(1)

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 (2) establishes, on the basis of a preliminary risk assessment, a list of high-risk plants, plant products and other objects.

(2)

Following a preliminary assessment, 34 genera and one species of plants for planting originating from third countries are provisionally listed in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 as high-risk plants. That list includes the genera Cornus L., Populus L., Sorbus L. and Taxus L.

(3)

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1213 (3) sets out the phytosanitary measures for the introduction into the Union territory of certain plants, plant products and other objects, which have been removed from the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019, but for which phytosanitary risks are not yet fully assessed. This is because one or more pests hosted by those plants are not yet included in the list of Union quarantine pests of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 (4), but they may fulfil the conditions to be included in that list following a further complete risk assessment.

(4)

On 31 March 2023, the United Kingdom (5) submitted to the Commission three requests for export to the Union of the following plants for planting (‘the relevant plants’):

Those requests were supported by the relevant technical dossiers.

(5)

On 1 February 2024, the European Food Safety Authority (‘the Authority’) adopted a scientific opinion regarding the risk assessment of Cornus alba and Cornus sanguinea plants originating in the United Kingdom (6). The Authority identified Discula destructiva, Meloidogyne fallax, Phytophthora ramorum (non-EU isolates), Tobacco ringspot virus and Tomato ringspot virus, as pests relevant for those plants.

(6)

On 23 May 2024, the Authority adopted a scientific opinion regarding the risk assessment of Sorbus aucuparia plants originating in the United Kingdom (7). It identified Entoleuca mammata and Phytophthora ramorum (non-EU isolates) as pests relevant for those plants.

(7)

On 7 August 2023, the United Kingdom submitted to the Commission four requests for export to the Union of the following plants for planting (‘the other relevant plants’):

Those requests were supported by the relevant technical dossiers.

(8)

On 29 January 2025, the Authority adopted a scientific opinion regarding the risk assessment of Taxus baccata plants originating in the United Kingdom (8). It identified Phytophthora ramorum (non-EU isolates) as pest relevant for those plants.

(9)

On 26 February 2025, the Authority adopted a scientific opinion regarding the risk assessment of Populus alba, Populus nigra and Populus tremula plants originating in the United Kingdom (9). It identified Bemisia tabaci (European populations) and Entoleuca mammata as pests relevant for those plants.

(10)

The Authority evaluated the risk mitigation measures described in the respective dossiers for the identified pests. It concluded that the likelihood that the relevant plants, as well as the other relevant plants, are free from those pests is high, provided the relevant risk mitigation measures are applied.

(11)

On the basis of those opinions, the phytosanitary risk arising from the introduction into the Union territory of the relevant plants, as well as the other relevant plants, is considered to be reduced to an acceptable level, provided that appropriate measures are applied to address the risk of pests related to those plants.

(12)

As the phytosanitary risk from the introduction into the Union territory of large 15-year-old plants for planting in growing media of Populus alba, Populus nigra, Populus tremula, Sorbus aucuparia and Taxus baccata which is the commodity possibly posing the highest phytosanitary risk is considered to be reduced to an acceptable level, it is therefore justified to conclude that the phytosanitary risk from the introduction into the Union of all plants for planting of Populus alba, Populus nigra, Populus tremula, Sorbus aucuparia and Taxus baccata, irrespective of their size, age, bare rooted or in growing medium, originating in the United Kingdom, is reduced to an acceptable level.

(13)

Consequently, up to two-year-old plants for planting of Cornus alba and Cornus sanguinea with a maximum diameter of 10 mm; up to five-year-old plants for planting of Cornus alba and Cornus sanguinea in growing medium, with a maximum diameter of 40 mm; up to seven-year-old bare-rooted plants for planting of Cornus alba and Cornus sanguinea with a maximum diameter of 40 mm; and plants for planting of Populus alba, Populus nigra, Populus tremula, Sorbus aucuparia and Taxus baccata, originating in the United Kingdom, should no longer be considered high-risk plants.

(14)

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(15)

The measures described by the United Kingdom in the technical dossiers are considered sufficient to reduce the risk arising from the introduction into the Union territory of the relevant plants and the other relevant plants, to an acceptable level. Those measures should therefore be adopted as phytosanitary import requirements to ensure the phytosanitary protection of the Union territory from the risk arising from the introduction of those plants into it.

(16)

Meloidogyne fallax and Phytophthora ramorum (non-EU isolates) are listed as Union quarantine pests in Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072. Bemisia tabaci (European populations) and Entoleuca mammata are listed as protected zone quarantine pests in Annex III to that Regulation. Tobacco ringspot virus and Tomato ringspot virus are now listed as Union regulated non-quarantine pests in Annex IV to that Regulation.

(17)

Discula destructiva is not yet included in the list of Union quarantine pests of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072. A complete pest risk assessment for the pest needs to become available to determine whether it fulfils the conditions to be listed in Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072, and whether the relevant plants, originating in the United Kingdom, are to be listed in Annex VII to that Regulation, together with the respective specific requirements Discula destructiva and the corresponding requirements should therefore be included in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1213.

(18)

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1213 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(19)

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