About us

Membership

Twenty five countries are currently members of the Commission:

Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Fiji, France, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Samoa (Western), Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Viet Nam

Structure and organization

The Plant Protection Agreement for Asia and Pacific Region is an intergovernmental treaty and administered by the Asia and Pacific Plant Protection Commission. The Commission consists of representatives of all member countries and elects amongst them a Chairperson who serves for a period of two years. The Director-General of Food and Agriculture Organization appoints and provides the secretariat that coordinates, organizes and follows up the work of the Commission. The Commission, according to its provisions convenes at least once for every two years and opens for participation to all member countries. For implementation of the Agreement, the Commission has established four standing committees, namely:

Agreement

The Plant Protection Agreement for the Asia and Pacific Region (formerly the Plant Protection Agreement for South-East Asia and Pacific Region) was approved by the 23rd Session of the FAO Council in November 1955 and entered into force on 2 July 1956. The FAO Council approved amendments to the Agreement in 1967, 1979, 1983 and 1999. Some of these amendments have entered into force for all Contracting Governments while others only with respect to the Contracting Governments that have actually accepted those amendments. (For details, please visit http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/legal/docs/006t1-e.pdf

Amendments to the Agreement

i. At its 49th Session (November 1967), the FAO Council approved an amendment to extend the geographical scope of the Region. This amendment came into force with respect to all Contracting Governments on 16 August 1969.

ii. At its 75th Session (June 1979), the FAO Council approved the deletion of the words "South East" in the title of the Agreement and the change of the name of the Commission to read "Asia and Pacific Plant Protection Commission". These amendments came into force with respect to all Contracting Governments on 16 February 1983.

iii. At its 84th Session (November 1983), the FAO Council approved two sets of amendments to the Agreement related to the following issues:

An amendment to the definition of the Region in Article I in order to include the People's Republic of China in the definition of the Region. This amendment came into force with respect to all Contracting Governments on 23 May 1990.
he introduction of mandatory contributions in order to finance certain activities of the Commission. As this entails new obligations for the Contracting Governments. Therefore, as provided for in paragraph 4 of Article IX, these amendments came into force on the thirtieth day after acceptance by two-thirds of the Contracting Governments, i.e. on 4 September 2009, but only with respect to the Contracting Governments that have actually accepted these amendments (see the table below). These amendments remain open for acceptance by the remaining Contracting Governments. With the entry into force of the amendments referred to above, there are currently two versions of the Agreement in force for two different sets of Contracting Governments
1. The Agreement as approved in 1955 and amended in 1967, 1979 and in 1983 (to include the People’s Republic of China in the definition of the Region) which is binding for seven Contracting Governments; and
2. The Agreement as approved in 1955 and amended in 1967, 1979 and in 1983 (to include the People’s Republic of China in the definition of the Region and to introduce mandatory contributions) which is binding for seventeen Contracting Governments including Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam. The amended agreement is available on the site http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/legal/docs/006t2-e.pdf

The FAO Director-General has transmitted certified copies of the amended Agreement to the Secretariat of the United Nations for registration in conformity with the Regulations adopted by the General Assembly to give effect to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations.

iv.At its 117th Session (November 1999), the FAO Council approved another two sets of amendments to the Agreement which are open for acceptance by the Contracting Governments.

The first set of amendments “designed to bring the Plant Protection Agreement for Asia and the Pacific into line with the newly revised text of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) as well as other modern requirements of plant protection and to strengthen the Commission” wwas transmitted for acceptance to the Contracting Governments in June 2000. This set of amendments remains open for acceptance and, as it does not entail new obligations, shall come into force with respect to all Contracting Governments as from the thirtieth day after acceptance by two-thirds of such Contracting Governments.
The second set of amendments approved in 1999 provides for the deletion from the Agreement of measures to exclude the “South American Leaf Blight of Hevea” from the Region. However, the FAO Council decided that such amendments would not be transmitted for acceptance until such time as a satisfactory regional standard on South American Leaf Blight of Hevea had been adopted by the APPPC. This standard was adopted by the Commission at its 26th Session, New Delhi, August-September 2009. Therefore, the FAO Director-General has transmitted for acceptance a certified true copy of the amendments as approved by the Council. As these amendments do not entail new obligations, they shall come into force with respect to all Contracting Governments as from the thirtieth day after acceptance by two-thirds of such Contracting Governments.

In sum, there are three sets of amendments open for acceptance by the Contracting Governments as follows (depending on country status):

Acceptance of 1983 amendments regarding mandatory contributions;
Acceptance of 1999 amendments designed to bring the Agreement in line with the IPPC and the SPS Agreement; and
Acceptance of 1999 amendments deleting measures to exclude “South American Leaf Blight of Hevea” from the region.

In order to facilitate as far as possible a process of acceptance of a consolidated Agreement thereby reducing the inconvenience of several legal regimes, the Director-General has transmitted for acceptance a copy of the Agreement which incorporates the amendments approved by the Council in 1983 and 1999 (Annex IV).

For more details, please download Doc #1/10, Doc #2/10, and Doc #1/11 (for Annex IV).

You can also download the sample instrument of adherence by APPPC members.