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)
3.1 Scope of the CPHR
As discussed in the reference model, the current CPHR includes invasive alien species (IAS)
only insofar as they are directly – rather than indirectly - harmful to plants and plant products.
It is also limited to spread through movement, thereby excluding natural spread in terms of
financial compensation to those bearing the costs of outbreaks and control measures.
The analysis below presents in more detail the current state of play with regards to the extent
to which the CPHR - as it currently stands and is currently implemented - covers the control
of natural spread and IAS, in order to address EQ 2 and EQ 3.
The evaluation has identified the need to work with standardised, ideally international agreed,
definitions for key terms used in plant health policy. This includes notably the terms ‗Harmful
Organisms‘ (HOs) (referred to in international standards as pests, quarantine and non
quarantine, regulated or non regulated), ‗Invasive Alien Species‘ (IAS), ‗natural spread‘,
‗outbreaks‘ and ‗new findings‘. The current lack of a common understanding concerning
these definitions is discussed in the relevant sections of this Report.
3.1.1 Natural spread
EQ2 addresses the extent to which it would be desirable to include the control of natural
spread of harmful organisms (HOs) in the scope of the CPHR. The control of ‗natural spread‘
in this context refers to the extent to which current measures are suitable for controlling the
presence and not only the man-assisted movement of HOs.
A subsidiary question to EQ2 is to clarify the extent to which the CPHR intervention logic is
also suited for control of HOs in public green, forests and natural habitats (including Natura
2000 sites), in addition to agriculture and horticulture. This question relates also to the extent
to which Invasive Alien Species are included in the scope of the CPHR, which is explored
further in the following section 3.1.2Error! Reference source not found..
3.1.1.1 Inclusion of natural spread in CPHR scope
The evaluation has found that the current legislation is not explicit on whether natural spread
is or is not included in the CPHR regime, leading to considerable confusion and divergence in
interpretation amongst MS and stakeholders.
Several elements lead to the conclusion that natural spread is included in the scope of
Directive 2000/29/EC (the base Directive), as follows:
Article 16(1) of the base Directive indicates that ―each Member State shall immediately
notify [...] of the presence in its territory of any harmful organisms listed in Annex I, Part
A, Section I or Annex II, Part A, Section I or of the appearance in part of its territory in
which their presence was previously unknown [...]. It shall take all necessary measures to
eradicate, or if that is impossible, inhibit the spread of the harmful organisms concerned‖.
Food Chain Evaluation Consortium 40