Strasbourg, 24 April 2024
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EU Plant Health Emergency Team to assist with prevention of outbreaks
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Shorter period for programmes of risk-based surveys for presence of pests
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Declaration of compliance with rules for regulated non-quarantine pests in phytosanitary certificates
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The use of an electronic phytosanitary certificate
On Wednesday, Parliament gave a final green light to revamped rules protecting plants in the EU against pests. MEPs approved with 551 votes against 24 and 15 abstentions a revision of the regulation on protective measures against plant pests directive, agreed on with the Council.
According to the updated law, a Union Plant Health Emergency Team will assist Member States, or third countries bordering the EU, upon their request, with measures preventing outbreaks of Union quarantine pests and pests that may fulfil the conditions for quarantine pests.
EU countries will have to establish new multiannual programmes for risk-based surveys that ensure timely detection of dangerous pests every five to ten years and review and update the programmes based on the phytosanitary situation of the territory concerned.
Importers to the EU will be obliged to declare in a phytosanitary certificate which measures they have taken to ensure compliance with rules for the quarantine of pest not only for Union quarantine pests but also for regulated non-quarantine pests, according to the agreed reform.
The new rules also extend the use of an electronic system for the submission of notifications and reports by the member states. The Commission will set in a secondary legislation that, under certain conditions, particular plants, plant products or other objects may be not accompanied by a plant passport.
Next steps
The regulation now also needs to be formally endorsed by the Council, signed and published in the EU Official Journal. It will enter into force twenty days later.
The obligation for importers to declare in a phytosanitary certificate which measures they have taken to ensure compliance with rules for the quarantine of regulated non-quarantine pests will apply after 18 months.
Background
The Plant Health Law sets out rules to protect the EU against the entry and spread of new pests of plants (“Union quarantine pests”) and fight against pests already present in the EU (“regulated non-quarantine pests”). On 17 October 2023, the Commission submitted a revision of the rules in order to make them more effective and easier to apply.