Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2743 of 8 December 2023 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 as regards certain plants for planting of Quercus petraea and Quercus robur originating in the United Kingdom and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1213 as regards the phytosanitary measures for the introduction of those plants for planting into the Union territory

Official Journal EN of the European Union L series 2023/2743 11.12.2023 COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2023/2743 of 8 December 2023 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 as regards certain plants for planting of Quercus petraea and Quercus robur originating in the United Kingdom and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1213 as regards the phytosanitary measures for the introduction of those plants for planting into the Union territory THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2016 on protective measures against pests of plants, amending Regulations (EU) No 228/2013, (EU) No 652/2014 and (EU) No 1143/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directives 69/464/EEC, 74/647/EEC, 93/85/EEC, 98/57/EC, 2000/29/EC, 2006/91/EC and 2007/33/EC(1), and in particular Article 42(4), third subparagraph, thereof, Whereas: (1) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019(2)establishes, on the basis of a preliminary risk assessment, a list of high risk plants, plant products and other objects. (2) Following a preliminary assessment, 34 genera and one species of plants for planting originating from third countries are provisionally listed in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 as high risk plants. One of the listed genera is Quercus L. (3) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1213(3)sets out the phytosanitary measures for the introduction into the Union territory of certain plants, plant products and other objects, which have been removed from the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019, but for which phytosanitary risks are not yet fully assessed. This is because one or more pests hosted by those plants are not yet included in the list of Union quarantine pests of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072(4), but they may fulfil the conditions to be included in that list following a further complete risk assessment. (4) On 16 June 2022, the United Kingdom(5)submitted to the Commission two requests for export to the Union of the following plants for planting (‘the relevant plants’): — up to two-year-old plants for planting of Quercus petraea and Quercus robur with a maximum diameter of 10 mm; — up to seven-year-old bare-rooted plants for planting of Quercus petraea and Quercus robur with a maximum diameter of 40 mm; (1) OJ L 317, 23.11.2016, p. 4, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/2031/oj. (2) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 of 18 December 2018 establishing a provisional list of high risk plants, plant products or other objects, within the meaning of Article 42 of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 and a list of plants for which phytosanitary certificates are not required for introduction into the Union, within the meaning of Article 73 of that Regulation (OJ L 323, 19.12.2018, p. 10, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2018/2019/oj). (3) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1213 of 21 August 2020 concerning the phytosanitary measures for the introduction into the Union of certain plants, plant products and other objects which have been removed from the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 (OJ L 275, 24.8.2020, p. 5, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2020/1213/oj). (4) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 of 28 November 2019 establishing uniform conditions for the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 of the European Parliament and the Council, as regards protective measures against pests of plants, and repealing Commission Regulation (EC) No 690/2008 and amending Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 (OJ L 319, 10.12.2019, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2019/2072/oj). (5) In accordance with the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, and in particular Article 5(4) of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland in conjunction with Annex 2 to that Protocol, for the purposes of this act, references to the United Kingdom do not include Northern Ireland. ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2023/2743/oj 1/5EN OJ L, 11.12.2023 — up to fifteen-year-old plants for planting of Quercus petraea and Quercus robur in growing medium, with a maximum diameter of 80 mm. Those requests were supported by the relevant technical dossiers. (5) On 19 September 2023, the European Food Safety Authority (‘the Authority’) adopted two scientific opinions as regards the risk assessment of the relevant plants originating in the United Kingdom(6),(7). The Authority identified Coniella castaneicola, Cronartium quercuum, Cryphonectria parasitica, Meloidogyne mali, Phytophthora kernoviae, Phytophthora ramorum, Thaumetopoea processionea and Trinophylum cribratum, as pests relevant for those plants. (6) The Authority evaluated the risk mitigation measures described in the dossiers for the identified pests. It concluded that the likelihood that the relevant plants are free from those pests is high, provided the relevant risk mitigation measures are applied. (7) On the basis of that opinion, the phytosanitary risk arising from the introduction into the Union territory of the relevant plants is considered to be reduced to an acceptable level, provided that appropriate measures are applied to address the risk of pests related to those plants. (8) The measures described by the United Kingdom in the technical dossiers are considered sufficient to reduce the risk arising from the introduction into the Union territory of the relevant plants to an acceptable level. Those measures should therefore be adopted as phytosanitary import requirements to ensure the phytosanitary protection of the Union territory from the risk arising from the introduction of the relevant plants into it. (9) The phytosanitary risk arising from the introduction into the Union territory of fifteen-year-old bare-rooted plants for planting of Quercus petraea and Quercus robur is considered to be lower than or similar to the risk arising from the introduction of Quercus petraea and Quercus robur plants for planting of the same age in growing medium. (10) Consequently, plants for planting of Quercus petraea and Quercus robur that are up to 15 years old, with a maximum diameter of 80 mm, which includes the relevant plants, should no longer be considered high risk plants. (11) Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 should therefore be amended accordingly. (12) Cronartium quercuum and Phytophthora ramorum (non-EU isolates) are listed as Union quarantine pests in Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072, and Cryphonectria parasitica and Thaumetopoea processionea are listed as protected zone quarantine pests in Annex III to that Regulation. (13) Coniella castaneicola and Phytophthora kernoviae are not yet included in the list of Union quarantine pests of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072. A complete pest risk assessment for Coniella castaneicola and an updated complete pest risk assessment for Phytophthora kernoviae need to become available, to determine whether they fulfil the conditions in order to be listed in Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072, and whether the relevant plants, originating in the United Kingdom, are to be listed in Annex VII to that Regulation, together with the respective specific requirements. (14) Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1213 should therefore be amended accordingly. (6) EFSA PLH Panel (EFSA Panel on Plant Health), 2023. Commodity risk assessment of Quercus petraea plants from the UK. EFSA Journal, 21(10), 1–234. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2023.8313. (7) EFSA PLH Panel (EFSA Panel on Plant Health), 2023. Commodity risk assessment of Quercus robur plants from the UK. EFSA Journal, 21(10), 1–243. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2023.8314 2/5 ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2023/2743/ojEN OJ L, 11.12.2023 (15) Concerning Trinophylum cribratum, the Authority’s opinion states that there is no evidence that the relevant plants constitute a pathway for the introduction of the pest into the Union territory. Furthermore, no significant impact has been recorded for the pest on its planted hosts. For these reasons, no import requirements are necessary with regard to that pest. (16) Meloidogyne mali is not included in the list of Union quarantine pests. A pest risk analysis for that pest was published by the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization in September 2017(8). It was concluded that the pest should neither be regulated as a Union quarantine pest nor as a Union regulated non-quarantine pest, because even though it has been present in certain Member States for a long time without official control measures, the phytosanitary risk arising from it in those Member States is considered low. For that reason, no import requirements are necessary with regard to that pest. (17) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee for Plants, Animals, Food and Feed, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 The Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 is amended in accordance with Annex I to this Regulation. Article 2 The Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1213 is amended in accordance with Annex II to this Regulation. Article 3 This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at Brussels, 8 December 2023. For the Commission The President Ursula VON DER LEYEN (8) EPPO (2017) Pest risk analysis for Meloidogyne mali. EPPO, Paris. Available at http://www.eppo.int/QUARANTINE/ Pest_Risk_Analysis/PRA_intro.htmand https://gd.eppo.int/taxon/MELGMA. ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2023/2743/oj 3/5EN OJ L, 11.12.2023 ANNEX I In the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019, in the table of point 1, in the second column ‘Description’, the entry for ‘Quercus L.’, is replaced by the following: ‘Quercus L., other than: — up to fifteen-year-old plants for planting of Quercus petraea with a maximum diameter of 80 mm at the base of the stem, originating in the United Kingdom; and — up to fifteen-year-old plants for planting of Quercus robur with a maximum diameter of 80 mm at the base of the stem, originating in the United Kingdom.’ 4/5 ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2023/2743/ojEN OJ L, 11.12.2023 ANNEX II In the table in the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1213, the following entry is inserted after the entry ‘Persea americana Mill., unrooted cuttings of plants for planting with a maximum diameter of 2 cm’: Plants, plant products or other Third countries of CN Code Measures objects origin ‘Quercus petraea and Quercus ex 0602 10 90 United Kingdom (a) Official statement that: robur, ex 0602 90 41 (i) the plants are free from Coniella castanei­ up to fifteen-year-old plants ex 0602 90 45 cola and Phytophthora kernoviae; for planting with a maximum ex 0602 90 46 diameter of 80 mm at the base (ii) the site of production has been found of the stem. free from Coniella castaneicola and Phy­ tophthora kernoviae during official in­ spections, including laboratory testing of any suspicious symptoms of Phy­ tophthora kernoviae, carried out at appro­ priate times, since the beginning of the last growing season; (iii) a system has been put in place to ensure that tools and machinery have been cleaned to be free from soil and plant debris, and disinfected to be free from Coniella castaneicola and Phytophthora ker­ noviae, before they have been introduced into the site of production; and (iv) immediately prior to export, consign­ ments of the plants have been subjected to an official inspection for the presence of Coniella castaneicola and Phytophthora kernoviae, including random sampling and testing for Coniella castaneicola, and laboratory testing of any suspicious symptom of Phytophthora kernoviae; (b) the phytosanitary certificates for those plants include under the heading “Additional De­ claration”: (i) the following statement: “The consign­ ment complies with Commission Imple­ menting Regulation (EU) 2020/1213”; and (ii) the specification of the registered sites of production.’ ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2023/2743/oj 5/5