2454 final report.pdf - Agra CEAS Consulting

Evaluation of the Community Plant Health Regime: Final Report
DG SANCO Evaluation Framework Contract Lot 3 (Food Chain)
timeframe is longer than requested in the legislation. Interviews with experts confirm this point,
indicating that notifications of outbreaks and new findings generally are subject to consistent
delays, and that there is significant variability among MS. There have been cases in the past
where MS have notified the Commission with severe delays (from one month to the range of
years in one or two cases) and therefore delaying the possibility of taking actions to avoid the
spread in other MS of the HOs discovered in the territory, and to take appropriate actions for
eradication. Furthermore, it is noted that the obligation to report is crucial also for the
commitments of the EU vis à vis trading partners, as the EU has committed, in some FTAs, to
report on pests within a certain timeframe. The EU reporting systems should therefore support
this obligation.
Notwithstanding best practices in notification, there are cases where delays have been important,
as illustrated by the examples below:
Table 3-7: Time delays in notification of findings, selected recent examples (2009/10)
HO Reporting country Time of finding Time of notification
Anoplophora chinensis MS1 December 2009 January 2010
MS2 6 July 2009 25 August 2009
MS3 Survey 2008 4 February 2009
Anoplophora
glabripennis
MS2 28 August 2009,
2 September 2009
2 December 2009
MS3 24 June 2009 10 July 1009
Dryocosmus kuryphilus MS4 28 May 2009 13 July 2009
Gibberella circinata MS5 3 August 2009 16 November 2009
Plum Pox virus MS6 3 June 2009 1 July 2009
MS6 October 2008 January 2009
Citrus Tristeza virus MS7 5 November 2008 20 December 2008
Note: Information on the dates of findings is not always available in the notifications document; therefore this table
is by no means exhaustive with respect to the outbreaks occurring in the selected year.
Source: FCEC, based on reports available in CIRCA
Notification of outbreaks and new findings appears to be conducted in a rather unsystematic way
and with considerable delays in certain cases (even after taking into account the time required to
perform the requested analysis). Some experts also indicate that MS do not notify all outbreaks.
It is agreed by most of the parties consulted during the evaluation that the system of notification
needs improvement. In particular, as early detection of risks and a pro-active approach to new
risks are elements which are considered crucial to improve the regime, the instruments of
notification is considered important (from MS to the Commission), as well as the involvement of
persons/organizations other than CAs (from stakeholders to MS).
The notification system for the early detection and communication of risks should be improved
through an improvement of the existing EUROPHYT. As explained above, this information is
currently missing in the EUROPHYT database, which instead could be used as a monitoring tool
to report more systematically on the evolution of outbreaks, following a uniform format. MS
Food Chain Evaluation Consortium 83