and plant products;
- A practical guide for achieving market access;
- Maintaining trade.
The Market Access guide is of importance to NPPOs because: (i) trade creates new opportunities and welfare for countries, (ii) phytosanitary issues are key factors in the decisions on allowing trade, (iii) phytosanitary import requirements need to be established in a transparent and participatory way, (iv) it increases the capacity of the IPPC membership to undertake the necessary procedures to negotiate market access. The guide can be freely downloaded from the IPPC website:
http://phytosanitary.info/information/market-access-guide-phytosanitary-issues-national-plant-protection-organizations
Sources
IPPC Secretariat (2013-10).