Quarantine has long been regarded as a national concern dealing with the protection of production potential and the preservation of the natural environment. It is now being applied to export as much as to import systems, and is viewed as a matter for international agreement.
With increasing world trade in plant products and concern over plant pests, more agricultural agencies are linking quarantine with the maintenance of market access. The entry of plant products to overseas markets is dependent on legal access, which in turn involves the health status of the exporting nation. Hence, to export effectively, a nation should control, contain and, where possible, exclude important pests. Thus, quarantine activities become closely integrated with export systems.
The efforts of quarantine agencies to exclude major pests can lead to the development of such strict import 'regulations' that they are perceived to be unjustifiable trade barriers.
Despite the efforts of quarantine regulatory officials to create satisfactory import specifications and of produce inspectors in checking compliance, the import systems commonly used for plant produce have considerable risks of pest entry.
Techniques used to decrease this risk include:
· Specifying a quarantine treatment to be used prior to the product leaving the country of export;· Sending inspectors from the importing nation to examine the product before export; and
· Incorporating these methods with governmental assurances endorsed on a plant health certificate. However, these have not always provided the security required where critically important quarantine pests are concerned.
Factors contributing to the failure of systems to guarantee the export of pest-free products include:
· A poor understanding by the exporting nation of the importing nation's priorities and the rating of pests;· Insufficient detailed definition of the treatment required;
· No indication of the measures taken by the importing nation in the event of non-compliance with import requirements; and
· No accountability at a senior government official level;
· A lack of a formal means of negotiating agreement on the pest list, treatment(s), and contingencies.
