IPPC ePhyto Solution - PROGRAMME UPDATES October 2025
With 96 countries digitalizing phytosanitary certification in plant trade, the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) has laid out a new roadmap that will further strengthen implementation and monitoring of the IPPC Development Agenda Item: Harmonization of electronic data exchange with the aim of implementing a global system for production and exchange of electronic phytosanitary certificate (ePhyto) information.
An Implementation Package will now provide countries with options on how best to implement the Solution. According to their phytosanitary capacities, IT infrastructure and legislative frameworks. The package includes standardized onboarding process using a uniform assessment tool to help countries assess, decide and anticipate long-term requirements and recover funds as they implement the IPPC ePhyto Solution. This standardization will facilitate transparent and fair costs for implementing the solution globally.
In addition, a regular monitoring process will be set in place to spot issues and support countries in their adoption of ePhyto.
Equally, the IPPC Secretariat is evaluating the list of standing enhancements to keep the solution current, and to modernize and expand functionalities in response to the feedback of countries. A few examples are improvement of the training material, the development of the support of mixed commodities in the ePhyto exchanges, a study on additional declarations harmonization, offline and commercial ePhyto and many more.
Updates on implementation
In July, the IPPC Secretariat, in collaboration with the STOSAR II project, held a regional workshop in the Southern Africa region to train administrators to use and roll out the Generic ePhyto National System (GeNS), a component of the ePhyto Solution for countries who do not have national systems to produce and exchange ePhytos. Participating countries included Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Further, the ePhyto Initiative for Africa has been in place to ease ePhyto implementation in the region. A consortium of partners ensures efforts are not duplicated in the region, including the United Nations International Computing Centre (UNICC), the Inter-African Phytosanitary Council (AU-IAPSC)/African Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation (GATF), Trademark Africa, the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF), and the International Seed Federation. The implementation is structured to effectively deliver the required components with a long-term approach.
The consortium registered its first success by mobilizing EUR three million, with ePhyto implementation being planned for the next three years in six African countries as a teamwork project. Find out more about the initiatives launched by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and GATF through this link.
The IPPC is also boosting its support to implementing countries in the Caribbean Islands by recently hiring a consultant to identify, analyze and provide solution options to inoperability needs of some of the government systems. Collaboration with the World Customs Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development is essential in developing a connection to the ePhyto Hub of countries’ Single Window and Customs (Asycuda) systems.
Also in discussion are ad-hoc support to countries which are close to connecting to the Hub, such as Turkey, Moldova, Guyana and the Bahamas.
Broadening ePhyto’s reach
To bring the ePhyto concept for wider public understanding, the IPPC Secretariat showcased the ePhyto solution during the FAO-led “From Seeds to Foods” Global Exhibition in Rome on 10-13 October, through a short theatrical play. The exhibition brought together more than 300 exhibitors that will feature the journey of plants to foods, with ePhyto featured as a digital innovation that is transforming agricultural production through safe international trade of plants.
As the new ePhyto implementation roadmap is rolled out, the IPPC Secretariat is gearing up for more improved promotions and visibility including publishing regular programme updates, news, Leaders’ blogs and more.
Call for greater financial sustainability for ePhyto
The ePhyto Solution use is constantly increasing along with the related running costs. The IPPC Secretariat, in collaboration with UNICC, is regularly looking at optimizing them with the required level of quality and security. Thanks to the voluntary contributions as agreed at CPM-18 (2024) of the following countries, listed in alphabetical order: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and United States of America, the minimum services are secured till the end of 2027 (considering the current usage pattern).
However, this does not provide resources for addressing unexpected events, improvements, modernizations, implementation and advocacy required by such a globally deployed system. For this reason, yearly contributions are needed from countries. As the number of countries increases, the contributions for the next year will be rebalanced with the latest statistics (the current ones reflect 2023 statistics), continuing to improve the funding model.
In September, FAO and the IPPC led ePhyto presentations and discussions at the public forum of the World Trade Organization (WTO), along with AU-IAPSC, the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation (GATF), and the World Bank (WB). The forum underlined how global connectivity and digitalization are changing international trade, and how cooperation and investments are crucial to sustain ePhyto long-term adoption, particularly on onboarding, training and maintaining all components of the ePhyto system.
