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)
Another area for harmonisation is the place of control. For traders it is important to have
phytosanitary controls at the point of final destination (PoD), as it brings flexibility in the
process. In that respect it is interesting to note that the customs perspective is to move to the
approach of controls carried out at the business point (i.e. at the premises of business operators)
with a pre-requisite of full registration of these premises/business operators, under the condition
that prohibition and restriction measures allow for that. Therefore the two approaches seem to be
complementary; provided that controls at final destination provide sufficient protection from a
phytosanitary point of view (the performance to date of the system of controls at final destination
is discussed in section 3.4.7.)
3.4.4 Functioning of reduced-frequency checks (imports of end products)
Directive 2000/29/EC provides for reduced frequency plant health checks for certain plants,
plant products or other objects listed in Part B of Annex V, where they can be justified 113 . The
system is more fully described in Annex 1 (Theme 2).
In order to determine product eligibility for reduced frequency checks, the Community has
developed a "Decision Tree" which is applied to each "trade" (trade = a commodity from a single
country). The reduced inspection level is fixed in accordance with a formula which takes into
account the volume of imports per year and the level of non-compliance recorded. At present a
total of 52 products have been recommended for plant health checks at reduced frequency 114 .
According to the answers of MS CAs to the general survey, 9 MS apply the system of reducedfrequency
checks for imports of end products as follows:
Table 3-10: MS applying reduced-frequency checks for imports of end products
BE
DE
ES
FI
NL
PT
SW
UK
MS
End products concerned
Malus from NZ and South Africa
Citrus from Mexico and the USA
Pyrus and Prunus from South Africa
Cut flowers, wood from Russia
Wood from Russia
Wood products such as conifer wood from Russia
Sugar maple
Fruits and berries
Cut flowers
Fruit
Vegetables
All
A large number of products
113 Subject to conditions laid down in Commission Regulation (EC) No 1756/2004, and in Article 13a.2 of the base
Directive.
114 See table: list of products recommended for plant health checks at reduced levels. Updated 26-06-2009
Food Chain Evaluation Consortium 96