Freshfel Europe, the European Fresh Produce Association, and SHAFFE, the Southern Hemisphere Association of Fresh Fruit Exporters, is teaming up with the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation (the Alliance) to accelerate current NPPO endeavours to onboard to the IPPC (International Plant Protection Convention) ePhyto hub. While the fruit sector has managed well through the global pandemic with only 1% loss in trade volume (87 mio.T in 2020) but still 3% increase in global value (100 billion USD in 2020), the need for original documents/certificates in a period of restricted travel and social distancing remained a major trade barrier for in-time delivery of perishable goods. While many governments have been accelerating transition to electronic transmission systems, the fruit sector still sees major barriers in the implementation. To bridge this gap and foster dialogue between private and public actors, Freshfel Europe together with SHAFFE and the Alliance, will hold a global webinar (27 May for Europe, U.S., Africa, Latin America/ 31 May 2021 for Europe, Asia, and Oceania) together with NPPO representatives, to discuss the potential of the IPPC ePhyto solution.
Missing or faulty documents are one of the main elements for interceptions at border. In EU-27 countries alone, one third of perishable interceptions can be traced back to a mistake or missing phytosanitary certificate. The global pandemic with limited travel, restricted airfreight and courier services accelerated the challenge to comply to the administrative and the regulatory requirements to enter destination markets.
The IPPC ePhyto system allows the transmission of electronic phytosanitary certificates via a secure XML-coded message from NPPO to NPPO. With more than 1 million phytosanitary certificates exchanged already, and more and more countries committing to this or alternative digital solutions, the fruit industry welcomes the effort made to eventually move to paperless certification! In order to address key challenges in the onboarding process as well as with regard to practical aspects of the transmission – starting from different systems speaking to each other, to readiness for receiving countries to the security of the transmitted document – The global webinar: “Electronic Phytosanitary Certificates – Bridging the gap between policy and business” will be held in 2 run ups on the 27 May, 5.00pm CET and on the 31 May 2021, 9.00am CET, with simultaneous translation into Spanish, French, and English. The program will consist of a panel discussion of NPPO and IPPC representatives, amongst them Mr. Christian Dellis from Aphis, Ms. Helene Klein from the EU Traces Team and Peter Neimanis from the Australian Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Environment, to discuss major elements of concern to make the solution workable for the global fruit industry. The discussion will be moderated by SHAFFE Secretary General and Freshfel Director of Trade and Business Development Ms.Nelli Hajdu, who is also representing the fruit industry to the Industry Advisory Group of the IPPC ePhyto solution.
Participation to the discussion is free. Find more information and the registration link at https://www.tradefacilitation.org/event/webinar-on-electronic-phytosanitary-certification-bridging-the-gap-between-policy-and-business.
ENDS
Note to the Editors: Freshfel Europe is the European Fresh Produce Association, representing the interests of the fresh fruit and vegetables supply chain in Europe and beyond. Freshfel Europe currently has over 200 members, including both companies and associations. For more information, contact info@freshfel.org or visit the association website www.freshfel.org.