E-commerce

This package of seeds, sent to a U.S. resident, was tested by the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to determine if they carry any pests or diseases of concern to U.S. agriculture. Unsolicited seeds, labeled as a variety of things such as beads and jewelry, have been arriving in mailboxes around the nation, prompting investigation by USDA.

Key Facts

161 billion parcels, or 5102 parcels per second, were shipped in 2022 (Pitney Bowes, 2023).
The huge growth in parcel volume puts pressure on the normal components of phytosanitary export and import systems.
Intercepting parcels that contain goods that do not meet the phytosanitary import requirements of the destination county is one of the biggest challenges facing NPPOs.
Managing e-commerce and the postal and courier pathways is a key priority within the IPPC strategic framework.

The global rise of e-commerce has brought about a transformative shift in the way goods are bought and sold and moved in international trade.

While presenting economic opportunities, the growth in e-commerce also poses significant challenges to national plant protection organizations (NPPOs) because of the potential spread of plant pests through parcels moving on postal and courier pathways.

On this page you will find key resources about e-commerce and plant health, including a video highlighting the role of all e-commerce stakeholders in addressing pest risks, the IPPC guide on e-commerce, news stories featuring country case studies and links to other national and international e-commerce resources.

News

Thu, 30 Nov 2023

New IPPC guide to protect plant health and reduce pest risk associated with e-commerce

Agricultural items, such as plants, insects, soil or seeds, purchased online can pose a significant risk to a country’s local plants and animals, hurting biodiversity. Check to make sure that any of these items you buy has a phytosanitary certificate.

Fri, 12 May 2023

Think before you click - Mitigating the risks of e-commerce to plant health

Mon, 24 Feb 2020

Engagement of the IPPC Secretariat in the World Customs Organization’s Work e-Commerce Standards

Rough placeholder illustration of a person magically reaching through monitor to pick up shopping items from a globe where a potentially dangerous red bug lurks!

Thu, 17 Oct 2019

Making e-commerce safer: the IPPC and the World Customs Organization join forces

Videos

A U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, National Identification Services (NIS) botanist examines seeds from an unsolicited package of seeds under a microscope. NIS scientists are stationed around the country at federal research laboratories, plant inspection stations, land-grant universities, and natural history museums. USDA Photo.

Managing e-commerce pest risk

N.b:The language of subtitles, if available in the video, should automatically be selected based on the preferences of the person viewing it. If not, then there may be a way to link to specific subtitles by appending hl=<lang> to the YouTube URL and linking to these with: En Fr Zh Ar Es Ru