context: Facing the growing risk of cross-province transmission and overseas plant epidemic introductions, the state is eager to strengthen a top-down phytosanitary supervision and control system. The state will impose stricter rules regarding risk evaluation, licence reviews and cultivation monitoring on foreign-introduced seeds to prevent alien species invasions.
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) is calling for comment on its revised ‘Implementation rules for plant phytosanitary regulations (agriculture-related)’ until 22 Nov 2019 to improve the phytosanitary supervision system.
The system currently faces three major challenges
- growing risk of overseas epidemic introductions
- increased threats to industrial security posed by domestic epidemics
- weak epidemic control capacity
Major amendments include
- highlighting monitoring, interception and prevention of major plant epidemics and clarifying implementation responsibilities of local management authorities
- strengthening risk evaluation and licence review on foreign-introduced seeds
- setting up a classification and management system for agricultural plant quarantine with corresponding management measures
- strengthening quarantine supervision of seeds, seedlings and other reproductive materials with sales records and a whole-process tracing mechanism