2016 - Sea Containers
A Special Topics Session on Sea Containers was held on Thursday 7 April 2016 afternoon during the eleventh session of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM).
Presentations were made on the following:
- Risks associated with the movement of sea containers
- Logistics of movement of sea containers and the Code of Practice for Packing of Cargo Transport Units (CTU Code)
- Experiences from national plant protection organizations on checking or inspection of sea containers
All the presentations which were delivered as well as the discussion papers which were presented during the Special topics session can be found below.
Presentations were followed by Plenary discussions before the CPM agreed to the following decisions on the way forward regarding the topic of sea containers.
The CPM:
1) Recognized the risk of pests and regulated articles, other than cargo, that can be moved with sea containers.
2) Agreed that the harmonization of requirements through the development of a draft ISPM on minimizing pest movement by sea containers (2008-001) is considered as complex to achieve.
3) Recognised that the implementation of the IMO/ILO/UNECE CTU Code, and of the Recommendation CPM 10/2015_01 on Sea Containers would help address the risks of sea containers being contaminated.
4) Agreed that the status of the topic on Minimizing Pest Movement by Sea Containers (2008-001) should be changed to pending and reconsidered by the CPM, in maximum five years, to allow for the implementation of the CTU Code and Recommendation CPM 10/2015_01 and an analysis of their impact on reducing pest movement by sea containers.
5) Agreed that some coordinated actions should be considered for assessing and addressing the pest risks associated with sea containers.
6) Encouraged NPPOs to gather information on the movement of pests via the sea containers to help clarify the risk.
7) Requested the Bureau (at its June 2016 meeting) to consider the development of a "set of complimentary actions" which, combined, may offer some value in assessing and managing the pests threats associated with sea containers and to propose such a possible program of complimentary actions to CPM-12 (2017).
8) Encouraged interested parties and CPs to submit discussion papers by 15 May 2016 to the IPPC Secretariat for the CPM Bureau to consider.