The Director of the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), is hereby instructed to desist from signing any agreement or protocol on the importation of carrots, or any other plants or plant materials not yet covered by any subsisting and valid agreement or protocol from China without due process and proper clearance from the Secretary of Agriculture.

The procedure for obtaining proper clearance from the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby prescribed, as follows:

1. Proper evaluation of the results and recommendations of the pest risk analysis (PRA) by relevant in-house (BPI) interdisciplinary group designated and constituted by the Director of BPI. In this regard, the BPI Director is hereby directed to create immediately the above-mentioned inter-disciplinary group.

2. Evaluation of the results and recommendations of the PRA by an independent group of scientists and technical experts outside of the Bureau. The composition and Terms of Reference of this Experts Group shall be submitted and endorsed for approval by the Director of BPI to the Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning.

3. Upon satisfactorily passing these two levels of technical and scientific evaluation, the results and recommendations, inclusive of amendments resulting from the technical evaluation processes, the BPI shall conduct sufficiently extensive public hearings involving relevant domestic stakeholders. The public hearings may also include foreign stakeholders, such as suppliers and exporters or their government representatives, provided these have prior recognition or official registration as such with the Bureau.

4. Submission for clearance to the Secretary through the Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning the summary and attached detailed reports of these technical evaluations and public hearings, together with relevant draft issuance for signature of the Director of BPI. The Secretary shall indicate appropriate action on the cover memorandum seeking clearance.

Further, the Director of BPI is likewise instructed to update, standardize and harmonize protocols in the conduct of PRAs in coordination with DA-Policy and Planning and DA-AMAS. Such protocols must be crafted for consistency with existing laws and regulations, inclusive of subsisting international commitments such as the SPS Agreement.

For immediate compliance.

Adopted: 30 Sept. 2004

(SGD.) ARTHUR C. YAP
Secretary