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)
DG RTD is supporting the coordination of plant health research activities commissioned under
national MS budgets, through EUPHRESCO. Interviewees and respondents to the survey
indicated that the establishment of this network is perceived as a strong and robust step forward
in the direction of establishing a coordinated EU R&D approach:
General survey results
Q3.1.i Extent to which the respondents to the survey are satisfied by the establishment of an ERA-net project
(EUPHRESCO) in the plant health sector:
20 out of 25 MS CAs and 5 out of 13 stakeholders are fully or partly satisfied by the establishment of an ERA-net
project (EUPRESCO) in the plant health sector. (4 MS CA and 7 stakeholders do not know).
EUPHRESCO (European Phytosanitary RESearch Coordination) 177 was an initiative of the EU
Council Working Party of COPHs, and began in 2006 with funding from EU FP6. The partners
include 24 national and regional plant health research funding bodies from 15 MS, Switzerland
and Turkey, and other interested parties including 6 observer MS who do not have definable
national plant health research programmes. The ERA-Net is due to end in its current form in
2010 but a new call for tender has been submitted to continue coordination efforts in the plant
health field.
Specific objectives of EUPHRESCO are to 178 :
Increase cooperation and coordination of national phytosanitary research programmes at EU
level through networking of research activities and national programmes;
Develop phytosanitary (statutory plant health) research policy at the EU-wide level;
Optimise the research provision that underpins EU quarantine plant health policy
development and policy implementation, in an era of increasing biosecurity threats from
alien plant pests, diseases and invasive species;
Map information on national phytosanitary research programmes;
Establish instruments for trans-national phytosanitary research activities;
Develop common research agendas based on shared priorities;
Increase the capacity of European phytosanitary science and research, in order to prevent the
disappearance of EU expertise in this field and maintain Europe's competitiveness in the
global market;
Improve interaction with stakeholders and industry bodies at national and EU levels;
Establish a long-term, sustainable network that will strategically facilitate joint trans-national
activities to underpin EU phytosanitary policy and science capacity.
EUPHRESCO partners are working to establish links with key research funding bodies in
NPPOs in key non-EU countries, and at regional level (e.g. EPPO), in order to ensure capacitybuilding
in plant health programmes and encourage alignment of research and strategic targets.
177 http://www.euphresco.org/
178 In common with other ERA-Nets, the main activities are networking, a systematic exchange of information, the
development of joint activities such as common evaluation procedures and common agendas, including a strategic
research agenda, the development and implementation of joint trans-national research and dissemination of results.
Food Chain Evaluation Consortium 160