Agriculture MEPs back deal to fight influx of pests to the EU

Crop-infecting virus forces aphid pests to spread disease
Crop-infecting virus forces aphid pests to spread disease

New rules to curb the growing influx into the EU of plant pests and better equipment to tackle their spread were endorsed by the Agriculture Committee on Thursday.

The draft rules, informally agreed by MEPs and member states last year, will introduce new preventive and rapid response mechanisms for suspect plant imports, step up pest surveillance efforts in the EU and require all member states to draw up outbreak contingency plans.

"Plants pests and diseases do not respect borders and we need to protect our biodiversity by laying down basic procedures for all 28 EU member states to adopt," said UK rapporteur Anthea McIntyre, who headed Parliament's negotiating team.

"At the same time, we must be careful not to stifle trade in plants and plant products by introducing unnecessary layers of bureaucracy.

"These new rules strike the right balance by protecting trade while allowing us to respond to threats in a co-ordinated way across the EU."

Passports for plants

The Agriculture Committee backed the deal by 28 votes to one, with six abstentions.

The new rules include a preliminary assessment mechanism to quickly identify plants and plant products from third countries likely to pose a threat to plant health.

The rules want to extend the plant health certificate requirement to all plants and plant products from third countries - only private travellers importing small quantities of particular low-risk plants will be exempt.

The "plant passport" system will be extended to all movements of plants for planting within the EU, including those ordered through distant sales - only products supplied directly to final non-professional users, such as home gardeners, will be exempt.

All member states will need to establish multi-annual survey programmes to ensure timely detection of dangerous pests and contingency plans for each pest capable of entering their territory.

Member states' authorities will impose eradication measures in private premises too, so as to remove all sources of infestation, but only to the extent necessary to protect the public interest.