Phytosanitary Certification Research Articles

Phytosanitary measures in a developing Europe

1. The deepened knowledge of the biology of noxious organisms and recent technical progress have greatly improved our chances of protecting crops against attacks of plant pests and diseases. 2. The hazards and side-effects of the chemical tools make the ecological and genetical approaches to phytosanitary problems urgent. 3. In practice this means a continuously widening application of integrated control measures in combination with economic evaluations of the actions to be taken or already taken. 4. The international food supply situation and modern facilities for the spread of pathogens over the world make an intensified international cooperation necessary. 5. The economic and commercial integration now in progress in Europe will be accompanied by the removal of custom-houses and other frontier barriers, and the quarantine inspection of imported consignments will have to be transformed into a system of phytosanitary inspections at the final destination of the consignments. 6. Responsibility for the soundness of plants and plant products in international trade as well as their freedom from pesticide residues and other dangerous substances will remain more than ever with the exporting country and no effort should be spared to increase the reliability of phytosanitary certificates. 7. The control of “quarantine” pests and diseases will have to be intensified within the different countries in order to facilitate international trade in plants and plant products. 8. The economic integration within and between the groups of EEC, EFTA and COMECON should always be able to rely on close contacts with the international plant protection activities of FAO and, especially, EPPO, in order to make possible a continuous unification and synchronization of the phytosanitary measures in our part of the world.