Developing and revising phytosanitary terms – the Technical Panel on the Glossary meets twice virtually to ensure consistency in terms used in draft standards

Rome 22 January 2021. The IPPC Technical Panel for the Glossary (TPG) meetings took place virtually from 15 to 16 December 2020 and from 18 to 22 January 2021.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the TPG face-to-face meeting in December 2020 was canceled. However, to ensure the continuity of the IPPC standard setting process and to avoid significant delays in developing standards, the meetings were held online in two sessions. In December 2020, the TPG addressed in advance the TPG-related comments on draft ISPMs submitted for first consultation, while in January 2021 the TPG reviewed and finalized the remainder of their work programme.

In 2021, the TPG discussed the proposals for new and revised terms/definitions, which will be compiled into new draft Amendments to the Glossary to be submitted to the Standards Committee in May 2021. The TPG also worked on the 2020 intermediate version of the Annotated glossary, which is revised annually, and reviewed the its work plan, considering the new working modalities.

The TPG and the IPPC Secretariat warmly welcomed the new TPG member for the Russian language, Ms Olga Lavrentjeva (EPPO), whose term started in 2021 to ensure the smooth transition in the membership, and thanked Mr Andrei Orlinski (EPPO) for the service he had rendered to the TPG.

The meeting was chaired by Ms Beatriz Melcho (Uruguay), with Ms Laurence Bouhot-Delduc (France) acting as steward and Mr Ebbe Nordbo (Denmark) as rapporteur.

The joint report of the December 2020 - January 2021 TPG meetings will soon be available on the TPG webpage.