Guidelines for Protection Against South American Leaf Blight of Rubber

<p>The RSPM No. 7 provides guidelines for members of the APPPC, particularly rubber growing countries. The objective of this standard is to assist them to improve or develop their phytosanitary measures against South American leaf blight of rubber (SALB), including entry prevention, spread and establishment. SALB, the rubber&rsquo;s most destructive disease, is caused by the fungus Microcyclus ulei (P. Henn) v. Arx. Apart from being a major constraint in rubber production, the disease could cause great damage to economies. This has been recognized since the establishment of the Plant Protection Agreement for Asia and Pacific region in 1956, as witnessed by the promulgation of Article IV and Appendix B to the Agreement which dealt specifically with SALB. When revising the Agreement in 1999 to bring it in line with the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, the 1956 provisions relating to SALB were found to be inconsistent. As a result, a pest risk analysis (PRA) for SALB was developed by APPPC members. Accepted by the 25th session of the APPPC in August 2007, the SALB PRA serves as the guideline to develop this standard on SALB. The standard was adopted by the 26th Session of APPPC which was held from 31 August &ndash; 4 September 2009, in New Delhi, India. At the 27th Session of APPPC held in Manila, Philippines, from 15-19 August 2011, the meeting decided to add the Appendix 5 &quot;Importation Requirements for Hevea Plant Materia&quot; to this standard.</p>