Notice of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Turkey on requirement of an additional declaration on tomato and capsicum seed exports into Turkey for Tomato brown rugose fruit virus affected countries

Tomato brown rugose fruit virusTobamovirus, ToBRFV), which is included in Tobamoviruses, has recently caused important crop losses for growers of tomato and capsicum. The virus, which has been added to the EPPO Alert List by the EPPO Secretariat, was first identified in Jordan on tomatoes in 2015. Outbreaks have recently occurred in Germany, Israel, Italy and Mexico in North America.Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and capsicum (Capsicum sp.) are the main hosts of this virus.In this context, in order to prevent entry of Tomato brown rugose fruit virusTobamovirus, ToBRFV) into Turkey, an additional declaration is to be provided in the phytosanitary certificates for the import of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and capsicum (Capsicum sp.) seeds known to be affected from the virus, originating from Jordan, Germany, Israel, Italy and Mexico.Additional declaration must provide consignments analysed by means of RT-PCR Method and certify to be free from the virus by the exporter country as of 15 March 2019.