Pakistan starts receiving digital plant health certificates for imports

KARACHI: Pakistan Single Window (PSW), a digital platform for cross-border trade, has begun receiving electronic phytosanitary certificates (e-Phyto) on imports of agricultural goods and commodities, the platform said on Monday.

E-Phyto is a digital document that certifies the health status of plants and plant products. It is exchanged between countries through the e-Phyto Hub of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), a treaty overseen by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

The integration with e-Phyto Hub is a joint effort of the Department of Plant Protection, Ministry of National Food Security & Research and PSW and is a major step forward towards digiting Pakistan’s supply chain transactions.

"The PSW platform has already been sending e-Phytos on export of goods since integrating with the e-Phyto Hub in November 2023," it said in a statement. "Since then, more than 10,000 e-Phyto certificates have been sent to 77 countries against Pakistani export consignments."

The PSW has digitalised cross-border trade-related processes of DPP to facilitate trade through the electronic application, processing, and issuance of import permits, release orders and phytosanitary certificates required on the import and export of plants and plant-related items under national and international laws.

The electronic exchange of the e-Phytos through the Hub eliminates the need for paper submission of the same by traders at the time of customs clearance.

"Importers, in particular stand to benefit from reduced time and costs as release orders from DPP for clearance of their import consignments shall be obtained by simply mentioning the number of e-Phyto certificates in their single declaration (SD) without submission of hard copies."

The secretary of the Ministry of National Food Security & Research congratulated and appreciated the efforts of the PSW and DPP for their work in facilitating trade through automation. The chief executive officer of PSW also expressed his appreciation for the two teams and resolved to enhance cooperation with the Ministry to further enhance cross-border trade.

The e-Phyto solution is a tool that transitions paper phytosanitary certificate information into a digital phytosanitary certificate. This electronic exchange between countries makes trade safer, faster, and cheaper. By connecting with the e-Phyto Hub, Pakistan can exchange phytosanitary certificates electronically with 127 countries of the world.