The Focus Group convened at the request of the IPPC's governing body made recommendations for improving the IPPC standard setting process, including delegating the development of diagnostic protocols to the IPPC Standards Committee and developing a framework for Standards.
August 2011: The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) has published a set of recommendations developed by a focus group, aimed at improving the IPPC standard setting process.
The focus group concluded that the current procedures already provide a thorough, transparent and consensus-based standard setting process, but it recommended that the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM), the IPPC Governing Body, consider a set of additional recommendations. They include: delegating the authority to adopt diagnostic protocols to the Standards Committee; assigning regional coordinators, within the Standards Committee, for each FAO region; developing a framework for standards; and maintaining a single standard setting process, with slight modifications for technical standards.
The Focus Group on Improving the IPPC Standard Setting Process was convened in July 2011, at the request of the sixth session of the CPM. [IPPC News Release]