Plant health rules

About the EU plant health rules

The “EU Plant Health Law” provides effective measures for the protection of the Union's territory and its plants. It also aims to ensure safe trade, as well as to mitigate the impacts of climate change on the health of crops and forests.

It was adopted in 2016 and entered into force in 2019 and it was last revised in 2024. Several delegated and implementing acts have been adopted by the Commission since 2019 to support the implementation of the legislation.

Different stakeholders benefit from this approach:

Citizens: better protection of landscapes and forests, public and private green spaces, reduced need for pesticide use;
Growers and farmers: simpler and more transparent documentation (plant passport), better protection of their production, more financial support for fighting pests;
Other business operators: common operators' register, harmonised traceability;
Public authorities: EU financial support for the implementation of surveillance and eradication/containment measures.

The 2024 revision (Regulation (EU) 2024/3115 amending Regulation (EU) 2016/2031) which entered into force on 5 January 2025, introduced the following additional elements to the EU plant health regime :

The creation of the Union’s Plant Health Emergency Team, aiming at providing Member States, upon their request, with urgent assistance, technical scientific and managerial, in case of an outbreak of a union quarantine pest.
The obligation for third countries to declare the measures they applied against regulated non-quarantine pests on the phytosanitary certificate in case of imported plant reproductive material.
The establishment of procedures for third countries’ requests for market access and for the Union’s listing of plants as high risk.
The facilitation of internal EU trade as regards different rules on internal movement of plants (attachment of plant passport, distance sales for consumers, digitalisation of post-import controls).
The digitalisation of several reporting and notification obligations for EU Member States.

For further information, please contact SANTE-G1-PLANT-HEALTHec [dot] europa [dot] eu (SANTE-G1-PLANT-HEALTH[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)

Lists of pests, commodities and plant health requirements

From 14 December 2019, the Annexes of Directive 2000/29/EC, whereby the regulated pests, the regulated plants, plant products and other objects and the plant health import, as well as internal movement, requirements are listed, have been replaced by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072.

Regulated plants

From 14 December 2019, all plants (including living parts of plants) will need to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate to enter into the EU, unless they are listed in Annex XI, Part C, of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 as exempted from this general requirement (not requiring to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate). Currently, the list of plants exempted from the obligation to carry a phytosanitary certificate from 14 December 2019 are the following fruits: pineapples, coconuts, durians, bananas and dates.

High risk plants

The Plant Health Law increases the prevention against the introduction of new pests via imports from third countries. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 establishes the list of high risk plants the introduction of which into the EU territory will be provisionally prohibited from 14 December 2019 until a full risk assessment has been carried out.

The rules concerning the procedure to be followed in order to carry out the risk assessment of high risk plants are detailed in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2018.

Priority pests

Article 6(2) of the Plant Health Law empowers the Commission to establish a list of the priority pests. Published in the Official Journal on 11 October 2019, the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/1702 lists 20 quarantine pests as priority pests, including Xylella fastidiosa, the Japanese beetle, the Asian long-horned beetle, Citrus greening and Citrus Black Spot, whose economic, environmental and social impact on EU territory is the most severe.

The selection of those pests is based on an assessment carried out by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre and the European Food Safety Authority, which takes into account the probability of spreading, establishment and consequences of those pests for the Union.

Views of a dedicated Experts Group and public feedback provided via the Better Regulation portal were also taken into account.

For these specific pests, Member States will have to adopt enhanced provisions: information campaigns to the public in case they are present in their territory, implement annual surveys, prepare contingency plans, simulation exercises and action plans for eradication.