nappo draft standard for ships and cargoes from areas infested with asian gypsy moth in october 2008 china raised concerns relating to a draft regional standard of the north american plant protection organization nappo entitled guidelines for regulating the movement of ships and cargoes aboard those ships from areas infested with the asian gypsy moth. this standard would require nappo members canada mexico and the united states to impose strict phytosanitary measures on ships and cargoes including from china japan korea mongolia and russia. more detailed information was presented in g sps gen 880. china had the following concerns regarding the draft standard 1 if passed and implemented it would have serious impacts on international trade 2 it was inconsistent with articles 2.2 and 5.6 of the sps agreement and 3 it had ambiguities regarding the technical application of the measure in different nappo countries and in different climatic conditions. china urged nappo members to delay the implementation of the standard until it was recognized by relevant organizations including the ippc. indonesia japan and korea indicated that they shared the concerns raised by china regarding the draft nappo standard. the united states reported that the nappo standard pertaining to inspection and certification requirements related to the asian gypsy moth agm was still in a draft form and more changes could be made based on comments submitted by concerned countries. china had declined an invitation to participate in a meeting held in october 2008 to allow trading partners to present their concerns regarding the standard. a harmonized standard among the three nappo members would allow ships to enter any port in a nappo country after being approved by the first port of call. finally the united states invited members with concerns to engage in discussions with nappo members regarding this issue. canada supported the united states and stated that previous incursions of agm had caused serious and costly problems for canada. mexico supported the interventions made by the united states and canada. china stated that technical comments had already been sent to the nappo secretariat and hoped that further meetings could be held between nappo members and the concerned countries. the european communities reported that it had not taken new measures on agm but it remained vigilant to any potential risk. there were parallels between this issue and ispm 15 on wood packaging material that had previously been extensively discussed in the committee. the european communities hoped that similar solutions to the agm problem could be found. norway expressed interest in this issue and its impact on norways exports. mali asked if there were quarantine measures against agm and whether the pest existed in the nappo countries. the united states clarified that this pest was not present in nappo countries and that it was very invasive. based on this information mali agreed that nappo countries should take the necessary measures to prevent the entry of agm into their countries. in february 2009 the representative of china reported that it had maintained good communications with officials from nappo countries. the draft standard had been revised and was undergoing a second comment soliciting process. technical expert groups from nappo had been sent to china japan and korea for exchange of information including on risk assessment. china welcomed the open and transparent working procedures of the nappo countries. china requested nappo countries not to adopt the standard until comments and concerns were taken into account. in addition china recalled the provision in article 2.2 of the sps agreement sps measures must be based on scientific evidence. china also reported that the occurrence of agm had been significantly reduced in its territory and joint surveillance with the united states in some chinese ports showed that no agm was detected. china further recalled the sps agreement provision for the least trad