Steering Committee Meeting on Minimizing pest movement by sea containers and conveyances in international trade
Reason for the standard
Sea containers (i.e. 20- and 40-foot intermodal freight or shipping containers) are a significant pathway for the potential entry of pests, as they are now the most common means of transfer of internationally traded goods and moving personal effects. Insects, snails, other invertebrates and vertebrates may contaminate containers during storage or packing, attracted by odour, light, temperature or humidity conditions. Micro-organisms, seeds and other plant parts and plant debris may be present in contaminating soil, birds’ excrement etc., on or inside containers. Some of these organisms may be pests. A country may already regulate some of the pests as quarantine pests, while others may not yet have been evaluated in a PRA but may be potential quarantine pests.
Shipping containers move between many countries, and therefore a standard is needed to provide guidelines to countries for managing such phytosanitary risks. Several countries have already developed and implemented phytosanitary standards related to this issue, so there is a need to harmonize phytosanitary measures related to shipping containers.
The draft specification for this EWG is attached and it is hoped that a web forum will be developed to solisit broad input into the development of this standard.
Type: Expert Working Group