After a year of having started the exchange of electronic Phytosanitary Certificates through the GeNS platform of the ePhyto solution of the International Phytosanitary Protection Convention (IPPC), Panama already has the digital signature for the 27 countries that make up the Union European Union (EU), Switzerland and Northern Ireland.
This process was carried out through the National Directorate of Plant Health (DNSV) of the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MIDA).
As a result of a strict and prolonged process, in which the identity and technical solvency of the DNSV was verified, Panama was recently granted digital signature recognition for the phytosanitary certificates that accompany our export products to the countries of the old continent.
In practical terms, this means that Panama will transmit electronically and in real time the phytosanitary certificates for 29 European countries, eliminating the use of paper, which contributes to facilitating trade, making transparent and simplifying processes related to exports. of agricultural products.
In addition to Switzerland and Northern Ireland, there are also the countries of Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, Romania and Sweden.
Thanks to the coordinated collaboration of various units of MIDA, the United Nations International Computer Center (UNICC), the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC-FAO), the European Union and cooperating Phytosanitary Authorities, today we can celebrate this achievement, with which Panama joins a select group of countries that have this added value for their exports.
This strategic advance represents a firm step towards the consolidation of the market for export products with our main trading partners, since, in September 2021, electronic exchange with the United States of America (USA) was established and later with Chile, Costa Rica and Guatemala. After this success, the DNSV plans to work with this tool for commercial exchange with Asia and Oceania.
The ePhyto hub is a global computing platform developed by the IPPC, a reference body in plant health for the World Trade Organization (WTO), currently used by 114 countries.
