Intergovernmental mechanisms have been established under the auspices of the WTO. They set the standards by which the health of people, animals and plants is protected, including the harmful consequences of the international movement of people and goods. In the plant field, it is the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC). The IPPC obliges its contracting parties to make the necessary arrangements for the issuance of phytosanitary certificates (PC) attesting the respect of the phytosanitary regulations of the other contracting parties. Belgium is a contracting party for this convention as well as all the Member States of the European Union. The guidelines (ISPM) published on the IPPC website should be followed.
The scope covers plants, plant products and other regulated articles for export as defined in the Royal Decree of 10 August 2005 transposing Council Directive 2000/29 / EC of 8 May 2000 on protective measures against the introduction into the Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products and against their spread within the Community.
These are mainly the following products:
- fruits (in the botanical sense) that has not been frozen
- vegetables that have not been frozen
- tubers, bulbs, rhizomes
- cut flowers
- branches with foliage
- cut trees with foliage
- leaves, foliage
- plant tissue cultures
- living pollen
- grafts, sticks, scions
- seeds
- plants for planting
- wood