Overview
Provides the required confidence that a target pest does not occur within a designated area, thereby allowing trade to occur from within that area.
- PFAs are most often used for high-risk pests that are easier to detect and eradicate, and applied to high-value agricultural areas where the pest has been successfully eradicated.
- Once a PFA is established, ongoing surveillance is used to verify pest freedom and to detect new pest populations. If an outbreak is detected, corrective actions are taken to eradicate the outbreak and reinstate pest freedom. Surveillance design, and any corrective actions, need to match the risk level of the pest in accordance with ISPM 04.
- A PFA measure is typically applied as a standalone phytosanitary measure for export, but can be combined with additional dependent measures within the PFA to limit the risk of pests entering and establishing. A PFA measure is only needed if technically justified, and not needed if the pest status is “absent” in accordance with ISPM 08.
- Assurance can be achieved through record-keeping and physical audit, or direct oversight, of key components of the PFA by the NPPO or relevant authority of the exporting jurisdiction.
Evidence to support efficacy
Evidence is required to demonstrate that the designated area is pest-free when the PFA is established and that the design of the PFA measure is sufficient to maintain and verify pest freedom. An effective corrective action plan must be in place in case of an outbreak, with evidence to support the criteria for declaring, delimiting, and eradicating an outbreak. Evidence is also required to show that the agreed actions to eradicate an outbreak and reinstate pest free status are effective.
Evidence supporting the establishment of a PFA can include “specific surveys”, such as detection and delimitation surveys, as well as “general surveillance”, which includes scientific and trade journals, unpublished historical data, expert knowledge, and contemporary observational data (ISPM 04). The strength of the evidence required, and therefore the level of confidence in pest freedom, should be calibrated to the pest risk to the importing jurisdiction, as determined by a pest risk analysis.
Verifying that pest freedom has been maintained requires ongoing surveillance. Survey design should consider the availability of practical and sensitive survey techniques, the likelihood that the pest will be introduced into the PFA and establish, and the level of governance and oversight. For example, more structured and intensive surveys are needed if the risk of the pest is high, the likelihood of an incursion is high, or if the pest is difficult to detect with current techniques or is challenging to eradicate. If the risk of incursion is very high, then a PFA may not be a feasible measure option.
During an outbreak situation, the PFA status for all or part of the designated area will be suspended. The criteria for declaring and delimiting an outbreak, and subsequently reinstating pest freedom, can be supported by modelling, past examples of eradication, expert opinion and an understanding of pest biology. Pest detection thresholds can be set for both corrective actions and declaration of an outbreak. Responding to an outbreak involves conducting a delimitation survey and eradicating the pest, both of which must be practical to implement. Delimitation surveys require targeted, intensive surveys within a predefined area around the detection. Corrective action and eradication methods will depend on available management tools and on public acceptance of using these methods (e.g. pesticides) over potentially large areas. Reinstating the status of the PFA will require evidence demonstrating that the pest is eradicated and absent from the designated area for a defined period of time.
The design of a PFA measure may need to be reevaluated periodically as risks can change over time (e.g. in incursions risks, or changes in land use or climate). This can be supported by historical data on surveillance, detected outbreaks and outbreak responses.
Applying the measure
How it is used
PFAs are used to facilitate exports by removing the need for additional phytosanitary measures if certain requirements are met. If multiple commodities are a host for the pest, then the same PFA can be recognised as a measure for all of them.
PFAs are often used after a pest has been successfully eradicated. They are easier to apply where the likelihood of a new pest introduction is low, such as in isolated areas or adjacent to PFAs in neighbouring countries. They are also more easily applied for pests that are readily detected and that are poor at dispersing.
Operational costs and complexity can be high if pests are likely to be introduced to the area, or where high survey effort is needed to detect new pest populations quickly enough. Here, PFAs may be limited to high-risk quarantine pests such as some fruit fly species, and to high-value, export-focused agricultural regions.
Use with other measures
A PFA measure can be used as a standalone phytosanitary measure for export. However, PFAs are often combined with supporting or dependent measures applied within the production area to prevent the introduction of the pest. These additional dependent measures include movement restrictions on certain high-risk products or goods (pest free inputs) into the PFA, and buffer zone measures to protect the PFA from natural pest dispersal. Where the PFA is a jurisdiction (e.g. country, state or territory), movement restrictions can include imposing strict phytosanitary import requirements on imported hosts or carriers.
Segregation and safeguarding measures, such as secure packaging, may be required if the commodity exits the designated PFA, prior to export, for processing, packaging, storage or transporting.
Similar measures
A PFA differs from a Pest Free Site measure (Pest Free Place of Production (PFPP)/Pest Free Production Site (PFPS), ISPM 10) in terms of geographic scale, duration of pest free status, and outbreak consequences. Whereas a PFA is generally maintained over multiple years without interruption, the pest free status of a registered site may be maintained for only one or a few growing seasons. A key difference is that any business trading under a PFA measure may lose market access if the overall PFA is suspended, or if the business is within a declared outbreak zone, even if a pest is not detected on an individual registered site.
The PFA measure should be distinguished from the designated pest status (ISPM 08) of a country or area within a country. “Pest absent”, for instance, is a pest status category, whereas a “Pest Free Area” is a phytosanitary measure as well as being a pest status descriptor. A PFA measure is not required if the target pest status in an area is “absent”, meaning that the pest has not been recorded in the exporting country, or has been successfully eradicated, as supported by survey data and expert judgement.
Assurance of correct implementation
A PFA measure requires good governance and coordination to establish and maintain. Detailed records of key components of the PFA must be kept, and may be audited by authorised personnel with oversight by the NPPO or relevant authority of the exporting jurisdiction. These records may include:
- surveillance records to provide assurance that the surveillance program has been conducted in accordance with approved guidelines and procedures
- confirmation that outbreaks are triggered, managed and the status of the area reinstated as agreed
- confirmation that additional supporting or dependent measures like buffer zones are correctly implemented
- requirements for consignment labelling to allow trace back and ensure that the consignment originates within the PFA.
A pre-export inspection measure, with associated sampling records, may be applied on exported consignments to provide additional assurance that the PFA measure is working, with consequences for the status of the PFA if the pest is found.
Official recognition of a PFA is on a bilateral basis. The NPPO of the exporting jurisdiction will provide a request for recognition of the PFA to the NPPO of the importing jurisdiction, with the supporting evidence for pest freedom provided in an accompanying technical information package. Following a documented verification process, the importing jurisdiction will provide a final decision on the recognition of the PFA in accordance with ISPM 29.