Commodity risk assessment of Berberis thunbergii plants from the UK

The European Commission requested the EFSA Panel on Plant Health to prepare and deliver risk assessments for commodities listed in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 as ‘high risk plants, plant products and other objects’. Taking into account the available scientific information, including the technical information provided by the applicant country, this Scientific Opinion covers the plant health risks posed by the following commodities: Berberis thunbergii, bare root plants (up to 3 years old), whips (up to 2 years old) and rooted plants in pots (up to 4 years old) imported into the EU from the UK. A list of pests potentially associated with the commodities was compiled. The relevance of each pest was assessed based on evidence following defined criteria. One EU quarantine pest (Phytophthora ramorum (non-EU isolates)), one protected zone quarantine pest (Bemisia tabaci (European populations)) and one non-quarantine pest (Phytophthora kernoviae) were selected for further evaluation. For the selected pests, the risk mitigation measures implemented in the UK and specified in the technical dossier were evaluated taking into account the factors reducing their efficacy. For these pests, an expert judgement is given on the likelihood of pest freedom taking into consideration the risk mitigation measures acting on the pest, including uncertainties associated with the assessment. The degree of pest freedom varies between the pests evaluated, with P. ramorum being the pest most frequently expected on the evaluated imported commodities. Expert Knowledge Elicitation indicated, with 95% certainty, that between 9975 and 10,000 per 10,000 B. thunbergii rooted plants in pots would be free from P. ramorum.