Overview
Provides the required confidence in low pest prevalence within the designated area, thereby allowing trade to occur from within that area.
- ALPP measures are most commonly used where pest prevalence in the area is already expected to be low, for example in an outbreak zone within a Pest Free Area (PFA), or in a buffer zone protecting a PFA.
- Once an ALPP is established, surveillance is used to verify low pest prevalence, with procedures in place to manage pest populations if agreed thresholds for low pest prevalence (or specified pest levels) are exceeded. The survey design and the threshold criteria for low pest prevalence need to match the risk of the pest, in accordance with ISPM 22.
- An ALPP is normally applied when there is already confidence that pest prevalence is low. It can be used as a stand-alone measure or combined with other additional measures to manage pest risks.
- Verification and assurance can be achieved through record-keeping and physical audit, or direct oversight, of key components of an ALPP by the NPPO or relevant authority of the exporting jurisdiction.
Evidence to support efficacy
When establishing an ALPP, a low pest prevalence threshold needs to be agreed upon, with supporting evidence to demonstrate that pest levels are below this threshold across the designated area. Maintaining an ALPP requires ongoing surveillance to verify that pest prevalence remains below the agreed levels. Evidence is also required to demonstrate the efficacy of any corrective actions taken to restore pest populations to acceptable levels if the thresholds are exceeded.
Evidence to support the establishment of an ALPP can include surveillance data, publications on climate modelling and pest distributions, expert knowledge and historical data (ISPM 22). The evidence to support the establishment of an ALPP should provide an appropriate level of confidence, to the importing country, that pests can be detected with sufficient precision if present at low densities within the designated area.
Maintaining an ALPP requires ongoing surveillance to verify low pest prevalence and inform the need for corrective actions if thresholds are exceeded. The considerations for survey design are similar to those for PFAs. The survey design needs to be sufficiently sensitive to detect the pest at the specified level with an appropriate level of confidence, and should be tailored to the target pest. Survey effort can be focused where pests are most likely to be detected within the designated area (e.g. ports of entry or cultivated, and in the vicinity of non-cultivated hosts if pests have broad host ranges) or when the commodity is most susceptible to infestation.
Specified thresholds for low pest prevalence should minimise the pest risk to the importing jurisdiction and be practical to achieve. A single threshold is applied across the ALPP, even if it is being applied to hosts that may differ in their vulnerability to infestation. Population indices, such as the number of pests caught per trap over time (e.g. flies/trap/day (FTD)), are commonly used. Threshold criteria are often set based on experience with similar pests and commodities as there is little formal guidance in setting the criteria. Factors that should be considered include, the biology and ecology of the target pest, geographical features of the ALPP, dispersal pathways of the pest, climatic conditions in the ALPP and the design and sensitivity of the surveillance program. The threshold criteria may be higher for poor hosts, or when the ALPP is combined with additional independent phytosanitary measures for export.
Evidence to support the efficacy of corrective actions that are taken when the low pest prevalence threshold is exceeded may be required. A range of corrective action options may be possible (e.g. pesticide use, Sterile Insect Technologies (SIT), control of alternative hosts, or attract and kill techniques). Their suitability and effectiveness will depend on factors such as the pest biology, reproductive potential, host range, and the likely scale of application. The efficacy of these corrective actions can be demonstrated from prior applications under comparable conditions.
If the pest thresholds are exceeded, the ALPP may continue when low pest levels are restored, the area may be redefined to exclude affected regions, or the status of the ALPP may be suspended. Reinstatement requires evidence that pest levels have returned below the threshold and remained stable for an appropriate period of time, or that system failures have been corrected. Similar to the PFA measure, practical methods to delimit and suppress the pest populations, and demonstrate a return to low pest prevalence with sufficient confidence, is also required.
The design and confidence in an ALPP measure may need to be reevaluated periodically as risks can change over time due to changes in land use or climate and the distribution and abundance of the target pest, as is the case for PFAs.
Applying the measure
How it is used
ALPPs can be used where a PFA is not practicable, but where low pest prevalence can be established and maintained throughout the designated area. It is often applied where management interventions are not needed to maintain low pest prevalence. For example, where there are climatic or host constraints. Alternatively, it can be applied in areas under an eradication or suppression programme such as a buffer zone protecting a PFA, or an area within a PFA that has lost its pest free status while corrective actions are being undertaken. Some of these applications, such as an outbreak zone within a PFA, may be at a smaller scale and more temporary then a PFA.
An ALPP measure can be applied as an import requirement for the management of a specific regulated pest on a specific commodity. Here it would apply to all production and supply chain activities that occur within the ALPP. Where multiple commodities can act as a pathway for the pest, then the same ALPP could be recognised as a measure across them all. However, the level of risk reduction achieved may differ between commodities depending on factors such as their vulnerability to the pest.
Use with other measures
ALPPs can be combined with additional dependent or supporting measures that also act to reduce pest prevalence across the designated area. Some, like restricted to poor pest habitat or classical biological control, may simply contribute to the design and feasibility of an ALPP. Others, such as the sterile insect techniques or hygiene (removal of alternative hosts) may be specified as additional phytosanitary measures. Measures that act to reduce the risk of introducing the pest into the ALPP (pest-free inputs) may also be required, but may be less important relative to PFAs.
Additional independent measures will be needed where maintaining pest prevalence below the agreed threshold is not sufficient on its own to reduce risk. For example, an ALPP can be combined in a phytosanitary systems approach with measures to minimise vulnerability to infestation, or measures to reduce infestation rates such as inspection with remedial action or a disinfestation treatment.
Similar measures
ALPP and buffer zone measures are similar, but the beneficiaries differ, and they each reduce risks in different ways. An ALPP benefits businesses within the designated area that may use the measure to facilitate market access, whereas a buffer zone is applied as a dependent measure to help maintain the integrity of an adjacent, designated PFA, ALPP, or Pest Free Site. Note that an ALPP can also serve as a buffer zone surrounding a PFA.
An ALPP differs from restricted to poor pest habitat as it requires surveillance and thresholds to provide confidence in low pest prevalence.
An ALPP differs from Low Pest Prevalence Site (LPPS) measure in terms of geographic scale, duration of low pest prevalence status, and consequences for exceeding the agreed thresholds. A key difference is that any business trading under an ALPP measure may lose market access if the overall ALPP is suspended, even if agreed thresholds are not exceeded on an individual registered site.
Assurance of correct implementation
Like a PFA, an ALPP requires good governance and coordination to establish and maintain. Detailed records of key ALPP components must be kept, and may be audited annually by authorised personnel with oversight by the NPPO of the exporting jurisdiction. These records may include:
- surveillance records to provide assurance that that the surveillance program has been conducted as agreed and in accordance with approved guidelines and procedures
- pest monitoring records confirming that agreed thresholds for low pest levels are not exceeded, and records of any corrective actions that are applied to restore pest levels (e.g. dates of pesticide spraying)
- records of the application and effectiveness of any additional measures such as SIT or post-harvest treatments
- consignment labelling to allow traceability of the consignment to the designated ALPP.
A pre-export phytosanitary inspection of consignments may be required for exported consignments to provide assurance that the ALPP measure is working, with consequences for the status of the ALPP if infestation rates exceed an agreed level.
Official recognition of an ALPP is on a bilateral basis, and the series of steps required for official recognition of the ALPP are similar to those outlined under the PFA measure (ISPM 29). In addition to those steps, the threshold criteria or specified pest levels will need to be established by the NPPO or relevant authority of the exporting jurisdiction, in conjunction with the relevant authority of the importing jurisdiction (ISPM 22).