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Plant Protection Agreement for the Asia and the Pacific [1956] PITSE 1 (27 February 1956)

PLANT PROTECTION AGREEMENT FOR THE ASIA AND PACIFIC REGION

(Rome, 27 February 1956)

ENTRY INTO FORCE : 02 JULY 1956

Depositary : Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations

The Contracting Governments, desiring to prevent, through concerted action, the introduction into and spread within the Asia and Pacific Region of destructive plant diseases and pests, have concluded the following Agreement, which is a supplementary agreement under Article III of the International Plant Protection Convention of 1951:

Article I

Definitions

In this Agreement and in the appendices hereto, the following terms shall have the meaning hereby assigned to them, save as otherwise provided:

(a) "The Asia and Pacific Region, hereinafter called 'The Region' comprises all territories in Asia, east of the western boundary of Pakistan and of the western boundary of China and south of the northern boundary of China and west of the eastern boundary of China, together with all those territories in the Pacific Ocean, the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean situated wholly or partly in the Area bounded by longitude 100° East, latitude 45° South, longitude 130° West, latitude 38° North to the point of its intersection with the eastern coast of China."

(b) "plant" or "plants" means all species of plants or parts thereof, whether living or dead (including stems, branches, tubers, bulbs, corms, stocks, budwood, cuttings, layers, slips, suckers, roots, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, and any other parts of plants);

(c) "territory" means a State or Territory within the Region defined in (a) above;

(d) "the Organization" means the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations;

(e) "the Commission" means the Asia and Pacific Plant Protection Commission established in pursuance of Article II of this Agreement.

Article II

Regional Commission

1. The Contracting Governments hereby establish a regional Commission, to be known as the Asia and Pacific Plant Protection Commission, whose functions shall include:

(a) the determination of procedures and arrangements necessary for the implementation of this Agreement and the making of recommendations to the Contracting Governments accordingly;

(b) the review of reports submitted by the Contracting Governments of progress in the implementation of this Agreement;

(c) the consideration of problems requiring cooperation on a regional basis and of measures for mutual assistance.

2. Each Contracting Government shall be represented on the Commission and shall have one vote. A majority of the Contracting Governments shall constitute a quorum. Decisions of the Commission shall be taken by a majority of the votes cast except as otherwise provided in this Agreement.

3. The Commission shall meet whenever convened by the Director-General of the Organization after consultation with the Chairman of the Commission. The Director-General of the Organization shall convene the Commission at least once every two years or when so requested by at least one third of the Contracting Governments.

4. The Commission shall elect from amongst the delegates a Chairman who shall serve for a period of two years or until the first session of the Commission held after the expiration of the period of two years. The Chairman shall be eligible for reelection.

5. Expenses incurred by delegates of Contracting Governments in attending sessions of the Commission shall be determined and paid by their respective Governments. The Director-General of the Organization shall appoint and provide the secretariat of the Commission from the staff of the Organization who shall serve only during the sessions of the Commission. The expenses of the secretariat of the Commission shall be determined and paid by the Organization.

6. The Commission shall establish its own rules of procedure.

Article III

Measures Regarding the Importation of Plants from Outside the Region

For the purpose of preventing the introduction into its territory or territories of destructive diseases and pests, and in particular those listed in Appendix A to this Agreement, each Contracting Government shall use its best endeavours to apply, with respect to the importation of any plants, including their packings and containers, and any packings and containers of plant origin, from anywhere outside the Region, such measures of prohibition, certification, inspection, disinfection, disinfestation, quarantine, destruction or other measures as may be recommended by the Commission, taking into consideration the provisions of Articles V and VI of the International Plant Protection Convention.

Appendix A to this Agreement may be modified by a decision of the Commission.

Article IV

Measures to Exclude South American Leaf Blight of Hevea from the Region

In view of the importance of the Hevea rubber industry in the Region, and of the danger of introducing the destructive South American leaf blight (Dothidella ulei) of the Hevea rubber tree, the Contracting Governments shall take the measures specified in Appendix B to this Agreement. Appendix B to this Agreement may be modified by a decision of the Commission taken unanimously.

Article V

Measures Regarding Movement of Plants within the Region

For the purpose of preventing the spread within the Region of destructive diseases and pests, each Contracting Government shall use its best endeavours to apply, with respect to the importation into its territory of any plants, including packings and containers, and any packings and containers of plant origin, from another territory within the Region, such measures of prohibition, certification, inspection, disinfection, disinfestation, quarantine, destruction or other measures as may be recommended by the Commission, in addition to measures already adopted by each Contracting Government.

Article VI

General Exemption

This Agreement shall not apply to the following plants and plant products except insofar as any such plants or plant products are explicitly made subject to specific measures of control provided in this Agreement or recommended by the Commission:

(a) any plants imported for food or for analytical, medicinal or manufacturing purposes;

(b) all seeds of annual or biennial field crops or vegetables, and all seeds or cut flowers of annual, biennial or perennial ornamental plants which are essentially herbaceous in character; and

(c) any processed plant products.

Article VII

Settlement of Disputes

If there be any dispute regarding the interpretation or implementation of this Agreement, or regarding action taken by any Contracting Government under this Agreement, and such dispute cannot be resolved by the Commission, the Government or Governments concerned may request the Director-General of the Organization to appoint a committee of experts to consider such dispute.

Article VIII

Rights and Obligations of Contracting Governments not Parties to the International Plant Protection Convention

Nothing in the International Plant Protection Convention shall affect the rights and obligations of Contracting Governments which are not parties to the Convention.

Article IX

Amendment

1. Any proposal by a Contracting Government for the amendment of this Agreement, except Appendices A and B, shall be communicated, through the Commission, to the Director-General of the Organization.

2. Any proposed amendment of this Agreement received by the Director-General of the Organization shall be presented to a session of the Council of the Organization for approval.

3. Notice of any proposed amendment of this Agreement shall be transmitted to the Contracting Governments by the Director-General of the Organization not later than the time when the agenda of the session of the Council at which the matter is to be considered is despatched.

4. Any such amendment of this Agreement, approved by the Council of the Organization, shall come into force with respect to all Contracting Governments as from the thirtieth day after acceptance by two-thirds of the Contracting Governments. Amendments involving new obligations for Contracting Governments, however, shall come into force in respect of each Contracting Government only on acceptance by it and as from the thirtieth day after such acceptance.

5. The instruments of acceptance of amendments shall be deposited with the Director-General of the Organization. The effective date of acceptance shall be the date of such deposit. The Director-General of the Organization shall inform all Contracting Governments of the receipt of acceptances and the entry into force of amendments.

Article X

Signature and Adherence

1. The Government of any State situated in the Region, or any Government which is responsible for the international relations of a territory or territories in the Region, may become a party to this Agreement, by either

(a) signature; or

(b) signature subject to ratification followed by such ratification; or

(c) adherence.

Governments may not subject their signature, ratification or adherence to any reservation.

2. This Agreement, the text of which was approved by the Council of the Organization on 26 November 1955, shall be open for signature until 30 June 1956 or until the date of its entry into force in conformity with the provisions of Article XI, paragraph 1, whichever date is the later. The Director-General of the Organization shall immediately inform all signatory Governments of the signature of this Agreement by any other Government. Ratification shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument of ratification with the Director-General of the Organization and shall become effective as from the date of deposit.

3. This Agreement shall be open for adherence as from 1 July 1956 or from the date of its entry into force in conformity with the provisions of Article XI, paragraph 1, whichever date is the later. Adherence shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument of adherence with the Director-General of the Organization and shall become effective as from the date of deposit.

4. The Director-General of the Organization shall immediately inform all signatory and adhering Governments of the deposit of an instrument of ratification or of adherence.

Article XI

Entry into Force

1. This Agreement shall come into force as soon as three Governments have become parties to it, either by signature, or by signature subject to ratification followed by such ratification.

2. The Director-General of the Organization shall notify all signatory Governments of the date of entry into force of this Agreement.

Article XII

Denunciation and Termination

1. Any Contracting Government may, at any time after the expiration of one year from the date on which it became a party to the Agreement, or from the date on which the Agreement entered into force, whichever is the later, denounce this Agreement by notification addressed to the Director-General of the Organization, who shall at once inform all signatory and adhering Governments of the denunciation.

2. The denunciation shall take effect one year from the date of receipt of the notification by the Director-General of the Organization.

3. This Agreement shall automatically be terminated should the parties to it become fewer than three as the result of denunciations.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, duly authorized to that effect, have signed this Agreement on behalf of their respective Governments on the dates appearing opposite their signatures.

DONE at Rome on the twenty-seventh day of February one thousand nine hundred and fifty-six in two copies in the English, French and Spanish languages, which languages shall be equally authoritative. The text of this Agreement shall be authenticated by the Chairman of the Council of the Organization and the Director-General of the Organization. After expiry of the period during which the Agreement is open for signature, in accordance with Article X, paragraph 2, one copy of the Agreement shall be deposited with the secretary-general of the United Nations and the other in the archives of the Organization. Additional copies of this text shall be certified by the Director-General of the Organization and furnished to all Governments parties to the Agreement, with the indication of the date on which it has come into force.

APPENDIX A

LIST OF DESTRUCTIVE PESTS AND DISEASESNOT YET ESTABLISHED IN THE ASIA AND PACIFIC REGION AS AMENDED BY THE FIRST, SECOND, THIRD AND SIXTH SESSIONS OF THE COMMISSION

COCOA (Theobroma cacao)

CASSAVA (Manihot esculenta)

CITRUS (Citrus spp.)

COCONUT (Cocos nucifera)

COFFEE (Coffea spp.)

COTTON (Gossypium spp.)

HEVEA RUBBER (Hevea brasiliensis)

MAIZE (Zea mays)

OIL PALM (Elaeis guineensis)

PAPAYA (Carica papaya)

POTATO (Solanum tuberosum)

RICE (Oryza sativa)

SUGAR CANE (Saccharum spp.)

SWEET POTATO (Ipomoea batatas)

TEA (Thea sinensis)

TOBACCO (Nicotiana spp.)

TOMATO (Lycopersicum esculentum)

TUNG (Aleurites fordii)

APPENDIX B

MEASURES TO EXCLUDE SOUTH AMERICAN LEAF BLIGHT
OF HEVEA FROM THE REGION

1. In this Appendix –

(a) "the American tropics" means those parts of the continent of America, including adjacent islands, which are bounded by the Tropic of Capricorn (latitude 23 1/2ºS) and the Tropic of Cancer (latitude 23 1/2ºN) and the meridians of longitude 30ºW and 120ºW, and includes the part of Mexico north of the Tropic of Cancer;

(b) "Competent Authority" means the officer or Government Department or other agency, which each Contracting Government recognizes as its authority for the purpose of this Appendix.

2. Each Contracting Government shall prohibit by law the importation into its territory or territories of any plant or plants of the genus Hevea from outside the Region, unless

(a) the importation is made for scientific purpose; and

(b) written permission has been granted for each consignment of plant or plants by the Competent Authority of the importing territory or territories and the importation is in accordance with such special conditions as may be imposed by the Competent Authority in granting such permission; and

(c) the plant or plants have been disinfected and freed of any original soil in the country of origin in a manner acceptable to the Competent Authority of the importing territory and are free from pests and diseases, and each consignment of plant or plants is accompanied or covered by a certificate to the effect that the above requirements have been fulfilled, and signed by an appropriate authority in the country of origin; and

(d) each consignment is addressed to and is received by the Competent Authority of the importing territory.

3. Each Contracting Government shall prohibit by law the importation into its territory or territories of any plant or plants of the genus Hevea capable of further growth or propagation (excluding seed) from the American tropics or from any other country in which South American leaf blight (Dothidella ulei) is present, unless, in addition to the requirements of paragraph 2 of this Appendix, at a place approved by the Competent Authority of the importing territory and situated outside the Region and outside the American tropics and any other country in which South American leaf blight (Dothidella ulei) is present, such plant or plants have been grown for an adequate period at a plant quarantine station for Hevea and each consignment of such plant or plants is accompanied or covered by a certificate to the effect that the above requirements have been fulfilled, and signed by the officer-in-charge of such quarantine station.

4. Each Contracting Government shall prohibit by law the importation into its territory or territories of any seed of any plant of the genus Hevea from the American tropics or from any other country in which South American leaf blight (Dothidella ulei) is present, unless, in addition to the requirements of paragraph 2 of this Appendix, such seed, having been examined and again disinfected at a place approved by the Competent Authority of the importing territory and situated outside the Region and outside the American tropics and any other country in which South American leaf blight (Dothidella ulei) is present, has been repacked with new packing materials in new containers, and unless each consignment of such seed is accompanied or covered by a certificate to the effect that the above requirements have been fulfilled, and signed by the officer-in-charge of these operations.

5. Each Contracting Government shall prohibit by law the importation into its territory or territories of any plant or plants of the genus Hevea not capable of further growth or propagation (such as fresh or dried herbarium specimens); unless, in addition to the requirements of subparagraphs (a), (b) and (d) of paragraph 2 of this Appendix, the Competent Authority of the importing country is satisfied that such plant or plants are required for a legitimate special purpose and that such plant or plants have been sterilized in the country of origin by a method satisfactory to the said Competent Authority.

6. Each Contracting Government shall prohibit by law the importation into its territory or territories of any plant or plants other than the genus Hevea, capable of further growth or propagation and originating in the American tropics or in any other country in which South American leaf blight (Dothidella ulei) is present, unless written permission has been granted for each consignment of such plant or plants by the Competent Authority of the importing territory or territories and the importation is in accordance with such special conditions as may be imposed by the Competent Authority in granting such permission.

7. The Competent Authority of any territory or territories into which any plant or plants of the genus Hevea are imported for further growth or propagation shall ensure that such plant or plants are grown under control for such period as will ensure that such plant or plants are free from all pests and diseases before they are released.