Managing risk for market access

Global trade can be a significant, ongoing pathway for pest movement. Plant pests (including pathogens) are most often moved with their host – such as fruit, vegetables, cut flowers, timber or soil – or as ‘stowaways’ associated with traded commodities or transport vectors such as wood packaging, container ships or machinery.

Under agreements reached through the World Trade Organization, all countries may regulate market access to protect human, animal and plant life or health. Any regulations imposed must be based on science and aim to be ‘least trade restrictive’. 

The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) facilitates international movement and trade of plants and plant products, while minimising the risk of spreading plant pests.

The IPPC recognises four main options for managing plant pest risks to enable market access:

• Demonstrate that pests of concern are not present in the place of production for the traded commodity – commonly known as ‘area freedom’
• Demonstrate that the traded commodity is not a host for pests of concern – also known as ‘non-host status’
• Apply a single-point, post-harvest phytosanitary treatment – also known as an ‘end point treatment’ or
• Apply a ‘systems approach’ of multiple phytosanitary measures

International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs) are available through the IPPC to guide the development of protocols under each of the four pest risk management options.

Refining the supporting science for market access

Market access and biosecurity specialists recognise the value of refining the underpinning science used for risk assessment and risk management.

Our research shows that by combining ‘systems thinking’ with risk science-based methods and tools, we can achieve more granular risk estimates and improve the calibration of mitigation measures. This offers the potential to reduce the cost and complexity of phytosanitary requirements. For example, improved tools to support pest risk analysis can enable the effect of a poor host produced in an area with very low pest prevalence to be quantified in risk estimates, potentially facilitating the use of ‘lighter touch’ cold treatments or fumigations prior to trade.

Our on-going work aims to contribute to international efforts in this space.

Find out more about how we have applied risk science principles and tools to support the development phytosanitary systems approaches here