Canadian Consultations on Draft International...

June 29, 2006

29 June 2006

Canadian Consultations on Draft International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs)

The following message is from Greg ory Wolff, International Standards Advisor in the Plant Health Division of CFIA. Mr. Wolff can be reached at [email protected].

This is an invitation to review and provide comments on draft International Standards
for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs) recently distributed by the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) for country consultation.

This year, the IPPC has released five draft new or revised ISPMs for country
consultation, as well as proposed amendments to the IPPC's glossary. These draft standards will be considered for adoption at the Second Session of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM) in March, 2007. The draft standards for consultation this year are as follows:

- Revision of ISPM No. 2 : Pest risk analysis

- Recognition of pest free areas and areas of low pest prevalence

- Phytosanitary treatments for regulated pests

- Debarked and bark free wood

- Establishment of areas of low pest prevalence for fruit flies

- Amendments to ISPM No. 5 (Glossary of phytosanitary terms).

Copies of these draft ISPMs are found on the CSCB web site, as follow:

http://www.cscb.ca/listinfo/draftamendment.doc

http://www.cscb.ca/listinfo/revisionispm2-pra.doc

http://www.cscb.ca/listinfo/pestfree.doc

http://www.cscb.ca/listinfo/phyto.doc

http://www.cscb.ca/listinfo/debarking.doc

http://www.cscb.ca/listinfo/fruitflies.doc

Please note that each country's government must submit only one set of comments for each standard, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will be preparing and submitting these comments for Canada. The CFIA must submit Canada's comments to the IPPC by September 30, 2006. Therefore, to allow sufficient time for collation and interpretation of comments, please submit all comments to the CFIA by September 1, 2006, at the latest.

Submission of comments to the CFIA can be made by regular mail, facsimile, or e-mail.

Please include your own contact details with any comments, as it may be necessary to follow up on certain points or discuss conflicting positions.

Following receipt of comments from Canadian stakeholders, all comments will be reviewed and considered in relation to: rights and obligations conveyed by membership of the IPPC and other relevant international organizations and agreements; provisions of existing ISPMs; and other comments received from Canadian stakeholders. Following this review process, those comments considered appropriate will be provided by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to the IPPC. The IPPC's Standards Committee will then consider comments submitted by all countries and, for each ISPM, may: revise the text based on comments received and submit them to the Commission for Phytosanitary Measures for prospective adoption as an ISPM. Alternatively, the Standards Committee may require another round of consultations if significant changes have been made as a result of comments received, or may request redrafting of the text based on concerns arising through the consultation process.

The IPPC, through the CPM, have developed guidelines for governments' submission of comments on draft ISPMs. Canada's SINGLE SET of comments will conform with these guidelines as follows:

1. General comments on each standard will be indicated clearly as such.

2. The nature of all other comments will be identified along with the specific text or concept to which they apply. Therefore, for each comment on specific sections or concepts in the text, countries are requested to indicate clearly if the comment is considered to be

- editorial;

- a technical or scientific problem; or a

- substantive comment on the content of the standard.

3. All comments should be supported by an explanation of their purpose and suggestions for alternative text where appropriate. In addition, it is essential that care be taken to en

Topic(s): 
Other Government Departments (OGDs) Requirements
Information Source: 
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)
Document Type: 
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