IPPC Surveillance standard being modernized

The IPPC Expert Working Group (EWG) for the Revision of the International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) 6: Guidelines for Surveillance (2009-004) met from 28th September to 2nd October 2015 in Auckland, New Zealand.

The meeting, organized by the IPPC Secretariat, was hosted by the Ministry for Primary Industries of New Zealand and the chairperson was Mr Paul Stevens (New Zealand). Nine participants attended the EWG, including four experts selected by the Standards Committee (SC) from Argentina, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands, the steward from Poland and two representatives from the host/organizer.

The purpose of the EWG was to revise the existing ISPM 6: Guidelines for Surveillance in accordance with tasks outlined in the Specification 61. In addition, members provided discussion papers, analysed the findings from the IPPC s Implementation Review and Support System questionnaire, reviewed the issues discussed at the Global Symposium on Plant Pest Surveillance, and considered the content of the IPPC draft manual on Surveillance.

The EWG proposed to add new sections to the ISPM to better explain how and why to perform general and specific surveillance, and details were added with the aim to provide guidance to NPPOs on the establishment of dynamic and efficient pest surveillance systems. The revised draft ISPM will be presented to the SC in May 2016 for possible member consultation in 2016.

The outcome of discussions will be presented to CPM-11 (2016) at a side session on standard setting and surveillance, as agreed by the CPM Bureau in June 2015. The meeting report, once finalized, will be made available on the IPP - EWG page.