Successes of the IPPC National Reporting Obligations Programme

The NRO Programme of the IPPC was initiated by the IPPC Secretariat in mid-2014 with numerous activities involving contracting parties (CPs) for improving an area left neglected for some time. As a result, the year 2015 and 2016 were two record years in a row with the highest total numbers of reports made available by CPs on the IPP (Fig. 1). This level has not been seen since 2005.

In case of Pest reports (the category with the most stable improvement tendency each year), as noted above, 2015 and 2016 were two record years with inputs of 92 and 98 pest reports, respectively. It nearly doubles the annual number of pest reports in comparison to all previous years (2005-2014).

Another category with the second most stable increase in numbers is Legislation: phytosanitary requirements/ restrictions/ prohibitions. Since 2014 this category has maintained an average more than 50 reports each year (namely: 2014: 59 reports; 2015: 59 reports; 2016: 58 reports), making it three stable record years in a row, something which has never happened before.

These improvements can be attributed to the following actions:

1. NRO Support staff joined the Secretariat in June 2014 which allowed for regular assistance to Official Contact Points and their IPP editors to be offered since that time to facilitate reporting through the IPP.
2. The first National Reporting Obligations Advisory Group (NROAG) meeting was held in July 2014. It gave direction to the NRO Programme issuing recommendations that were followed up (awareness raising, advocacy and educational materials, reminders).
3. The monthly NRO newsletter - the NROs Update started being issued in October 2014 by the IPPC Secretariat in Arabic, English, French, Spanish, and Russian, and distributed monthly to all IPPC Contact Points and IPP editors.
4. The NRO thematic years were introduced to boost awareness raising. So far the Year of Official Contact Points, the Year of the Organization of the NPPO and the Year of Pest reporting have taken place.
5. A new section was created on the IPP dealing directly with NROs - all NRO files were gathered in one place and the IPPC Secretariat made sure that they are available in Arabic, English, French, Spanish, and Russian.
6. Upgrading technology of the IPP website - in February 2015 the IPPC Secretariat launched a revised IPP website - data entry (including posting NROs) was made easier and more user friendly. To facilitate the use of the revised IPP, a revised user manual was produced. It was available in Arabic, English, French, Spanish, and Russian.
7. A new and improved layout of NRO information on the countries national pages was introduced.
8. Regular registration of new Contact Points and archiving was carried out without delay. An electronic archiving system of countries Contact Points was introduced. The nomination form for Contact Points, RPPOs and IPP editors was updated and made available in Arabic, English, French, Spanish, and Russian.
9. The pre-CPM-10 training session on NROs was conducted by the IPPC Secretariat in March 2015.
10. The 2015 IPPC Regional Workshops included a training session on NROs, and supplementary NRO guidance material was prepared for training purposes.
11. NRO General and Specific Procedures were drafted following the analysis of previous NRO-related CPM recommendations and decisions carried out by NROAG and the IPPC Secretariat. The procedures were provisionally adopted at CPM-10 and then finally adopted at CPM-11, together with Quality Control Guidelines and NRO Work Plan.
12. Following this milestone the series of advocacy and awareness raising materials was prepared in 2016 by the IPPC Secretariat:
    • a) the new Guide to NROs offering guidance to Official Contact Points and IPP editors on NRO types and methods together with IPP data entry advice;
    • b) tables listing NROs (all NROs, Public NROs and Bilateral NROs);
    • c) 13 detailed leaflets for each NRO offering concise advice and references; and
    • d) four NRO leaflets prepared in 2015 regarding benefits of reporting, consequences of not reporting and networking received a new, improved layout.
13. The system of automated IPP NRO reminders was developed by the IPPC Secretariat and became operational in July 2016.
14. The first IPPC NRO Workshop took place in September 2016 in Beijing, China. It was the first in a new series of NRO Workshops.
15. The scripts for NRO e-learning (5 modules) were prepared by the IPPC Secretariat.
16. Automatic NRO statistics were prepared and made available by the IPPC Secretariat in January 2017.

The IPPC Secretariat will continue its efforts to provide CPs with assistance in reporting, and make available all learning materials in five FAO languages. Further work on the NRO e-learning is envisaged this year together with another NRO Workshop which will be held in August 2017 in the Pacific region.

If you would like more detailed information on NRO statistics you can find it here.

Figure 1. Total Number of NRO Reports uploaded each year by countries on the IPP