Measures that provide confidence in pest freedom or low pest prevalence, or that reduce exposure to pests and the risk of infestation when the commodity is vulnerable.
Pest freedom or low pest prevalence
Summary
Measures that provide confidence in pest freedom or low pest prevalence in a designated area or registered site.
There are 4 measures in the category (Table 1). Each provide confidence in pest freedom or low pest prevalence through surveillance, with corrective actions or suspension imposed if agreed pest thresholds are exceeded.
Pest Free Areas and Areas of Low Pest Prevalence are generally more onerous to implement, they require good governance and coordination to establish and maintain. All registered businesses within the designated area can be impacted if thresholds are exceeded.
Demonstrating low pest prevalence within an area or registered site is less onerous than demonstrating pest freedom but may need to be combined with additional measures to manage phytosanitary risks.
| Category of Measure | Measure | Goal | Scale – spatial | Scale – time | Additional independent measures | Relevant ISPMs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area wide | Pest Free Area | Provide the required confidence that the target pest does not occur in the designated area, and therefore that all sites registered for trade within the designated area are pest free. | Applied to a designated area: country or part thereof. | Generally maintained over many years without interruption. | Not required. | ISPM 04, ISPM 26, ISPM 29. |
| Area of Low Pest Prevalence | Provide the required confidence that pest prevalence, and therefore infestation risk, on all registered sites within the designated area is acceptably low at times when the commodity is vulnerable. | Applied to a designated area: country or part thereof. | Generally maintained over many years without interruption. | Required if ALPP is not sufficient on its own to manage risk. | ISPM 22, ISPM 29. See also WTO-SPS Article 6. | |
| Registered site | Pest Free Site | Provide the required confidence that there are no pests in the registered site at times when the commodity is vulnerable. | Applied to a registered site where a business is responsible for undertaking regulated trade-related activities such as production, processing, storage and treatment. This includes “places of production” and “production sites”. | May be established annually or seasonally. | Not required. | ISPM 10, ISPM 30. |
| Low Pest Prevalence Site | Provide the required confidence that pest prevalence, and therefore infestation risk, is acceptably low within the designated site registered by a business, at least when the commodity is vulnerable. | Applied to a registered site where a business is responsible for undertaking regulated trade-related activities such as production, processing, storage and treatment. This includes “places of production” and “production sites”. | May be established annually or seasonally. | Required if LPPS is not sufficient on its own. | Not formalised in an ISPM. |
Measures
Pest management
Summary
Measures that supress pest populations at times when the commodity is vulnerable to infestation.
A wide range of measure options are mostly used to control pests during production, although some can also be applied post-production.
Pest management measures can be considered when assessing risk and applied as phytosanitary measures.
Measures
Pest avoidance
Summary
Measures that limit overlap in time or space between active pest populations and commodities vulnerable to infestation.
Avoidance can be achieved in time (limit seasonal overlap, limit exposure time to pest) or space (poor pest habitat, geographical isolation), or by manipulating the habitat to make it less attractive to the pest. Although most measures in this category are used during production, they can also be applied post-production.
Pest avoidance measures like limiting exposure time to pest are often applied as standard industry practice in production. These can be considered both when assessing and managing phytosanitary risks.
Measures
Pest exclusion
Summary
Measures that apply physical, temporal or spatial barriers between the pest and the commodity when vulnerable to infestation.
Physical pest exclusion can be achieved at different spatial scales, from the structure or facility (protected facilities) to secure packaging of consignments (safeguarding), down to individual protected units like individually wrapped fruit (protected units). Spatial and temporal exclusion can be achieved by using buffer zones, or ensuring the commodity is separated from sources of infestation during or after production (segregation, pest-free inputs).
Pest exclusion measures can include standard commercial practices that are considered during pest risk assessment. They are commonly applied as phytosanitary measures, including during production (e.g. protected cropping) and to help manage the risk of post-harvest infestation.