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The Observatory, or a New Tool in the Toolbox of
the IPPC Community

The IPPC needs no presentation to this audience. It is an international standard-setting body (ISSB)
that does what it is supposed to do: developing and adopting international standards on phytosanitary
measures (ISPMs) that provide guidance to its Contracting Parties (CPs) on how to conduct their plant
health activities, which in turn allows for a more predictable and safer trade of plant products
internationally.

What may be less known is that the Convention also contains provisions to encourage the
development of guidance to ensure its proper and consistent implementation by its CPs, as well as
developing their capacity to do so. It is with that in mind that the Implementation and Capacity
Development Committee (IC) was established in 2017. When I am trying to explain the role of the IC, I
often make the following oversimplified remark: making rules (ISPMs) is a crucial activity of the IPPC,
however, if no one has the same understanding of the rules, nor has the capacity to comply to the
rules, then rule-making becomes challenging (I might also have said “pointless” at times).

The work of the IPPC has indeed shifted more and more towards implementation over recent years,
and the IPPC Observatory is one of the most recent tools added to the implementation toolbox to
assess the ability of countries to implement the Convention.

What is the Observatory?
The IPPC Observatory was first established in 2011 under the name of Implementation Review and
Support System (IRSS), and has been largely funded by the European Commission over three cycles
of three years each. The mission of the IRSS then included the analysis of the implementation of the
Convention and of its ISPMs to identify gaps, but also identify the underlying causes and provide
assistance to address those gaps.

With the establishment of the IC, the “assistance part” of the IRSS more or less overlapped with the
mandate of the IC itself. In an attempt to streamline implementation activities, the IC determined that
the IRSS should limit its scope to analyzing the implementation, make recommendations, and to leave
it up to the IC to determine what is the best course of action to address the gaps, be it developing a
specific guide, workshop, etc. This was presented to the CPM which adopted the proposal.

With a shortened scope and a better defined mission, also came a new name, the IPPC Observatory,
which is probably a better descriptor of its mission than a difficult of an acronym.

Since the establishment of the IRSS, fifteen studies have been published. In 2022 alone, eight new
desk studies were conducted on topics that affect the implementation of the IPPC, and most of which
will be published in 2023. Examples include: studies on the use of IPPC Diagnostic Protocols, on Risk
-based Border Management, and on the successes and challenges of implementation of pest free
areas.

How is it different from other IPPC initiatives?
At its core, the IPPC Observatory focuses on providing data and information about implementation
challenges. The IPPC Observatory is meant to answer pointed questions about the state of the

March 2023 -Vol 43 (1) 11