(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 were provisionally included in the list set out in the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 as high-risk plants. That list includes the genus Prunus 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, which are not yet in the list of Union quarantine pests of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 (4), may fulfil the conditions to be included in that list following a complete risk assessment.

(4)

On 22 June 2023, Ukraine submitted to the Commission a request for export to the Union of up to two-year-old free of leaves, non-grafted plants for planting of hybrids of Prunus cerasus and Prunus canescens (‘relevant plants from Ukraine’). That request was supported by the relevant technical dossier.

(5)

On 22 October 2024, the European Food Safety Authority (‘the Authority’) adopted a scientific opinion regarding the risk assessment of plants for planting of the relevant plants from Ukraine (5). The Authority did not identify any pests relevant for those plants.

(6)

On 28 February 2024, the United Kingdom (6) submitted to the Commission three requests for export to the Union of up to two-year-old graftwood of Prunus armeniaca, Prunus cerasifera, Prunus domestica, Prunus incisa and Prunus persica with a maximum diameter of 12 mm; up to three-year-old bare-rooted grafted plants for planting of Prunus armeniaca, Prunus cerasifera, Prunus domestica, Prunus incisa and Prunus persica with a maximum diameter of 40 mm; and up to fifteen-year-old grafted plants for planting of Prunus armeniaca, Prunus cerasifera, Prunus domestica, Prunus incisa and Prunus persica in growing medium, with a maximum diameter of 40 mm (‘the relevant plants from the United Kingdom’). Those requests were supported by the respective technical dossiers.

(7)

On 26 February 2025, the Authority adopted a scientific opinion regarding the risk assessment of the relevant plants from the United Kingdom (7). The Authority identified Bemisia tabaci (European population), Candidatus Phytoplasma aurantifolia-related strains, Colletotrichum aenigma, Erwinia amylovora, Eulecanium excrescens and Scirtothrips dorsalis as pests relevant for those plants, evaluated the risk mitigation measures described in the technical dossiers and estimated the likelihood of freedom of the relevant plants from those pests.

(8)

On the basis of the respective opinion of the Authority, the phytosanitary risk arising from the introduction into the Union territory of the relevant plants from Ukraine is considered to be acceptable, provided that the respective import requirements set out in Annex VII to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 are complied with.

(9)

As no pest was identified to be relevant for the relevant plants from Ukraine, it is justified to conclude that the phytosanitary risk from the introduction of the relevant plants from Ukraine is acceptable provided that the respective import requirements set out in Annex VII to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 are complied with.

(10)

On the basis of the respective opinion of the Authority, the phytosanitary risk arising from the introduction into the Union territory of the relevant plants from the United Kingdom 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.

(11)

Furthermore, as the phytosanitary risk arising from the introduction into the Union territory of old trees of Prunus armeniaca, Prunus cerasifera, Prunus domestica, Prunus incisa and Prunus persica (fifteen-year-old) from the United Kingdom, which is the commodity possibly posing the highest phytosanitary risk, is considered to be reduced to an acceptable level, it is justified to conclude that the phytosanitary risk from the introduction into the Union of all plants for planting of those Prunus species from the United Kingdom, irrespective of their size, age, bare-rooted or in growing medium, grafted or not, is acceptable, provided that appropriate measures are applied to address the risk of pests related to those plants.

(12)

Consequently, up to two-year-old plants for planting of Prunus cerasus and Prunus canescens and hybrids of the two species originating in Ukraine and plants for planting of Prunus armeniaca, Prunus cerasifera, Prunus domestica, Prunus incisa and Prunus persica originating in the United Kingdom should no longer be considered high-risk plants. They should therefore be removed from the list of high-risk plants, plant products and other objects set out in the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019.

(13)

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

(14)

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

(15)

Candidatus Phytoplasma aurantifolia-related strains and Scirtothrips dorsalis are listed as Union quarantine pests in Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072, and Bemisia tabaci (European population) and Erwinia amylovora are listed as protected zone quarantine pests in Annex III to that Regulation.

(16)

Colletotrichum aenigma and Eulecanium excrescens are not yet included in the list of Union quarantine pests. A complete pest risk assessment of those pests needs to become available, to determine whether they are to be listed in Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072, and whether as a consequence the relevant plants from the United Kingdom, together with the relevant specific requirements, are to be listed in Annex VII to that Regulation.

(17)

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1213 should therefore be amended to also make plants for planting of Prunus armeniaca, Prunus cerasifera, Prunus domestica, Prunus incisa and Prunus persica originating in the United Kingdom, subject to the respective measures concerning Colletotrichum aenigma and Eulecanium excrescens.

(18)

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