18th Technical Consultation of RPPOs
Rome 2006-09-11/14
The 18th Technical Consultation took place in Rome on 2006-09-11/14 and was organized by the IPPC Secretariat. Mr Ralf Lopian (Vice-chair, CPM) was elected as the Chairperson and Mr Sidney Suma (SPC-PPPO) elected as the Vice-chair. Mr Richard Ivess (FAO IPPC Secretariat) was elected as the Rapporteur.
The Technical Consultation discussed the issue of the interpretation of IPPC Article V2(a) pertaining to Phytosanitary Certification which had been raised at the last Technical Consultation. It was agreed that the FAO Legal Service would prepare a summary statement on their considered opinion of Article IPPC V2(a) particularly in relation to defining what a ‘public officer’ was and that this would be attached as an appendix to the report of the Technical Consultation. NAPPO and COSAVE volunteered to prepare a document for the next Technical Consultation (taking into account their regional guidelines) outlining the minimum requirements for a person to have signing authority for phytosanitary certificates, for consideration as a possible topic for an ISPM. Other RPPOs should discuss the situation with their members and supply comments to NAPPO, copied to the IPPC Secretariat.
The Technical Consultation agreed that a more in-depth discussion on the IPP and information exchange needed to take place during the 19th Technical Consultation.
The Technical Consultation agreed that maintenance of accurate information in databases was essential. RPPOs maintaining databases should be immediately notified when an error is noted so they can expeditiously rectify the mistake.
The Technical Consultation had the opportunity to have a detailed discussion with the leader of the IPPC Evaluation team of the Workings of the IPPC and its Institutional Arrangements, Mr Lukas Brader and with Ms Rachel Bedouin, FAO Senior Evaluation Officer.
It also held a general discussion on reference plant health laboratories and concluded that establishing an international recognition of reference laboratories comparable with the system established by OIE was premature. The need for national reference laboratories was recognized by some RPPOs but it was also stressed that it should not be an obligation for NPPOs to establish such reference laboratories. The Technical Consultation recognized that it could be useful to have further investigations on national reference laboratories but agreed that before initiating any activity on this topic, it should liaise with the Technical Panel on Diagnostic Protocols in order to discuss its possible role and identify areas where the Technical Consultation could assist the Panel. It was suggested that EPPO should contact the Steward of the Technical Panel.
EPPO and the NZ representative explained that some laboratories in their region were seeking accreditation by national accreditation bodies on the basis of ISO 17025 standard ‘General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration of laboratories’. They explained that the interpretation of this standard varies significantly among accreditation bodies in different parts of the world. Requirements of the standard are easier to meet for laboratories performing chemical analysis than for laboratories in the plant health sector. They stressed that it would be beneficial if a common interpretation of this standard for plant pest diagnostics were to be elaborated.
The next Technical Consultation will be organized by NAPPO on 2007-09-10/14.