HEALTH AND FOOD SAFETY - Amendments to EU Plant Health Regulation further strengthen protection

Plants provide 80 percent of the food we eat and 98 percent of the oxygen we breathe. So it’s clear that protecting plant health is a DG SANTE priority. On 12 May, we celebrated International Plant Health Day, just after the European Parliament approved the Commission’s proposals to amend the EU Plant Health Regulation. Martin Minjajev, Acting Plant Health Team Leader for the Commission’s Unit for Plants and Organics, talks about what the EU is doing to protect its territory and all its indigenous plants.

date: 16/05/2024

What does the EU Plant Health Regulation do, and why is it being amended?

The EU Plant Health Regulation applied from December 2019. It modernised the plant health regime, introduced more effective measures to protect the EU territory and its plants, and aimed to ensure safe trade and to mitigate the impacts of climate change on the health of our crops and forests.

The amendments strengthen the application of phytosanitary certificates for imports. They also make the procedure for requesting and granting temporary exemptions from import prohibitions more transparent and streamline reporting obligations.

The changes are intended to strengthen plant protection across the EU. One promising new development is that the amendments provide the legal basis to set up EU Plant Health Emergency Teams to respond swiftly to phytosanitary threats, both within the EU and in neighbouring territories. These teams can assist Member States in finding the best measures to contain and eradicate any outbreaks.

The amendments also call for Member States to regularly review the effectiveness of existing measures and to exchange information on new practices. Information about new plant pest outbreaks within the Member States can be quickly shared via EUROPHYT-Outbreaks and information about pests found at EU borders can be shared via TRACES.

In the EU, there is a systematic collection of data and analysis on pest surveys, with EU co-funding for measures to contain the spread of pests and eventually eradicate the outbreaks. The Commission audits Member States and our major trade partner countries to verify that the EU requirements are fulfilled and that the controls in place ensure plants and plant products exported to EU fulfil the EU requirements.

EU Plant Health Regulation aims to protect safe trade. In what ways does trade impact plant health?

The cross-border movement of plants is the main way pests are brought into the EU. Many new outbreaks can be linked to the trade with non-EU countries, like the Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus, which has recently spread to almost every Member State through contaminated seeds. Other pests arrive when people bring plants and plant products home with them from other countries. It might seem harmless, but carrying plants in your luggage can have devasting effects. It’s the reason why we have had outbreaks of non-European fruit flies, Tephritidae, in Mediterranean countries.

Is climate change already impacting plant health?

We are seeing pests in the EU now that were unknown here a decade ago, and that’s because climate change means more countries now have conditions in which exotic pests can survive. Examples include non-European fruit flies, which are now fully established in some parts of the EU, and the Fall army worm, Spodoptera frugiperda, which has recently been found for the first time in the EU.

Since being first reported in Cyprus in January 2023, the Fall army worm has been found in Greece, Portugal (Madiera) and Romania. Stopping its spread is as urgent as it is difficult, because adult moths can travel hundreds of kilometres across land or sea in just one season before reproducing. It has a wide range of host plants and can cause severe economic damage to agricultural crops.

According to the European Food Safety Authority risk assessment, costal Mediterranean regions of the EU are now warm enough to provide the perfect habitat for it to flourish and spread. Without wanting to sound too alarmist, this is only a taste of what may come, and another reason why strengthening the Regulation and establishing the Emergency Teams was so timely and necessary.

Will digitalisation help monitor and protect plant health?

Absolutely, improved data exchange on new outbreaks and digitalised early warning systems to inform the public and stakeholders about pest spread can help to contain and successfully eradicate potential outbreaks. In short, the faster the spread of information, the slower the spread of pests.

How can EU citizens help?

EU citizens can do a lot to keep EU plant health safe simply by never bringing plants or plant products including fruit into the EU from other countries, especially where harmful pests are known to be present. Think twice before packing and put the health of the EU’s plants above any personal wishes, like perhaps wanting to take a plant from a family garden back home or from a beautiful travel destination as a souvenir.

And there is something else people can do – keep their eyes open. If you are outside in nature, or even in your own garden, and notice something unusual such as a change in the usual appearance of plants or the presence of pests you have never seen before, don’t hesitate to inform your local plant health authorities.

At the European Commission, we’ve been doing all we can to protect plant health. The EU Plant Health Regime has been in place since 1977, so we’ve been active in this area for coming up on fifty years now. But as much experience and know-how as we have, we’re only as strong as our weakest link. It takes everyone’s understanding, concern and compliance to keep the EU’s plant health thriving.