Overview
Inspect commodity units that are profiled as being at greater risk of being infested, and remove or treat those with evidence of being infested.
- Examples of risk-based grading include inspection of sea containers or passengers’ luggage that have recently had elevated exposure to the pest.
- Efficacy of risk-based grading depends on the likelihood that any infested units that may be present are selected for inspection, and on how easily any infested units that are categorised as high risk can be detected.
- Risk-based grading is often used by importing jurisdictions to prioritise their inspection activities. It is rarely used as a phytosanitary measure.
- Confidence in risk-based grading undertaken by the importing jurisdiction can be gained by ongoing analysis of inspection data, and conducting studies to increase confidence in the criteria used for selecting units for inspection.
Evidence to support efficacy
Evidence is required to support the criteria that is used to select the subset of units for inspection. These criteria need to maximise the chance that any infested units will be inspected. Criteria will depend on the pathway, but could include seasonal environmental factors, movement history that may affect pest exposure, physical properties of the commodity or goods that may affect infestation risk, and pathway compliance history. Evidence to support the selection criteria can be obtained from empirical studies, and through regular audit and review of existing risk-profiling criteria. Predictive analytics developed from inspection data can also potentially be applied.
As in symptom grading, evidence is also needed to demonstrate that the inspection method being used to either detect the presence of the pest, or evidence of the pest being present, is sufficiently sensitive.
Evidence is also required to demonstrate that the remedial action applied to a unit that has been identified as infested is effective at removing the phytosanitary risk imposed by that unit. Remedial actions may include removal of the unit, or part-thereof, or treatment of the infested unit.
Applying the measure
How it is used
Risk-based grading is most commonly used where individual units within a class of commodity or carrier (e.g. sea containers) have attributes that allow them to be categorised according to risk of being infested. It is relevant where inspection is costly or logistically challenging, and where any remedial action can be, or is most readily, restricted to infested units.
Risk-based grading is mostly applied at the border by importing jurisdictions to manage risks associated with pests on imported goods. For example, sea containers, ships, aircraft, vehicles and machinery can be risk-profiled for inspection according to factors such as prior exposure risk to the pest (e.g. time of year and locations container has recently been to), vulnerability (e.g. particular categories of goods) and the compliance history of the trading business. Details to support risk profiling may need to be provided by trading businesses. Passage of the infested unit may be permitted after treatment of the risk.
Similar principles can also be applied to passenger luggage. Here, luggage may be profiled according to its risk of carrying hosts (e.g. living plant material) or a carrier (e.g. soil) of quarantine pests. Factors may include prior travelling history (e.g. whether passengers recently undertook outdoor activities in rural areas in high-risk countries).
Risk-based grading has been applied for managing the risk of a hitchhiker pests entering Australian in ships and goods. For instance, ships identified as having a heightened risk of being infested with brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB, Halyomorpha halys) are required to undertake pre-arrival reporting and are assigned a risk category by the department based on a range of factors such as country of origin, time of year and types of goods being transported.
Use with other measures
Risk-based grading to inform at the border inspections can be used to reward businesses that effectively manage phytosanitary risks (compliance-based inspections). This can include businesses that voluntarily undertake commercial practices that reduce the risk of pest movement (e.g. holding sea containers under secure conditions), or have a strong history of complying with phytosanitary requirements.
Similar measures
Risk-based grading and symptom grading differ in that only units (e.g. sea containers, ships or luggage) that meet criteria for having an elevated risk of being infested are inspected. For symptom grading, all units are inspected and symptom grading can occur before a consignment is formed.
Risk-based grading and inspection with remedial action both involve inspection of a subset of individual units. However, they differ in that pest or symptom detection only affects the inspected unit when undertaking risk-based grading, but the entire consignment (e.g. shipload of sea containers) in the latter. In practice, the distinction between these two measures may not always be clear cut. For example, in some cases detection of an infested unit when risk-based grading may lead to higher intensity inspection of associated units (e.g. sea containers or vehicles in the same shipment), and in rare cases the treatment of all units if isolation of the pest to inspected units cannot be confirmed.
Risk-based grading is different to limiting trade to less vulnerable hosts or carriers because the passage of higher-risk units is still permitted following inspection if no evidence of pest presence is detected. Also, factors other than host vulnerability can be considered when risk-profiling.
Assurance of correct implementation
Risk-based grading, through risk profiling to identify high-risk commodity units or goods for inspection, is typically conducted by the NPPO or relevant authority of the importing jurisdiction. Where there are requirements for enhanced surveillance or remedial actions, then assurance can be achieved by record-keeping and audit of those records by authorised personnel. Records of inspections as well as pest detections, pest identifications and nay remedial actions may be required.