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Phytosanitary inspection of woody plants for planting at European Union entry points: a practical enquiry

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Abstract

Phytosanitary import inspections are important to avoid entry of harmful pests on live plants. In the European Union (EU), all consignments of live plants must be inspected at the first point of entry, and plants allowed entry can be moved without further inspection among the 28 Member States and Switzerland. It is important that inspections in EU countries adhere to the same standard to avoid introduction of harmful organisms through countries with weaker methods. We tested whether sampling intensity and confidence in the inspection results were the same across these countries. Questionnaires were sent to inspectors in all countries, asking about inspections of individual consignments of woody plants for planting. Data about 102 lots, inspected at 13 points of entry in six countries, were analyzed. We used hypergeometric and binomial statistics for small and large consignments, respectively, to calculate the probability that <1 % of the plants were infested. The duration of the inspection increased with lot size, but the probability that the infestation level was below 1 % of the plants was lower for small than for large lots. Moreover, large international differences in inspection intensity and the probability that the inspections could detect a level of infestation below 1 % were found: the probability was consistently above 0.95 in one country, while the average probability was below 0.6 in the other countries. We suggest that the EU Member States adopt common maximum acceptable infestation levels and harmonized, statistics-based sampling protocols for plants for planting.

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Acknowledgments

This research has received funding from the EU Seventh Framework Programme project Increasing Sustainability of European Forests: Modelling for security against invasive pests under climate change (ISEFOR), and from the COST Action FP1002—Pathway Evaluation and Pest Risk Management in Transport (PERMIT). RE was supported by a grant from the Swiss Secretariat for Science, Education and Research to join the EU COST Action PERMIT. Thanks to the National Plant Protection Organisations and the phytosanitary inspectors who sent back their questionnaires. Françoise Petter, Richard Baker, Alan McLeod and Peter Reed provided expert advice. The authors thank them and three anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CABI, Rue des Grillons 1, 2800, Delémont, Switzerland

    René Eschen

  2. Lutte biologique et Écologie spatiale, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50 Avenue FD Roosevelt, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Ludovic Rigaux & Jean-Claude Grégoire

  3. Forest Protection Department, Forest Research Institute, Braci Lesnej St. 3, Sekocin Stary, 05090, Raszyn, Poland

    Lidia Sukovata

  4. Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-Food and Forest Systems (DIBAF), Università degli Studi della Tuscia, Via S. Camillo de Lellis snc, 01100, Viterbo, Italy

    Anna Maria Vettraino

  5. Forest Research, Northern Research Station, Roslin, Midlothian, EH25 9SY, UK

    Mariella Marzano

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  1. René Eschen
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  2. Ludovic Rigaux
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  3. Lidia Sukovata
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  4. Anna Maria Vettraino
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  6. Jean-Claude Grégoire
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Correspondence to René Eschen.

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Eschen, R., Rigaux, L., Sukovata, L. et al. Phytosanitary inspection of woody plants for planting at European Union entry points: a practical enquiry. Biol Invasions 17, 2403–2413 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-015-0883-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-015-0883-6

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