Procedures to Carry Out the Risk Assessment of Plants Listed as High Risk Plants

The European Union notified with G/SPS/N/EU/272/Add.2 the adoption of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 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.The European Union would now like to inform WTO Members about the adoption of Commission Implementing Regulation 2018/2018 detailing the procedures and the information required to carry out the risk assessment when a demand for import of high risk plants exists (OJ 323, 19 December 2018, p. 7-9).https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2018.323.01.0007.01.ENG&toc=OJ:L:2018:323:TOThis Regulation shall apply from 14 December 2019, but dossiers can be submitted from the date of publication of this text.The demand for import of plants listed as high risk plants accompanied by the technical dossier with all the elements needed to carry out the risk assessment, as indicated in Regulation (EU) 2018/2018, should be sent to the plant health contact point of the European Commission, Directorate General for Health and Food Safety:SANTE-G1-PLANT-HEALTH@ec.europa.euAs of 14 December 2019, the import into the EU territory of the plants listed under points 1 and 2 of Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2018/2019, listing high risk plants, will be prohibited until a risk assessment has been carried out.

SPECIFIC PROCEDURE TO EXPORT FRUITS OF MOMORDICA AND WOOD OF ULMUSThe Commission invites the countries exporting these commodities to the European Union to communicate prior to 14 December 2019, the following information in relation to fruits of Momordica L. and wood of Ulmus L.:a) For the import of fruits of Momordica L.:- official statement by the national plant protection organisation of the country that the fruits originate in a country, or area within the country, recognised as being free from Thrips palmi Karny in accordance with relevant International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures; or- data on phytosanitary mitigation measures, as indicated in section 5 of the EFSA Technical Report "Information required for dossiers to support demands for import of high risk plants, plant products and other objects as foreseen in Article 42 of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031" (http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/supporting/pub/en-1492b) For the import of wood of Ulmus L.:  - official statement by the national plant protection organisation of the country that the wood originates in a country, or area within the country, recognised as being free from Saperda tridentata Olivier in accordance with relevant International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures.The requested information should be sent to the plant health contact point of the European Commission, Directorate General for Health and Food Safety:SANTE-G1-PLANT-HEALTH@ec.europa.eu.As of 14 December 2019, the import into the EU territory of the following commodities will not be allowed, if that information is not provided:• Fruits of Momordica L.;• Wood of Ulmus L.WEBINARThe European Union would also like to announce that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will organise a webinar on 12 February 2019 explaining the information that non-EU countries have to provide in the dossiers accompanying the demand for import of high risk plants, plant products and other objects as foreseen in Article 42 of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 for the risk assessment to be carried out. The registration details to the webinar will be available shortly before the date of the webinar in the website of EFSA (http://www.efsa.europa.eu/