(1)

Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens pv. flaccumfaciens (Hedges) Collins and Jones (‘the specified pest’) is listed in Part A of Annex II to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 (2) as a pest not known to occur in the Union territory.

(2)

In 2024, the specified pest was found present on imported seeds of Phaseolus vulgaris L.

(3)

Additionally, in the recent years, outbreaks of the specified pest have been reported in the Union territory, in fields where Phaseolus vulgaris L. and Vicia faba L. were grown.

(4)

Plants for planting of Glycine max L. Merr., Phaseolus coccineus L., Phaseolus lunatus L., Phaseolus vulgaris L., Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & H.Ohashi, Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper, Vigna radiata (L.) R.Wilczek, Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. and Vicia faba L. (‘specified plants’) should be subject to certain measures. This is because, in accordance with an Opinion of the European Food Safety Authority, those plants are the main hosts of the specified pest (3), and they are also the plants on which the specified pest was either found during import controls or at outbreaks in the Union territory.

(5)

Member States should annually perform surveys for the presence of the specified pest, employing a risk-based approach, to ensure the early detection of the specified pest and clarify the status of its presence in the Union territory. Those surveys should consist of visual examinations and, where necessary, testing of the specified plants for the presence of the specified pest.

(6)

Moreover, and in order to protect the Union territory from the phytosanitary risk of the specified pest, special requirements should be set out in Annex VII to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 for the introduction into the Union of the specified plants from all third countries.

(7)

Those requirements should consist of different options, namely: requirement for the plants to originate from countries or areas which are free from the specified pest; requirement for the plants to originate from production sites which are subject to specific conditions; and requirement for the plants to be subjected to sampling and testing pursuant to certain rules. Each of those options is sufficient to reduce the respective phytosanitary risk to an acceptable level.

(8)

Given the increasing demand in the Union for seeds of host plants of the specified pest, it is necessary to adopt requirements for introduction of those seeds into the Union territory.

(9)

Moreover, seeds of Phaseolus lunatus L., Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & H. Ohashi, Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper, Vigna radiata (L.) R.Wilczek and Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp., should be listed in Part A of Annex XI to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072.

(10)

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(11)

Given the still uncertain status of the presence of that pest in the Union territory, the requirement to perform annual surveys for the presence of the specified pest should apply during a limited period of time, during which the Commission will reassess the need for continuing the annual surveys based on the knowledge about the presence of the specified pest obtained by the competent authorities during the annual surveys.

(12)

The requirements concerning the introduction into the Union territory of the specified plants should apply from 23 April 2026. This is necessary in order to allow the competent authorities of the third countries sufficient time to adapt to those requirements.

(13)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,

(1)

‘specified pest’ means Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens pv. flaccumfaciens (Hedges) Collins and Jones;

(2)

‘specified plants’ means plants for planting of Glycine max L. Merr., Phaseolus coccineus L., Phaseolus lunatus L., Phaseolus vulgaris L., Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & H.Ohashi, Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper, Vigna radiata (L.) R.Wilczek, Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. and Vicia faba L.