As of August 2017, the convention has 183 parties, being 180 United Nations member states and the Cook Islands, Niue, and the European Union.

While the IPPC's primary focus is on plants and plant products moving in international trade, the convention also covers research materials, biological control organisms, germplasm banks, containment facilities, food aid, emergency aid and anything else that can act as a vector for the spread of plant pests – for example, containers, packaging materials, soil, vehicles, vessels and machinery.

In recent years the Commission of Phytosanitary Measures of the IPPC has developed a strategic framework with the objectives of: By focusing the convention's efforts on these objectives, the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures of the IPPC intends to:

The first annual International Plant Health Conference was organized by the FAO and set to be hosted by the Finnish Government in Helsinki 28 June–July 1, 2021.

[9] The IPPC created and administers the ePhyto system, the international electronic phytosanitary certificate standard.