News

Fraud and Contracting Guidelines

In compliance for FAS Market Access Program regulations NAEGA has submitted its Fraud prevention and contracting guidelines to FAS for approval. NAEGA’s Fraud Prevention policies help to prevent fraud in the use of NAEGA funds and MAP program expenses. The Contracting guidelines lay out rules NAEGA staff must follow when soliciting contracts from outside vendors of more than $35,000. Both policies comply with FAS rules regarding fraud prevention and contracting procedures.

A copy of the Fraud Prevention policy can be found here. A copy of the Contracting Procedures can be found here. For more information, please contact Ryan.

Contribution Report

On Thursday, June 29 NAEGA submitted its annual 2016 Contribution Report to FAS, officially closing out the 2016 MAP Program Year. The contribution report highlights industry and staff contributions to NAEGA’s Unified Export Strategy (UES) efforts. Per MAP regulations, NAEGA and NAEGA industry personnel must contribute the same amount of money to NAEGA’s UES as allocated in its MAP agreement, plus 10 percent. In 2016, NAEGA and its membership contributed 167 percent of its MAP allocation to its UES objectives. Thank you to all NAEGA members and member personnel who worked to accomplish NAEGA’s UES objectives, proving once again that NAEGA is dedicated to “working together to make trade work”!

A copy of the NAEGA contribution report can be found here. For more information, please contact Ryan.

IGTC Newsletter

The latest IGTC newsletter is now available! This week’s newsletter welcomes the Ukrainian Grain Association to IGTC membership, includes a debrief on the IPPC ePhyto IAG meetings in Arlington and an update on Gary’s visit to Geneva for an IGTC Strategy Session.  

For more details, read the IGTC Newsletter here or visit the IGTC website at www.igtcglobal.org.

IPPC ePhyto IAG Meeting

On June 27 and 28 the IGTC Secretariat Katy Lee and President Gary Martin participated in the International Plant Protection Convention’s (IPPC) ePhyto Industry Advisory Group meeting in Arlington, VA. The IPPC, the main UN body leading a pilot project on the exchange of electronic phytosanitary certificates, led the meeting which involved 15 countries including Argentina, Australia, China, USA, Netherlands and Egypt. The IAG is currently advising the IPPC on the ePhyto program, which will allow National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPOs) to exchange phytosanitary certificates.  The program is currently being tested and the pilot will officially be up and running by September 2017. Following the meeting, IAG participants also conducted an outreach session with D.C. Embassies from around the world.  During the session, Gary gave a presentation that raised the awareness of the potential benefits of trade digitization, including increased efficiency, cost reduction and more secure transactions.

ISF Meetings Trip Report

A trip report is now available for Katy’s travel to the International Seed Federation’s (ISF) World Congress and Plant Breeding Innovation Working Group meeting in Budapest, Hungary. In Budapest Katy attended the Plant Breeding Innovation Working Group meeting of the International Seed Federation (ISF) and the annual World Seed Congress, which included an “open session” of the Plant Breeders meeting. During the meetings, IGTC made progress on its Plant Breeding Innovation file, one of its most important in 2017. Over the past year, the IGTC has been considering policy and information sharing plans with the ISF related to new plant breeding innovations (PBI). Over this period, the IGTC and the ISF have been working closely to find common ground and develop common communications plans toward securing international regulatory coherence and compatibility on PBIs.

A copy of the trip report can be found here.

IGTC Working Visit

On July 20-August 5 Katy Lee, IGTC Secretariat, will travel to Melbourne and Sydney, Australia to conduct an IGTC Working Visit with Grain Trade Australia (GTA). In Australia, Katy will coordinate closely GTA and Sydney-based corporate stakeholders to gather insight as well as inform IGTC policy files. Katy will also represent the IGTC at the 2017 Australian Grain Industry Conference (AGIC), during which she will give a presentation on the theme “Global grain industry working together to facilitate trade”. The session will focus on global food security and the role for the grains industry. While at the AGIC Katy will also update GTA’s Trade and Market Access Committee on IGTC policies regarding phytosanitary control, electronic trading documentation and minimum residue limits.

U.S. APHIS Consultations on IPPC Activities

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is accepting consultations on three draft specifications and 13 draft International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) from the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC).

Draft Specifications:

Draft ISMPs:

Canada CFIA Consultations for RCC

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is seeking input from stakeholders for the development of new cooperation opportunities and prioritization of existing initiatives under the Canada-United States Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC). The purpose of this consultation is to provide an additional mechanism to seek stakeholder feedback on the prioritization of work plan initiatives currently being pursued between the CFIA and its U.S. regulatory counterparts, and to solicit input on potential opportunities for the future. The deadline to submit input is March 30, 2018. Input can be submitted at this link.

China Safety Certificates for Enlist Corn

With the Chinese approval of DOW AgroSciences Enlist Corn (DAS-40278-9), Safety Certificates are now available for import. To request a copy of the Safety Certificate for Enlist Corn, grain handlers can submit their information through the DOW AgroSciences website, here.

In order to obtain import approval for grain or byproducts from biotech crops, including Enlist Corn, grain handlers must submit a Safety Certificate obtained from the biotech trait developer to the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture (MOA).