The Regional Plant Protection Organizations - RPPOs of the Americas: The Plant Protection Committee of the Southern Cone (COSAVE); the Caribbean Plant Protection Commission (CPPC); The General Secretariat of the Andean Community (CA); the North American Plant  Protection Organization (NAPPO); and the International Regional Organization for Plant and  Animal Health (OIRSA), 

That they are part of the International Plant Protection Convention (lPPC), which is the phytosanitary standard setting organization referenced in the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO); 

That Article VIII of the revised text of the IPPC, approved by the FAO Conference, establishes a  more active and participative role for RPPOs in promoting interregional cooperation in the  elaboration and harmonization of international phytosanitary standards, to regulate international trade in plants, plant products and other regulated articles; 

That these organizations do not at this time have a formal coordinating mechanism that leads to phytosanitary harmonization in the hemisphere in line with the initiatives to promote international trade; 

That since 1987 the RPPOs of the Americas have established an ad hoc group named the  INTER-AMERICAN COORDINATING GROUP IN PLANT PROTECTION (ICGPP), the formalization of which is considered necessary to carry out the intentions expressed above. 

1.  Formally establish the ICGPP with the purpose of coordinating interregional actions of the Regional Plant Protection Organizations of the Americas; 
2.  Define its structure and functions through a Constitution and Bylaws that will be considered  to be an integral part of this document

Ian McDonell

Juan José May
Signature At-Referendum

NAPPO

OIRSA

Signed: March 23, 1998

Comments by e-mail to Ian McDonell, Executive Director, NAPPO