International Plant Protection Convention

Article I

PURPOSE AND RESPONSIBILITY

1. With the purpose of securing common and effective action to prevent
the introduction and spread of pests and diseases of plants and plant
products and to promote measures for their control, the contracting
Governments undertake to adopt the legislative, technical and
administrative measures specified in this Convention and in
supplementary agreements pursuant to Article III.

2. Each contracting Government shall assume responsibility for the
fulfilment within its territories of all requirements under this
Convention.

Article II

SCOPE

1. For the purposes of this Convention the term “plant”shall comprise
living plants and parts thereof, including seeds in so far as the
supervision of their importation under Article VI of the Convention or
the issue of phytosanitary certificates in respect of them under
Articles IV(1), (a) (iv) and V of this Convention may be deemed
necessary by contracting Governments; and the term “plant products”
shall comprise unmanufactured and milled material of plant origin,
including seeds in so far as they are not included in the term
“plants”.

2. The provisions of this Convention may be deemed by contracting
Governments to extend to storage places, containers, conveyances,
packing material and accompanying media of all sorts including soil
involved in the international transportation of plants and plant
products.

3. This Convention shall have particular reference to pests and
diseases of importance to international trade.

Article III

SUPPLEMENTARY AGREEMENTS

1. Supplementary agreements applicable to specific regions, to specific
pests and diseases, to specific plants and plant products, to specific
methods of international transportation of plants and plant products,
or otherwise supplementing the provisions of this Convention, may be
proposed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(hereinafter referred to as “FAO”) on the recommendation of a
contracting Government or on its own initiative, to meet special
problems of plant protection which need particular attention or action.

2. Any such supplementary agreements shall come into force for each
contracting Government after acceptance in accordance with the
provisions of the FAO Constitution and Rules of Procedure.

Article IV

NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR PLANT PROTECTION

1. Each contracting Government shall make provision, as soon as
possible and to the best of its ability, for

a) an official plant protection organization, with the following main
functions:

(i) the inspection of growing plants, of areas under cultivation
(including fields, plantations, nurseries, gardens and greenhouses),
and of plants and plant products in storage and in transportation
particularly with the object of reporting the existence, outbreak and
spread of plant diseases and pests and of controlling those pests and
diseases;

(ii) the inspection of consignments of plants and plant products
moving in international traffic and, as far as practicable, the
inspection of consignments of other articles or commodities moving in
international traffic under conditions where they may act incidentally
as carriers of pests and diseases of plants and plant products, and the
inspection and supervision of storage and transportation facilities of
all kinds involved in international traffic whether of plants and plant
products or of other commodities, particularly with the object of
preventing the dissemination across national boundaries of pests and
diseases of plants and plant products;

(iii) the disinfestation or disinfection of consignments of
plants and plant products moving in international traffic, and their
containers, storage places, or transportation facilities of all kinds
employed;

(iv) the issue of certificates relating to phytosanitary
condition and origin of consignments of plants and plant products
(hereinafter referred to as “phytosanitary certificates”);

b) the distribution of information within the country regarding the
pests and diseases of plants and plant products and the means of their
prevention and control;

c) research and investigation in the field of plant protection.

2. Each contracting Government shall submit a description of the scope
of its national organization for plant protection and of changes in
such organization to the Director-General of FAO, who shall circulate
such information to all contracting Governments.

Article V

PHYTOSANITARY CERTIFICATES

1. Each contracting Government shall make arrangements for the issue
of phytosanitary certificates to accord with the plant protection
regulations of other contracting Governments, and in conformity with
the following provisions:

a) Inspection shall be carried out and certificate issued only by or
under the authority of technically qualified and duly authorized
officers and in such circumstances and with such knowledge and
information available to those officers that the authorities of
importing countries may accept such certificates with confidence as
dependable documents.

b) Each certificate covering materials intended for planting or
propagation shall be as worded in the Annex to this Convention and
shall include such additional declarations as may be required by the
importing country . The model certificate may also be used for other
plants or plant products where appropriate and not inconsistent with
the requirements of the importing country.

c) The certificates shall bear no alterations or erasures.

2. Each contracting Government undertakes not to require consignments
of plants intended for planting or propagation imported into its
territories to be accompanied by phytosanitary certificates
inconsistent with the model set out in the Annex to this Convention.

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

International Plant Protection Convention, country.