The preparation of guidelines on the use of phytosanitary emergency actions and/or emergency measures is to assist all APPPC contracting governments to understand their responsibilities and to raise awareness of what actions and measures an importing country may apply.
The terms "emergency action1" and "emergency measure" are at times misunderstood. This standard provides guidelines to contracting governments on how to establish and apply both phytosanitary emergency actions and emergency measures in a practical manner that follows the requirements of the IPPC and International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs).
These actions and measures are applied in an emergency situation – a new or unexpected phytosanitary situation.
Normally, phytosanitary import requirements that apply to a particular commodity are determined and made available to the exporting party before exports commence. These phytosanitary measures would be technically justified by the importing party. However, with emergency actions and/or emergency measures they are typically applied immediately in response to an emergency situation without the exporter/exporting country receiving prior notice and full technical justification may not be available at the time of application. Therefore, there are strict conditions attached to the use of emergency action and emergency measures.
The section in the IPPC with particular relevance to emergency measures is Article VII 6.
"6. Nothing in this Article shall prevent any contracting party from taking appropriate emergency action on the detection of a pest posing a potential threat to its territories or the report of such a detection. Any such action shall be evaluated as soon as possible to ensure that its continuance is justified. The action taken shall be immediately reported to contracting parties concerned, the Secretary, and any regional plant protection organization of which the contracting party is a member."
Article VII 6 clearly outlines the responsibilities of countries2 that apply emergency measures. If a provisional measure is applied, its technical justification should be reviewed as soon as possible and the contracting governments concerned, the IPPC Secretary and any RPPO of which the importing party implementing the action/measure is a member should also be notified.
It should also be noted that this section of the IPPC specifically does not follow the basic principle in Article VII 2a and Principle 1.8 in ISPM No. 1:
"Contracting parties shall not, under their phytosanitary legislation, take any of the measures specified in paragraph 1 of this Article (VII) unless such measures are made necessary by phytosanitary considerations and are technically justified."
However, the Glossary of Phytosanitary Terms (2007) makes a differentiation between the terms emergency measure and emergency action. The Glossary definitions are followed in this standard.
Principle 2.11: Emergency Measures of ISPM No. 1, states that "Contracting parties may adopt and/or implement emergency actions, including emergency measures, when a new or unexpected phytosanitary risk is identified. Emergency measures should be temporary in their application. The continuance of the measures should be evaluated by pest risk analysis or other comparable examination as soon as possible, to ensure that the continuance of the measure is technically justified". Here it is noted that emergency action and/or emergency measures can be applied where a new or unexpected phytosanitary risk is identified and not just on the detection of a pest posing a potential threat. Again, the evaluation of the emergency measures is stressed so that the new phytosanitary requirements are technically justified by a PRA or comparable examination.
ISPM No. 13, Guidelines for the Notification of Non-compliance and Emergency Action, provides guidance on when emergency action may be taken (section 4.2), the information that may be included in a notification of such actions (mainly for non-compliance notifications) (section 4.6), and the nature of the investigation to be conducted to justify the emergency actions taken.
ISPM No. 20, Guidelines for a Phytosanitary Import Regulatory System, also discusses when emergency measures may be required plus phytosanitary actions that can be taken.
These documents provide the basis for the following requirements.
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1 It should be noted that the term "emergency action" as used in IPPC VII 6 actually means "emergency measure" – as in ISPM No. 5 and as in the French and Spanish version of the IPPC.
2 Those countries that are members of the World Trade Organization will also have to take note of the requirements of the Agreement on Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Annex B, paragraph 6. These requirements include the notification of other countries via the Secretariat of the regulation (i.e. measure) including the products covered with an indication of the objective and rationale of the regulation.
