Tools help to organize the concepts, data and expert opinion used to support the design-of and negotiations-around a novel or existing Systems Approach. They assist in visualising information, supporting decision making and identifying information gaps. The tools do not make decisions for you but are an aid to provoking discussion and thought in the process of developing and evaluating a Systems Approach.

Compliance is indeed hard to achieve! This project was aimed at building the confidence and competence of NPPOs so that they may actively represent their preferred proposal instead of simply accepting the trade partner’s requirements if there are reasons that it would not work well in the exporting country’s setting, for example, or if it appears there is too much redundancy in the requirements. This means that beyond simply complying, one can become an active participant in the negotiation for how to achieve the appropriate level of protection set by an importing country.

The Beyond Compliance project has developed two separate but complimentary tools. They are both in Microsoft Excel™ because of the broad use of this software.

The Production Chain tool provides a visual description of the measures (and their objectives) that can be applied along the production and export chain in a Systems Approach.

The Decision Support for Systems Approach provides a structure for listing and evaluating the intended measures under 6 different criteria (indicators).

The tools are available on the IPPC website. URL: https://www.ippc.int/en/core-activities/capacity-development/phytosanitary-system/systems-approach/systems-approach-online-tools/

Questions about the tools may be addressed by the Imperial College Team as a contribution to their success. The same email will reach the Facilitators. [email protected] Please carefully read the manuals and information about language versions before asking for assistance! These resource people are responding as a courtesy. Once you register as a user of the tools, any updates to the tools or to these FAQs will be shared via email.

A group of Facilitators have been trained and validated through the Beyond Compliance project. They can assist in the use and application of the tools, as their time permits given their jobs with NPPOs, RPPOs and other plant health entities. For more intensive support or travel, cost recovery will be required. A list of Facilitators and their language is provided here: URL: https://www.ippc.int/core-activities/capacity-development/phytosanitary-system/systems-approach/beyond-compliance-facilitators/

The tools and user manuals are accessible on this site at no cost. If you would like further support there is no ongoing funding available at this time.

You may include the support for facilitation as part of an ongoing project or make a new application for support to use the tools. For example, the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) have project preparation grants that have been used for applying other tools such as the Phytosanitary Capacity Evaluation (PCE). A country could apply for support from this source. If you are applying for funding for facilitation, always check with the Beyond Compliance team before hand to discuss your requirements so that an appropriate budget is prepared.

No, the tools will provide a structure for organizing and evaluating various phytosanitary measures aimed at reducing pest risk or implementing the system, but they will not tell you which ones to use. The tools will aid your decision on which measures to include by encouraging critical thinking, making the options clear and supporting discussion among stakeholders.

You may use to the tools for both import and export of plant products. They have been tested for various pests, including insect vectored diseases, and for several commodities. They work for most pathways, as long as there is the possibility for an NPPO to apply measures along the pathway and monitor for compliance. (The tools are less suited to managing plants that may become weeds.)

Yes, the tools may also be useful for the informal trade of commodities insofar as a combination of measures may help prevent introductions of exotic pests along any pathway. If the NPPO has authority and it is feasible to carry out measures, they may be organized using these tools.

No, the final decision rests with the importing country NPPO. The tools are designed and tested in line with the IPPC convention text and relevant ISPMs, however, so refusal to consider your proposal would need to have a transparent and justified reason.

The tools can support discussion and negotiations around new and established trade in plant products. It may be helpful to see exactly where disagreement occurs along the chain, if a proposal is not accepted.

(no introduction of the target pest) No, the risk of pest introduction is a probability concept and it is always possible a pest enters irrespective of the application of any tools and Systems Approaches. The tools simply aid the evaluation of measures selected to achieve an Acceptable Level of Protection (ALOP). The advantage of the tools is that if it appears that pest risk is not managed sufficiently, additional measures may be added to close that gap.

The tools will assist in identifying where these information gaps are so that appropriate studies can be made. In the absence of scientific studies, it also appropriate to use expert opinion regarding the performance of measures under different indicators, providing that that the experts give an assessment of uncertainty about their beliefs and provide written support for their assessments.

No, it is not necessary to use both tools though they are complimentary. The Production Chain tool is useful for organising and visualising the intended measures for use in a proposed Systems Approach. The Decision Support for Systems Approach tool allows the components of the Systems Approach to be evaluated in more detail. Using both will provide a more complete picture of the Systems Approach but their combined is not essential.

No, the tool can be applied to sub-components of the Systems Approach that are of special interest to the importing country. Generally, however, aiming for fully completed tools would provide greater clarity to the whole proposed system.

There is no set number – beyond the requirement for at least two independent measures – it should be the number needed to achieve the Appropriate Level of Protection in relation to the estimated risk. You may consider whether more than one of the harmonized list of objectives for measures is covered, but even this is not required.

The DSSA is able to accommodate up to 20 measures once you select those for further evaluation (Tables B2 and section C). If you have more, you may combine some similar ones or complete another file with a copied file, to cover those that make up a separate component of the system. For example, if there are a number of steps for registration of orchards and it is important to discuss all of them, you could make one file for those measures and start the next file with the measures for production stage onwards.

That is optional. It is not an official requirement for negotiations but should be a useful illustration of your proposal. It also would be useful to share with the market access negotiation team, which may include individuals less knowledgeable about plant health. It should help them to prepare to defend the proposal.

It is not essential to use both tools, but it is advised. When proposing new trade, we suggest that the Production Chain tool be used to organize the proposed measures along the production and export chain so that the system can be easily visualized by the relevant stakeholders. When the Production Chain is finalized then the individual measures in the proposed Systems Approach can be evaluated for their performance under six indicators using the Decision Support for Systems Approach tool. Either or both completed tools could be used to assist in novel trade negotiations to provide a structure for discussion.

Systems Approach is often used to achieve equivalence with previously applied, or proposed, measures. You may want to show this with two sets of files showing the two options, or even with one plan on the left and one on the right of the stages in the Production Chain template.

You may start with a DSSA completed for the existing plan and work through the proposed changes with a group, to show how the ratings change under the equivalent measures. The key to this is proper file management and naming, as outline in the user manual.

The Production Chain provides a highly visual description of a Systems Approach and will help to identify where extra measures could be applied to achieve an acceptable level of protection.

The Decision Support for Systems Approach tool could then be used to evaluate the performance of those additional measure(s) under six different indicators.

If the tools were already completed for an established Systems Approach, then these files could be revisited to evaluate or build on a Systems Approach plan for a new pest of a similar type. It may be that measures for a pest covered in an existing Systems Approach are effective against a new pest (for example, measures for an existing fruit fly pest may be effective against a new fruit fly threat).

However, if the new pest is of a very different type or there are variations among species/strains, then starting a new file with the tools will be necessary. You may rename a file and start with a completed one in order to reduce the time to making adjustments.