Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) is a standard procedure in international trade because both the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures (WTO-SPS Agreement) and the plant health standard-setting body that it recognizes, namely the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), give member countries the sovereign right to protect plants and the environment within their borders against foreign organisms. Even so, these bodies oblige to ensure that any regulatory measures they implement for protection against pests must be:

• Technically justified, which means that measures need to be based on scientific facts and on pest risk analysis (PRA);
• Least restrictive to trade, and
• Non-discriminatory.

The PRAs and the development of technically justified import conditions is therefore crucial to successful market access and maintenance initiatives for plants and plant products.

A Pest Information Package (PIP) is a technical document that provides information on the production, cultivation and marketing of plants and plant products in the country of production. Reference is made in a PIP to the pests and diseases associated with the commodity for which market access is applied for.  The PIP is used by the National Plant Protection Organisation (NPPO) of the importing country to conduct a Pest Risk Analysis (PRA).

Any industry member (usually the producer/ exporter) may commission the development of a PIP from PhytoSolutions.  Our phytosanitary expert work closely with the relevant NPPOs to ensure that the correct format is prepared, as there may be variations in the requirements of different countries.