During the pandemic, the traditional links of the supply chain have weakened or even collapsed. For this reason, operations in various sectors such as banking, retail and healthcare have shifted towards digital media. Again in this period, consumers and employees have adopted digital technology faster than ever before.
Global trade transactions in agricultural commodities such as seeds are constantly based on communication and transparency.
Phytosanitary certificates are the key to the trade of food and agricultural products, including seeds, and also act as a passport for international circulation within seeds. With these certificates, seeds become accessible to international markets and from there to growers.
Therefore, the efficiency in the exchange of phytosanitary certificates is to sustain the agricultural sector; It is incredibly important for maintaining the food supply during and after the pandemic.
Electronic certificate proved indispensable for maintaining the continuity of agricultural trade despite the limitations on air traffic and courier services in this period.
Recently, the international plant protection council (IPPC) has called on governments to adopt and support the electronic phytosanitary certification (ePhyto) solution.
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According to the international plant protection council (IPPC), electronic phytosanitary certificate (ePhyto) is a digital delivery system and is part of an initiative to facilitate global trade. ePhyto is a universal approach that not only ensures consistency, security, fraud prevention and sustainability in the global trade of agricultural products, but also eliminates the tedious bureaucracy of paper documents between parties.
Today, there are about 80 countries registered in the ePhyto system, and Argentina and the United States were also included in the system in July.
How Does the System Work in Practice?
Under the ePhyto system, digital certificates are transferred through a system called “Hub” (IPPC's central certificate exchange system) to the “mailbox” of the other importing country, which is also in the “Hub”. The information transferred here is received by the national plant protection organization (NPPO) of the importing country.
All countries in the system must use the same standard forms on the "Hub" for sending and receiving electronic certificates.
ePhyto, which enables the digitalization of agricultural and food products; It also aims to reduce time and cost expenses.