(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 Malus Mill.

(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 following a further complete risk assessment.

(4)

On 4 March 2022, the United Kingdom (5) submitted to the Commission a request for export to the Union the following: up to seven-year-old bare rooted plants for planting of Malus sylvestris with a maximum diameter of 40 mm at the base of the stem; and up to seven-year-old plants for planting of Malus sylvestris in growing medium, with a maximum diameter of 40 mm at the base of the stem (‘the relevant plants’). That request was supported by the relevant technical dossier.

(5)

On 24 May 2023, the European Food Safety Authority (‘the Authority’) adopted a scientific opinion as regards the risk assessment of the relevant plants originating in the United Kingdom (6). The Authority identified Colletotrichum aenigma, Meloidogyne mali, Eulecanium excrescens, Takahashia japonica, Tobacco ringspot virus, Tomato ringspot virus and Erwinia amylovora as pests relevant for these plants.

(6)

The Authority evaluated the risk mitigation measures described in the dossier for Colletotrichum aenigma, Meloidogyne mali, Eulecanium excrescens, Takahashia japonica, Tobacco ringspot virus and Tomato ringspot virus and estimated the likelihood of the freedom of the relevant plants from those pests. It concluded that the likelihood that the relevant plants are free from those pests is high. Concerning Erwinia amylovora, the Authority evaluated whether the special requirements for the introduction into, and movement within the specified protected zones, listed in point 9 of Annex X to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072, of plants of Malus Mill., other than fruits and seeds, are fulfilled. It concluded that the United Kingdom fulfils those special requirements.

(7)

Based on that opinion, the phytosanitary risk 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 dossier are considered sufficient to reduce the risk 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 introduction of the relevant plants into it.

(9)

Consequently, the relevant plants should no longer be considered high risk plants.

(10)

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(11)

Erwinia amylovora is listed as a protected zone quarantine pest, for certain protected zones, and as a Union regulated non-quarantine pest for the rest of the Union territory, in Annexes III and IV to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 respectively. Special requirements are in place in point 9 of Annex X to that Regulation, to prevent the entry and spread of the pest within the specified protected zones. Tobacco ringspot virus and Tomato ringspot virus are listed as Union quarantine pests in Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072.

(12)

Colletotrichum aenigma, Eulecanium excrescens, and Takahashia japonica are not yet included in the list of Union quarantine pests of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072. A complete risk assessment on those pests needs to become available, to determine whether the pests fulfil the conditions 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 measures.

(13)

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1213 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(14)

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 (EPPO) in September 2017 (7). Based on discussions with the Member States, it was concluded that the pest should not be regulated as a Union quarantine pest nor as a Union regulated non-quarantine pest, because although it has been present in certain Member States for a long time without official control measures, its phytosanitary risk in those Member States is considered low. For that reason, no import requirements are necessary with respect to that pest.

(15)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee for Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,