High Risk Plant dossiers for exports to the EU and Northern Ireland - DEFRA Update

Over the last 3 years Defra worked with a group of stakeholders to submit the technical dossiers required to initiate the process of obtaining derogations from prohibitions on exports of High-Risk Plants to the EU and Northern Ireland (full list of High-Risk Plants can be found here).

The UK have now obtained derogations from prohibitions on exports for 14 High Risk Plant species, subject to certain phytosanitary conditions being met. These species are Malus domestica, M. sylvestris, Ligustrum japonicum/L.delavayanum, Acer platanoides, A. palmatum, A. pseudoplatanus, A. campestre, Quecus robur, Q. petraea, Fagus sylvatica, Crataegus monogyna, Corylus avellana, Ligustrum vulgare and L. ovalifolium.

Defra have also submitted the technical dossiers for 28 further species, Sorbus aucuparia, Cornus alba, C. sanguinea, , Prunus avium, P. spinosa, P. persica, P. insica, P. domestica, P. cerasifera, P. armeniaca, Betula pendula, B. pubescens, Tilia cordata, T. plathphyllos, Alnus cordata, A. glutinosa, A. incana, Populus alba, P. tremula, P. nigra, Salix caprea, S. cineria, Taxus baccata, Lonicera ligustrina var pileate, L. ligustrina var yunnanensis, L. periclymenum, Berberis thunbergia, Castanea sativa, and will shortly submit a dossier for Ulmus minor. The EU is currently reviewing these dossiers and it is anticipated that eventual derogations will be granted, subject to certain phytosanitary conditions being met. Please see here for updates on this work.

DEFRA have not received any industry interest in submitting further dossiers. High-Risk Plants for which the dossiers have not been submitted will continue to be classified as high-risk and the UK stakeholders will not be able to exports these plants to the EU or Northern Ireland.

These plants include all plants in genera Acacia, Albizia, Annona, Bauhinia, Caesalpinia, Cassia, Diospyros, Ficus carica, Fraxinus, Hamamelis, Jasminum, Nerium, Persea, Robinia, plants of Ullucus tuberosus, wood of Ulmus and fruits of Momordica.

Following the submission of all the technical dossiers for which Defra has received stakeholder interest they will pause the submission of any further dossiers unless they receive any indication that there are further High-Risk Plant species that the industry would like Defra to work on. If there are further High-Risk Plant species that you may wish to export to the EU or Northern Ireland, please contact UKNPPO@defra.gov.uk directly to inform plant health officials in Defra.