Canada's role in international plant protection

On this page

• International Plant Protection Convention
• North American Plant Protection Organization
• Consultations
• Call for topics
• Learn more about the IPPC and NAPPO

International Plant Protection Convention

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is Canada's representative under the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC). Canada is a contracting party to the IPPC, an international treaty that establishes a common approach to preventing the introduction and spread of plant pests, and promotes appropriate measures for their control.

The work of the IPPC is governed by its Commission on Phytosanitary Measures, which adopts international standards for phytosanitary measures. The IPPC's Secretariat coordinates the activities of the IPPC and is hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

North American Plant Protection Organization

Canada is a member of North American Plant Protection Organization (NAPPO), a trilateral regional plant protection organization established under the IPPC. NAPPO's mission is to provide a forum for public and private sectors in Canada, the United States and Mexico to collaborate in developing science-based standards to protect agricultural, forest and other plant resources against regulated plant pests, while facilitating trade. This mission includes developing regional standards for phytosanitary measures.

Consultations

Each year, the IPPC and NAPPO conduct consultations with contracting parties. The CFIA is responsible for obtaining and submitting comments on behalf of Canada.

Learn more about Consultations and engagement at the CFIA.

IPPC

Canada has the opportunity to review and comment on the following draft documents. Many of these consultations are conducted on an annual basis:

• International standards for phytosanitary measures, diagnostic protocols and phytosanitary treatments (July 1 to September 30)
• Specifications for international standards for phytosanitary measures (July 1 to September 30)
• Implementation and capacity development documents: specifications for guides, training materials and documents (July 1 to August 31)
• Commission on Phytosanitary Measures recommendations (July 1 to September 30)

To participate, send your comments to cfia.ippc.acia@inspection.gc.ca (your IPPC contact point) at least 2 weeks before the deadlines. This will give the CFIA sufficient time to collate and interpret your comments.

NAPPO

Currently, there are no open NAPPO country consultations.

Call for topics

The development of standards and implementation resources by the IPPC is determined based on topics submitted by contracting parties or regional plant protection organizations and adopted by the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures. There is a call for topics every 2 years.

How to submit a topic proposal

The call for topics is usually issued in early May and ends in the middle of September.

To submit a topic proposal, send your submission package to cfia.ippc.acia@inspection.gc.ca (your IPPC contact point) at least 2 weeks before the deadline. They will help you review and refine your submission package.

Find more information on the submission process for the call to topics, including the information package required.

Learn more about the IPPC and NAPPO

• International standards for phytosanitary measures
• International Plant Protection Convention
• IPPC contracting parties and contact points for each national plant protection organization (NPPO)
• NAPPO's phytosanitary alert system
• NAPPO's regional standards for phytosanitary measures
• Regional plant protection organizations