Commodity risk assessment of Malus sylvestris plants from United Kingdom

The European Commission requested the EFSA Panel on Plant Health to prepare and deliver riskassessments for commodities listed in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 as'Highrisk plants, plant products and other objects'. This Scientific Opinion covers plant health risks posed byrooted plants and bundles of bare root plants or rooted cell grown young plants ofMalus sylvestrisimported from the UK, taking into account the available scientific information, including the technicalinformation provided by the UK. All pests associated with the commodities were evaluated againstspecific criteria for their relevance for this opinion. Two quarantine pests (tobacco ringspot virus andtomato ringspot virus), one protected zone quarantine pest (Erwinia amylovora) and four non-regulated pests (Colletotrichum aenigma, Meloidogyne mali, Eulecanium excrescensandTakahashiajaponica) that fulfilled all relevant criteria were selected for further evaluation. ForErwinia amylovora,special requirements are specified in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072. Based onthe information provided in the dossier, these specific requirements forE. amylovoraare met. For theremaining six pests, the risk mitigation measures proposed in the technical Dossier from the UK wereevaluated, taking into account the possible limiting factors. For these pests, expert judgement is givenon the likelihood of pest freedom, taking into consideration the risk mitigation measures acting on thepest, including uncertainties associated with the assessment. The degree of pest freedom variesamong the pests evaluated, with scales (Eulecanium excrescensandTakahashia japonica) being thepests most frequently expected on the imported bundles of bare root plants or rooted cell grownyoung plants. The expert knowledge elicitation indicated with 95% certainty that between 9,976 and10,000 bundles (one bundle consisting of 5-15 plants for bare root plants or 25-50 plants for cellgrown young plants) per 10,000 would be free from the above-mentioned scales.