Abstract:

Several international documents have been published in recent years with the objective of providing guidance to industry, biocontrol practitioners and competent national regulatory authoritieson the regulatory framework for the import and release of invertebrate biological control agents(IBCAs). As the scope and the level of detail given in these documents were diverse in many respects, it has been difficult for all stakeholders to apply such guidelines, and to integrate them in a harmonized way into national regulatory documents. At the request of several stakeholders, the International Organization for Biological Control of Noxious Animals and Plants/West Palaearctic Regional Section (IOBC/WPRS) organized an initiative with the objective of merging all relevant international documents into one document, to provide more specific guidance, and to harmonizethe regulation of IBCAs in European countries and in other countries of the IOBC/WPRS. This document consists of five sections which together form comprehensive guidelines specifying the information required for regulating import and release of IBCAs.