EPPO codes users meeting

EPPO headquarters, Paris, 2016-03-07

On the 7th of March 2016, an open meeting for the users of the EPPO codes was organized at the EPPO headquarters. More than 20 participants, including members of the ad hoc Panel on harmonization of data on plant protection products, were present at the EPPO headquarters and 30 persons joined the meeting by teleconference. This was the first time that the EPPO Secretariat organized such a webinar. It was successful although some technical detail remains to be improved, in particular the way to answer questions sent by participants who joined the meeting remotely. Presentations which were made during the meeting can be viewed below.

The objectives of this meeting were to present the EPPO codes and the latest developments made to the database, to hear about the experience of users of the EPPO codes coming from different areas of plant protection, and to collect feed-back about possible future improvements of the coding system. The meeting recognized the value of this harmonized set of codes for pests and plants, and underlined the importance of maintaining the stability and integrity of the system. It was generally felt that organizing regular meetings with users of the EPPO codes was useful, and that more information about the recent changes made to the coding system should be provided regularly. The EPPO Secretariat will explore the possibilities to prepare a newsletter which could be sent every 6 months to interested users.