thailands import restriction on papaya seeds in march 2017 chinese taipei referred to thailands import restrictions on papaya seeds. it observed that although a risk assessment had been conducted 9 years ago and despite repeated requests no proper response had been received from thailand. prior to 2008 papaya seeds had been exported to thailand. chinese taipei observed that thailand itself did not attribute the ban on papaya seeds to any pest issue in chinese taipei but was simply the result of a regulatory amendment in 2007. thailand had requested detailed information for conducting a risk assessment prior to reopening its market. however chinese taipei argued that this approach was inconsistent with ippc ispm no.2 framework for pest risk analysis. chinese taipei had provided detailed historical records of trade as well as a pest list in response to thailands request in april 2008. additional data on papaya seed varieties had also been requested in june 2010 and promptly provided. since then chinese taipei had sought on multiple occasions an update on the progress of the risk assessment without substantive response. in march 2016 thailand further requested supplementary information on three kinds of pests with a risk of being spread by the papaya seed trade candidatus phytoplasma solani tobacco ringspot virus and tomato spotted wilt virus. in response chinese taipei had provided in august 2016 scientific evidence showing that there was no record of these pests being spread through the trade of papaya seed and that these pests had never been found in papaya seeds in its territory. discussions had taken place on the margins of the sps committee and chinese taipei indicated that the dossiers of scientific evidence requested in october 2017 had now been received and would be reviewed by chinese taipeis experts following which feedback would shortly be provided to thailands competent authority. chinese taipei also indicated that it looked forward to receiving the import protocols. chinese taipei underscored its efforts to provide the relevant information in a timely manner and urged thailand to move forward or to provide proper scientific justification arguing that thailands restrictions were inconsistent with articles 2 3 and 5 of the sps agreement as well as article 7.2 of the international plant protection convention. chinese taipei encouraged thailand to comply with its wto commitments in particular articles 5.6 and 5.8 of the sps agreement and to re-open its market to papaya seeds without further undue delay. in july 2017 chinese taipei referred to thailands import restrictions on papaya seeds. although a risk assessment had been conducted nine years ago and despite repeated requests no proper response had been received from thailand. prior to 2008 papaya seeds had been exported to thailand. chinese taipei observed that thailand itself did not attribute the ban on papaya seeds to any pest issue in chinese taipei it was the result of a regulatory amendment in 2007. thailand had requested detailed information for conducting a risk assessment prior to reopening its market but chinese taipei argued that this approach was inconsistent with ippc ispm no. 2 framework for pest risk analysis. chinese taipei had provided detailed historical records of trade as well as a pest list in response to thailands request in april 2008. additional data on papaya seed varieties had also been requested in june 2010 and promptly provided. since then chinese taipei had sought an update on the progress of the risk assessment on multiple occasions without substantive response. chinese taipei also indicated that after introducing the concern under the agenda item other business at the march 2017 sps committee meeting thailand had said that papaya seeds risked the spread of the pests candidatus phytoplasma solani and tobacco ringspot virus trsv . in july 2017 thailand had indicated that it would remove candidatus phytoplasma solani from it