DA Quarantine Administrative Circular No. 01-14

November 11, 2014

DA QUARANTINE ADMINISTRATIVE CIRCULAR NO. 01-14

SUBJECT

Guidelines for Categorization of Commodities of Plant Origin

Pursuant to provisions of Chapter IV, Title IV, Book IV of

ARTICLE I

General Provisions

SECTION 1. Objective. This Circular aims to rationalize the regulation of commodities of plant origin in relation to the requirements for Phytosanitary Certificate, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearance and employment of necessary treatment.

SECTION 2. Definition of Terms.

1. BPI SPS Import Clearance (SPSIC) a document issued prior to importation by the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) to ensure that the products being imported meet standards to protect human, animal or plant life or health, and to prevent the spread of pests or diseases among animals or plants. Such document also prescribes the conditions to be complied with by the importer for the maintenance of quality and suitability of the product for the intended purposes.

2. Categorization The process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood. Categorization implies that objects are grouped into categories usually for some specific purpose.

3. Commodity A type of plant, planting material, plant product, or other article of plant origin being moved for trade and other purposes.

4. Consignment A quantity of plants, plant products or other articles being moved from one country to another and covered by a single phytosanitary certificate (a consignment may be composed of one or more commodities or lots (FAO, 1990, Revised ICPM, 2001). HCEcaT

5. Importation act of bringing into the country by sea, land or air, products from other countries intended for planting, consumption, manufacturing, trading, distribution, domestication, formulation, repacking or by any other purposes.

6. Importer shall refer to any person, individual or juridical entity, as well as any farmers' cooperatives/organization/association, or proprietor or authorized representatives or broker, partner, in case of partnership, who transacts with the BPI for purposes of registration and issuance of SPSIC in connection with importation of plants and plant products.

7. Intended use Declared purpose for which plants, plant products, or other regulated articles are imported, produced, or used (ISPM no. 16, 2002).

8. Lot A number of units of a single commodity, identifiable by its homogeneity of composition, origin etc.,forming part of a consignment (FAO, 1990).

9. Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) The process of evaluating biological or other scientific and economic evidence to determine whether a pest should be regulated and the strength of any phytosanitary measures to be taken against it. (FAO, 1995; Revised IPPC, 1997)

10. Phytosanitary Certificate An official paper document or its official electronic equivalent, consistent with the model certificates of IPPC, attesting that a consignment meets phytosanitary import requirements (FAO, 1990; revised CPM, 2012).

11. Phytosanitary Certification Use of phytosanitary procedures leading to the issue of a phytosanitary certificate (FAO, 1990).

12. Phytosanitary Import Requirements Specific phytosanitary measures established by an importing country concerning consignments moving into that country (ICPM, 2005).

13. Phytosanitary Measures any legislation, regulation or official procedure having the purpose to prevent the introduction and/or spread of quarantine pest, or to limit the economic impact of regulated non-quarantine pest (FAO, 1995; revised IPPC, 1997; ICPM 2002).

14. Plant Products products derived from plants either in their natural or processed form.

15. Planting Materials refer to seeds, fruits and parts of aggregate fruits used for planting. These also include cuttings, rhizomes, bulbs and corms, grafts, leaves, roots, scions and others that are capable of propagation.

16. Plants refers to living plants.

17. Quarantine pest A pest of potential economic importance to the area endangered thereby and not yet present there, or present but not widely distributed and being officially controlled.

ARTICLE II

Rationale and Non-Coverage

SECTION 3. Rationale. This circular shall provide basis for the Bureau of Plant Industry-Plant Quarantine Service (BPI PQS) in categorizing commodities according to their pest risk when establishing phytosanitary import requirements. This categorization shall be used in identifying whether Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) is necessary prior to importation and if phytosanitary certification is required from the country of origin.

SECTION 4. Non-Coverage. Products properly packed and labeled for commercial purposes including those with Certification of Product Registration from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are not covered by this Circular. Contaminating pests or storage pests that may become associated with the commodity after processing are also not covered in this Circular. HSCATc

ARTICLE III

Categorization of Commodities

SECTION 5. Categorization of Commodities. This Circular adopts the categorization of commodities according to level of pest risk pursuant to International Standards for Phytosanitary Measure (ISPM) No. 32 issued by International Plant Protection Convention, as follows:

1. Category 1 Commodities that have been processed to the point where they do not remain capable of being infested with quarantine pests and therefore, should not be regulated. The importation of Category 1 commodities shall not require an SPSIC, but the importer shall secure a Certificate of Non-Coverage and/or Plant Quarantine Service Certification from BPI.

2. Category 2 Commodities that have been processed to the point where the commodity remains capable of being infested with some quarantine pests and whose intended use may be for consumption or further processing. The BPI-PQS shall determine if a PRA is required for quarantine pests that may not be eliminated by the process. Importation of Category 2 commodities shall require SPSIC and Phytosanitary Certificate (PC) from the country of origin.

3. Category 3 Commodities that have not been processed and the intended use of commodity is for consumption or processing. PRA is necessary to identify the pest risks related to this pathway. This category requires SPSIC and PC.

4. Category 4 This includes commodities that have not been processed and the intended use is for planting. PRA is necessary to identify the pest risks related to this pathway. This category requires SPSIC to be secured from the BPI and PC from the country of origin.

ARTICLE IV

Schedule of Fees

SECTION 5. * Schedule of Fees and Charges. The prevailing regulatory fees collected by the BPI for imported commodities pursuant to DA Administrative Order Nos. 12 and 26, s. of 2004 and

ARTICLE V

Annexes

SECTION 6. Annexes. The methods of commercial processing with resultant commodities that do not remain capable and remain capable of being infested with quarantine pests including examples of categories 3 and 4 shall form as prescriptive parts of this Circular.

ARTICLE VI

Non-Exclusivity

SECTION 7. Non-Exclusivity. All existing rules and regulations, policies, procedures and standards consistent with this Circular shall continue to be in force and effect.

ARTICLE VII

Repealing Clause

SECTION 8. Repealing Clause. All existing Orders and Issuances inconsistent herewith are hereby revoked, repealed and/or amended accordingly.

ARTICLE VIII

Separability Clause

SECTION 9. Separability Clause. If any portion of this Circular is declared unconstitutional or invalid, the other portions thereof which are not affected shall continue to be in full force and effect. DHESca

ARTICLE IX

Effectivity

SECTION 10. Effectivity. This Circular shall take effect after the required publication in two (2) newspapers of general circulation and its filing with the National Administrative Register, UP Law Center.

(SGD.) PROCESO J. ALCALA
Secretary
Department of Agriculture

ANNEX 1

Methods of Commercial Processing with Resultant Commodities That Do Not Remain Capable of Being Infested with Quarantine Pests

Commercial	Description	Example of	Additional
Process		Resultant	Information
		Commodity

Carbonization	Anoxic combustion of an	Charcoal
	organic material to
	charcoal

Cooking (boiling,	Preparing food items for	Cooked items	Frequently involves
heating, microwaving	consumption by heating,		chemically
including rice	primarily transforming the		transforming a food,
parboiling)	physical structure of items		thus changing its
			flavor, texture,
			appearance, or
			nutritional properties

Dyeing	Coloring of textile fibers	Dyed vegetable
	and other materials by	fibers and textiles
	which the color becomes
	an integral part of the fiber
	or material under the
	influence of pH and
	temperature changes plus
	interaction with chemical
	products

Extraction	Physical or chemical	Oils, alcohol,	Normally done under
	process to obtain specific	essences, sugar	high temperature
	components from plant-		conditions
	based raw materials,
	usually through mass-
	transfer operations

Fermentation	Anaerobic or anoxic	Wines, liquors,	May be combined
	process changing food/	beer and other	with pasteurization
	plant material chemically,	alcoholic
	often involving micro-	beverages,
	organisms (bacteria, moulds	fermented
	or yeasts) and e.g.,	vegetables
	converting
	sugars to alcohol or
	organic acids

Malting	A series of actions allowing	Malted barley
	the germination of cereal
	seeds to develop enzymatic
	activity to digest starchy
	materials into sugars and
	cessation of enzymatic
	activity by heating

Multi-method	A combination of multiple	Plywood,
processing	types of processing such as	particle board,
	heating, high pressure.	wafer board

Pasteurization	Thermal processing in	Pasteurized	Often combined with
	order to kill undesirable or	juices, alcoholic	fermentation and
	harmful micro-organisms	beverages	followed by
		(beer, wine)	refrigeration (at 4 C)
			and proper packaging
			and handling. Process
			time and temperature
			depends on type of
			product.

Preservation in	Process of preserving	Preserved fruits,	Proper conditions of
liquid	plant material in a suitable	vegetables, nuts,	pH, salinity, etc.
	liquid medium (e.g., in	tubers, bulbs	must be maintained
	syrup, brine, oil, vinegar or
	alcohol) of a particular pH,
	salinity, anaerobic or
	osmotic state

Pureeing (including	Making homogenized and	Pureed items	Normally combined
blending)	spreadable fruit and/or	(fruits,	with pulping of fruits
	vegetable tissues, e.g., by	vegetables)	or vegetables and
	high-speed mixing, screening		methods to preserve
	through a sieve or using a		the puree (e.g.,
	blender		pasteurization and
			packing)

Roasting	Process of drying and	Roasted
	browning foods by	peanuts, coffee
	exposure to dry heat	and nuts
Sterilization	Process of applying heat	Sterilized	Sterilization may not
	(vapors, dry heat or boiling	substrates,	change the condition
	water),irradiation or	juices	of the commodity in
	chemical treatments in order		an evident way, but
	to destroy micro-organisms		eliminates micro-
			organisms

Sterilization	Thermal processing of	Canned	Process time and
(industrial)	foods that leads to shelf-	vegetables,	temperature for
	stable products in	soups; UHT	canned products
	containers by destruction	(ultra-high	depends on type of
	of all pathogenic, toxin-	temperature)	product, treatment
	forming and spoilage	juices	and geometry of
	organisms		container. Asceptic
			processing and
			packaging involves
			industrial sterilization
			of a flowing product
			and then packaging in
			sterile environment
			and package.

Sugar infusing	Action of coating and	Crystallized	Usually combined
	infusing fruits with sugar	fruit, fruit	with pulping,
		infused with	boiling, drying
		sugar, nuts
		coated with
		sugar

Tenderizing	Process to rehydrate dried	Tenderized	Usually applied to a
	or dehydrated items by the	fruits	dried commodity.
	application of steam under		Can be combined
	pressure or submerging in		with sugar infusing.
	hot water

ANNEX 2

Methods of Commercial Processing with Resultant Commodities That Remain Capable of Being Infested with Quarantine Pests

Commercial	Description	Example of	Additional
Process		Resultant	Information
		Commodity

Chipping (of	Wood reduced to small	Chipped wood	The probability of
wood)	pieces		infestation is related
			to the species of
			wood, the presence of
			bark, and the size of
			the chips
Chopping	To cut into pieces	Chopped fruit,
		nuts, grains,
		vegetables
Crushing	Breaking plant material into	Herbs, nuts	Usually applied to
	pieces by application of		dried products
	mechanical force
Drying/dehydration	Removal of moisture for	Dehydrated fruit,
(of fruits and	preservation, or to decrease	vegetables
vegetables)	weight or volume
Painting (including	To coat with paint	Painted wood
lacquering,		and canes, fibers
varnishing)
Peeling and shelling	Removal of the outer or	Peeled fruits,
	epidermal tissues or pods	vegetables,
		grains, nuts
Polishing (of grain	To make smooth and shiny	Polished rice and
and beans)	by rubbing or chemical	cocoa beans
	action removing the outer
	layers from grains
Post-harvest	Operations such as grading,	Graded, sorted,	Usually carried out in
handling (of fruits	sorting, washing or brushing,	washed, or	packing houses
and vegetables)	and/or waxing fruits and	brushed and/or
	vegetables	waxed fruit and
		vegetables
Quick freezing	Cooling quickly, ensuring	Frozen fruits and	Recommended
	that the temperature range of	vegetables	international code of
	maximum ice crystallization		practice for the
	is passed as quickly as		processing and
	possible to preserve the		handling of quick
	quality of fruits and		frozen foods, 1976
	vegetables		CAC/RCP 8-1976
			(Rev 3, 2008),Codex
			Alimentarius, FAO,
			Rome, states that
			"food which has been
			subjected to a quick
			freezing process, and
			maintained at -18 C
			or colder at all points
			in the cold chain,
			subject to permitted
			temperature
			tolerance." Quick
			freezing of fruits and
			vegetables kills
			insects in particular.
			Frozen fruits and
			vegetables are
			prepared for direct
			consumption and will
			decay quickly after
			thawing. Therefore
			the pest risks
			associated with such
			products is
			considered very low.

ANNEX 3

Example of Commodities under Category 3

a. Fresh fruits and vegetables

b. Beans/peas/nuts/grains

c. Cut flowers

d. Timber/Lumber/Logs

ANNEX 4

Example of Commodities under Category 4

a. Whole plant/s

b. Cuttings (stem, scion)

c. Seeds

d. Plants in vitro

e. Root stock

f. Rhizomes

g. Bulbs

h. Tubers

i. Corms

j. Stolons

k. Runners

l. Leaves cSHATC

m. Micropropagative plant material