A new direction for phytosanitary risk management

Abstract The first century of phytosanitary risk management relied on trade restrictive fixed-point mitigation aimed at preventing entry of pests at the port-of-entry. The SPS Agreement in 1994 accelerated the evolution of trade liberalization through risk management with its risk orientation that lead to the IPPC's system approaches. System approaches have shown the promise of safe trade through an expanded continuum of risk management measures. The logical end state for stakeholders to international trade in plant and plant products is an integrated-holistic approach. This would include integrating the three current risk management silos (importers, NPPOs, exporters) across the entire supply chain and considering the effectiveness of all risk management measures taken, at any point in the supply chain whether voluntary or required. This will expand the risk manager's toolbox significantly, providing finer levels of granularity of control of invasive pests, and expanded trade at reduced costs. It will also require rather revolutionary collaboration between government and industry.