Abstract
The introduction of several plant pests into Europe in the 19th century with disastrous consequences called for the development of plant quarantine measures to prevent the spread and introduction of pests of plants and plant products. With the purpose of harmonising these measures, and of promoting measures for pest control, the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) was developed to address organisms that are both directly and indirectly injurious to plants. It supplies a framework for measures against invasive alien species according to the Convention on Biological Diversity, as far as they are plant pests. Three examples of invasive alien species within the scope of the IPPC are given in the article: the fungus Ceratocystis fagacearum, the pinewood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus and the flatworm Arthurdendyus triangulatus. In its 1997 revision, the IPPC provides for the establishment of International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures, being acknowledged by the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the World Trade Organisation. Standards most important for invasive alien species are those on pest risk analysis, on requirements for the establishment of pest-free areas, on surveillance, on pest eradication programmes, and on the import and release of exotic biological agents. Phytosanitary regulations in the European Union (EU) have been harmonised and up to now have regulated about 300 plant pests. The requirements also have a protective horizontal effect against the unintentional introduction of many other species, but the existing broader IPPC mandate for alien plant pests is not fully applied by the EU regulations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
CBD (1992) Convention on Biological Diversity, United Nations Environment Programme, Rio de Janeiro
CBD (2001) SBSTTA 6, Recommendation VI/4: Alien Species That Threaten Ecosystems, Habitats or Species, Annex: Interim Guiding Principles for the Prevention, Introduction and Mitigation of Impacts of Alien Species. Retrieved from http://www.biodiv.org/ recommendations/default.asp?lg=0&m=sbstta-06&r=04 on 17 June 2002
EC (2000a) EC Commission Decision 2000/58/EC of 11 January 2000, authorising Member States temporarily to take additional measures against the dissemination of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner et Bührer) Nickle et al. as regards areas in Portugal, other than those in which Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner et Bührer) Nickle et al. is known not to occur (notified under document number C(1999) 5193). Official Journal of the European Communities L 21/36
EC (2000b) EC Council Directive 2000/29/EC of 8 May 2000 on protective measures against the introduction into the Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products and against their spread within the Community. Official Journal of the European Communities L 169/1
EPPO (2000) Guidelines on Arthurdendyus triangulatus. PM1/3(1): Import Requirements Concerning Arthurdendyus triangulatus; PM 1/4 (1): Nursery Inspection, Exclusion and Treatment for Arthurdendyus triangulatus. EPPO Standards: General Phytosanitary Measures, September 2000, European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Convention, Paris
FAO (1998) Interim Commission on Phytosanitary Measures: Excerpts from the Report of the Conference of FAO (C97/REP), 29. Session, Rome, 7-18. November 1997, Appendix I: Interpretations as Agreed by the Fourteenth Session of the Committee on Agriculture, ICPM-98/INF/1. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, August 1998
Fraser PM and Boag B (1998) The distribution of lumbricid earthworm communities in relation to flatworms: A comparison between New Zealand and Europe. Pedobiologia 42: 542–553
Harrington TC and Wingfield MJ (1998) Diseases and ecology of indigenous and exotic pines. In: Richardson DM (ed) Ecology and Biogeography of Pinus, pp 381–404. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
ICPM (2001) Report of the third commission on phytosanitary measures, Appendix XIII Statements of the ICPM Exploratory Open-ended Working Group on Phytosanitary Aspects of GMOs, Biosafety and Invasive Species. Rome, Italy, 2-6 April 2001. FAO, Rome. Retrieved from http://www.ippc.int/servlet/BinaryDownloaderServlet/ ICPM Report 2001 E.PDF?filename=/publications/GGTSPU-935-1452032-DAT/14320.Report of the Third Session of the ICPM 2001.2001-9-5.PDF on 17 June 2002
IPPC (1997) International Plant Protection Convention, new revised text. FAO, Rome
ISPM (1996a) Guidelines for Pest Risk Analysis, International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures Publication No. 2. FAO, Rome
ISPM (1996b) Code of Conduct for the Import and Release of Exotic Biological Control Agents. International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures Publication No. 3. FAO, Rome
ISPM (1996c) Requirements for the Establishment of Pest Free Areas. International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures Publication No. 4. FAO, Rome
ISPM (1997) Guidelines for Surveillance. International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures Publication No. 6. FAO, Rome
ISPM (1998) Guidelines for Pest Eradication Programmes. International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures Publication No. 9. FAO, Rome
ISPM (1999) Glossary of Phytosanitary Terms. International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures Publication No. 5. FAO, Rome
ISPM (2001) Pest Risk Analysis for Quarantine Pests. International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures Publication No. 11. FAO, Rome
Kurdyla TM, Guthrie PAI, McDonald BA and Appel DN (1995) RFLPs in mitochondrial and nuclear DANN indicate low levels of genetic diversity in the oak wilt pathogen Ceratocystis fagacearum. Current Genetics 27: 373–378
MacDonald WL, Tainter FH, Pinon J and Double ML (1998) Susceptibility of European oaks to Ceratocystis fagacearum. Proceedings of the 7th International Plant Pathology Congress. Edinburgh, Scotland. August 8-13, 1998
Mamiya Y (1983) Pathology of pine wilt disease caused by Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. Annual Review of Phytopathology 21: 201–220
McDonald BA, Bellamy BK, Zhan J and Appel DN (1998) The effect of an oak wilt epidemic on the genetic structure of a Texas live oak population. Canadian Journal of Botany 76: 1900–1907
Mota MM, Braasch H, Bravo MA, Penas AC, Burgermeister W, Metge K and Sousa E (1999) First record of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus in Portugal and Europe. Nematology 1: 727–734
SPS-Agreement (1994) Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, World Trade Organisation, Geneva
USDA Forest Service (1999) How to identify, prevent, and control oak wilt. Retrieved from http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/ pubs/howtos/ ht oakwilt/toc.htm on 17 June 2002
Winsor L, Johns PM and Yeates GW (1998) Introduction, and ecological and systematic background, to the Terricola (Tricladida). Pedobiologia 42: 389–404
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schrader, G., Unger, JG. Plant Quarantine as a Measure Against Invasive Alien Species: The Framework of the International Plant Protection Convention and the plant health regulations in the European Union. Biological Invasions 5, 357–364 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:BINV.0000005567.58234.b9
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:BINV.0000005567.58234.b9