The European Commission has fulfilled its ultimate commitment and has expedited the treatment, which is based on the scientific risk analysis reports conducted by EFSA and OEPP.
The Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) today publishes the amendment to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/929 of 16 June, under which new entry requirements are introduced for oranges from countries where Thaumatotibia leucotreta (‘False Codling Moth’) is declared. This mainly involves the cold treatment that Intercitrus has been advocating to comply with current EU legislation – which requires absence of pests – and which, following the decisive last-minute efforts of the Spanish Government, was ultimately approved in an extraordinary session held by the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCoPAFF) on May 25. The interprofessional organization applauds the decision and now thanks the European Commission for fulfilling the commitments made on that day by expediting such modifications so that they could be enacted before the end of this month. Specifically, the OJEU states that the new requirement will enter into force “three days after its publication.” In practice, this means that all imports departing from affected countries from next Friday, June 24, must have the new phytosanitary certificate indicating that their oranges have been produced in an authorized place (previously communicated to the Commission) and certify that they have complied with the temperature established in this regulation, both in the precooling phase and in the cold treatment itself. Oranges from areas with this pest that, on the other hand, are exported before that date – June 24 – will be exempt from such requirements if they arrive in Europe and are effectively imported before July 14.
Intercitrus, in the words of its president, Inmaculada Sanfeliu, wants to reiterate its “satisfaction” for the “historic milestone formally achieved today, great news for Spanish citrus farming but also an important precedent in favour of the plant health of the entire European agricultural sector.” Similarly, the interprofessional organization recalls that none of this would have been possible without the “excellent technical work” carried out during the months prior to the aforementioned decision of the SCoPAFF by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and without the “political efforts” made by the Minister himself, Luis Planas, during those last days. These actions, in turn, were supported by the Valencian Government, personally by its President, Ximo Puig, and by the Minister of Agriculture, Mireia Mollà, and have come to fruition thanks also to the unity of action of the entire sector integrated into this interprofessional organization.
As was insistently argued for months, the implementation of the cold treatment was a strictly technical matter, unavoidable to comply with European legislation on plant health. This is indeed reflected in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) when it acknowledges that the new requirements are based “on the scientific information of the risk analysis related to the pest carried out by the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO) and on the risk assessments of the goods carried out by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in relation to oranges imported from South Africa and Israel, on relevant scientific literature, and on observations made by third countries following a consultation within the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO).”
The decision of the SCoPAFF entails a transitional regime for this campaign and a double alternative for cold treatment starting from the next season. In the current season – as reported in today’s OJEU – the European Commission will require countries where the False Codling Moth is declared – primarily South Africa and Zimbabwe for oranges – to undergo precooling at 5 degrees at origin (at the same port of departure) and undergo in-transit treatment (during the voyage on the ship) at temperatures between -1 and 2 degrees for 25 days. And, as previously announced, by 2023, two options will be allowed: a cold treatment between -1 and 0 degrees for 16 days or another between -1 and 2 degrees for 20 days. In both cases, following standard procedures in this field, operators will be required to precool to 0 degrees and 2 degrees, respectively. Among many other technical requirements, this proposal – as reiterated in the OJEU – imposes temperature monitoring using sensors, which must be available, and a percentage of shipments must be sampled and inspected.
The cold treatment that has been published is not internationally standardized and implemented, among others, by authorities in the US, China, or Japan. It will be applied only to oranges, although clementines, mandarins, and grapefruits are also hosts of the False Codling Moth. Hence, Intercitrus reiterates its commitment to continue working to improve this treatment in the future and trusts that shipment-by-shipment control will be carried out in the most rigorous manner.
