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)
section, on the basis of how the EU notifications system has been implemented during the last
15 years, the EUROPHYT system offers clear advantages, added value and usefulness, and
these are acknowledged by both MS CAs and stakeholders. It is noted, however, that the
EUROPHYT is considered to address the needs for the exchange of information more
adequately in the case of imports than in the case of intra-Community trade:
Does the EUROPHYT tool adequately address the needs for the exchange of information on
interceptions in a timely manner?
a) Interceptions of imports:
MS that consider that the EUROPHYT tool addresses the need for rapid exchange of information on
interceptions of imports:
- Fully (14 out of 25)
- Partly (11 out of 25)
b) Interceptions in internal market movement:
MS that consider that the EUROPHYT tool addresses the need for rapid exchange of information on
interceptions on the internal market:
- Fully (9 out of 25)
- Partly (15 out of 25)
The majority of the stakeholders did not express a view on this.
The need for certain improvements to the system is noted with a view to reaching its full
potential. Critical success factors in this context include the speed and interactivity in the
provision of the information, but also the extent to which the available information can be
used to inform decision-making. Further development of EUROPHYT is needed and
supported to address these points, to become a fully effective and user friendly platform and a
more systematic support decision-making tool.
Based on the results of the survey and interviews, the following improvements have been
identified by a wide range of MS CAs and stakeholders:
The EUROPHYT platform should be further improved to be more user-friendly and to
allow general queries for specific cases, which is not possible at the moment;
The system should prioritise to take a more pro-active approach that focuses on upcoming
threats. In this context, the system needs to be cleaned of low priority or ―useless‖
notifications such as missing or wrong truck number or insignificant errors in additional
declarations;
Some level of analysis of the notifications should be performed by the FVO in order to
send to MS some key messages, instead of delivering raw data and statistics. This may
include an annual in-depth analysis of the EUROPHYT data by the FVO, and presentation
of the results to the SCPH;
An internal intra-Community IT system for interceptions is needed, instead of receiving
only written notifications by MS. At the moment, it might take time to enter the paper
notification into the electronic system;
Currently, it is difficult for the system to accept preliminary incomplete notifications e.g.
‗a Liriomyza spp.‘ or ‗Tephritidae‟, until full determination is available.
Conclusions
FCEC 187