Editorial December 2021

Abstract

This issue of the EPPO Bulletin shows an important part of the work of EPPO; Regional Standards in the area of phytosanitary regulation to control invasive plant pests. These Standards have been developed by experts in EPPO Panels, were extensively discussed, comments received from EPPO countries were considered and, in the end, the Working Party approved the Standards and the EPPO Council endorsed them. This process is facilitated by the EPPO Secretariat but relies on contributions of experts from EPPO’s member countries and ensures that the Standards are implementable, reflect reality, support NPPOs and thereby contribute to a harmonized way of working. The EPPO Council approved in September 2021 too many Standards to have them all published in this issue of the Bulletin. The EPPO Standards on efficacy evaluation of plant protection products in the PP1 series and three PM8 Standards on commodity-specific measures for forestry species, approved by Council this year, will be published in the April 2022 issue of the Bulletin. These Standards are available via online early view at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/13652338/0/0. Moreover, EPPO’s Annual Report for 2020 in English is included, while the versions in French for 2020 and 2019 are available on the EPPO website, describing the whole range of EPPO’s work. The EPPO Standards in this issue include amongst others pest-specific Diagnostic Protocols, Standards for quality management and accreditation of laboratories, Standards on inspection of places of production and consignments of specific commodities and, a Standard on reducing the risk of soil from processing factories for potato cultivation. This latter Standard illustrates clearly how growers, processors and National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPOs) can take their respective responsibility and can work together to reduce risks of returning soil to farms. The role of NPPOs remains crucial. Another interesting subject is covered by the new Standard in the PM5 series on the design and implementation of a buffer zone to minimize the probability of spread of a pest into or out of regulated areas. This Standard gives guidance to risk assessors and risk managers to assess what size of buffer zone is matching their needs and possibilities. Moreover, a revision on the Standard on biological control agents, to clarify the criteria to list biological control agents safely used in the EPPO region, and Standards on control of invasive alien plants are included. The article on the developments in the work area of invasive alien plants over the past ten years in Europe gives a good overview of the work done in Europe on assessing, controlling, preventing and regulating IAP and the role EPPO played in this. Furthermore, this issue continues to contribute to pest reporting by including several reports on first findings which are important to signal new or changed risks, e.g. of the giant date mealy bug and the bay sucker in Jordan, Drosophila suzukii in the Russian Caucasus and scale insects and mealy bugs in Kenya. EPPO continues to work with many experts inside and outside the EPPO region to support NPPOs in their work to prevent the introduction and spread of pests and to control them. We have greatly appreciated the efforts of all experts to continue to contribute to EPPO’s work remotely due to COVID-19 restrictions. EPPO is, however, looking forward to working together during physical meetings in the near future. This will enhance the formal and informal discussions and exchange of information and EPPO can fulfil its role as a platform to experts to strengthen and enlarge their network.