Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/311 of 14 February 2025 on measures to eradicate and to prevent the establishment and spread within the Union territory of fruit flies of the species Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), Bactrocera latifrons (Hendel) and Bactrocera zonata (Saunders)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2016 on protective measures against pests of plants, amending Regulations (EU) No 228/2013, (EU) No 652/2014 and (EU) No 1143/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directives 69/464/EEC, 74/647/EEC, 93/85/EEC, 98/57/EC, 2000/29/EC, 2006/91/EC and 2007/33/EC (1), and in particular Article 28(1), points (d), (e), (f), (g) and (i), thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Fruit flies of the species Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), Bactrocera latifrons (Hendel) and Bactrocera zonata (Saunders) (‘the specified pests’) are listed in Part A of Annex II to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 (2) as Union quarantine pests.

(2) Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) and Bactrocera zonata (Saunders) are also listed as priority pests in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/1702 (3).

(3) The specified pests are frequently found present in consignments sent to the Union from third countries. Since 2019, the specified pests have been found present in Belgium, Greece, France, Italy, Cyprus and Austria. The Member States concerned have taken measures (such as intensive trapping, removal of infested fruits and of windfall, prohibition to move infested fruits) and the specified pests have either been eradicated or are under eradication in those Member States for the time being.

(4) In order to ensure a uniform and efficient approach preventing the establishment and spread of the specified pests within the Union territory, it is appropriate to adopt harmonised measures concerning the surveys for the specified pests, the contingency plans, the demarcation of areas, the eradication and the prevention of the establishment and spread of the specified pests outside the demarcated areas.

(5) It is necessary to establish a list of host plants for the specified pests which are cultivated in the Union territory (‘host plants’), in order to survey and eradicate the specified pests and prevent their establishment and spread. For the same reason, appropriate measures should be taken concerning the fruits of those plants (‘the specified fruits’).

(6) The specified pests may enter the Union territory through commercial consignments or passengers’ luggage and are able to spread actively. Therefore, rules on surveys concern also techniques of detecting infestation of specified fruits while on host plants, surveys in the areas where the specified fruits are imported and traded, trapping of the specified pests and sampling of possibly infested fruits, in order to enable competent authorities to adapt those surveys to the biology of those pests.

(7) Competent authorities should be allowed not to establish a demarcated area in certain cases, when, due to the particular biology of the specified pest or due to characteristics of the site, it is concluded that the pest can be eliminated immediately. This is the case where there is evidence that the specified pests have been introduced into the area with the fruits on which they were found, those fruits were infested before their introduction into the area concerned and the specified pest cannot establish itself within that area, where the specified pest is officially confirmed in a site of production with physical isolation or in a site with protected cultivation and where it cannot establish outside that site. Competent authorities should in particular be able to take into account situations where the specified pest is not expected to survive because of unfavourable winter conditions.

(8) The trapping protocols used in surveys in demarcated areas should be specifically adapted to the biology of the specified pests. This is necessary to ensure a proper monitoring of the presence of the specified pest and the process of eradication.

(9) The eradication measures should take into account the biology of the specified pests as fruit flies and, therefore, include methods such as male annihilation treatments, bait application techniques, collection and safe disposal of windfall and of (early) harvested specified fruits, soil treatment (such as mechanical, chemical or microbiological) in and around areas of production of specified plants for destroying soil-bound stages of the specified pest, or the use of sterile insect technique.

(10) Measures should be adopted to prevent the spread of the specified pests outside the demarcated areas. Those measures should concern the movements of host plants for planting, specified fruits, and soil from the infested zone to the rest of the Union territory. Bearing in mind that such host plants and soil are the likeliest pathways for the spread of the specified pests, measures should be taken to ensure that they are free from the specified pests, in any of their stages.

(11) Sufficient time should be given for the competent authorities and the professional operators to adapt to this Regulation. Therefore, this Regulation should apply from 1 March 2025.

(12) Moreover, additional time should be given to the competent authorities to prepare the design of each survey and allocate sufficient resources for conducting it in conformity with the methodology of statistical sampling. Therefore, the respective provision should apply from 1 January 2026.

(13) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation sets out measures to eradicate, to prevent the establishment in, and the spread within the Union territory of Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), Bactrocera latifrons (Hendel) and Bactrocera zonata (Saunders).

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:

(1) ‘specified pests’ means fruit flies belonging to the species Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), Bactrocera latifrons (Hendel) or Bactrocera zonata (Saunders);

(2) ‘host plants’ means plants belonging to the species listed in Annex I;

(3) ‘specified fruits’ means fruits of the host plants.

Article 3

Surveys of the Union territory of the specified pests

The surveys shall be based on the European Food Safety Authority’s (‘the Authority’s) General guidelines for statistically sound and risk-based surveys for plant pests and on the scientific and technical information referred to in the Authority’s Pest Survey Cards on the specified pest (4) (‘pest survey card’).

(a) in the fruiting parts of the host plants, by using techniques capable of detecting the presence of the specified pest;

(b) in and around airports and harbours, in and around facilities of auctions and retailers where specified fruits are traded, in areas where specified fruits are packed, processed or discharged, in areas where specified fruits are produced, and other relevant sites, as appropriate;

(c) by trapping with appropriate traps, as specified in the International Standard for Phytosanitary measures (ISPM) 26 (5); and

(d) in the case of any suspicion of presence of the specified pest on specified fruits, by collecting samples of specified fruits and identification of the pest.

Article 4

Contingency plans for priority pests

Member States, when drawing up their contingency plans for Bactrocera dorsalis and Bactrocera zonata, shall include in those plans procedures to:

(a) identify the owners of private properties, in the areas of which the measures provided for in this Regulation are to be applied; and

(b) ensure access of the competent authorities to properties referred to in point (a).

Member States shall annually review and, as appropriate, update their contingency plans.

Article 5

Establishment of demarcated areas

(a) an infested zone, which is the zone where the presence of a specified pest has been confirmed, and has a radius of at least 500 m around the place(s) of the findings of the specified pest; and

(b) a buffer zone with a radius of at least 7 km beyond the boundary of the infested zone.

Article 6

Derogations from the establishment of demarcated areas

(a) it is concluded by the competent authorities that the specified pest cannot establish within the area where it was observed;

(b) there is evidence that the specified pest has been introduced into the area with the consignment where it was found, the specified fruits in that consignment were infested before their introduction into the area concerned, and no multiplication of the specified pest has taken place following that introduction;

(c) the presence of the specified pest is officially confirmed in a production site with physical isolation from its surroundings, which prevents the specified pest from spreading out of that site;

(d) the presence of the specified pest is officially confirmed in a production site which is protected in such way that allows to avoid further presence of the specified pests on host plants and specified fruits, and it has been concluded by the competent authorities that the specified pests cannot become established outside that production site because of unfavourable winter conditions.

(a) take measures to ensure the prompt eradication of the specified pest and exclude any possibility of its spread;

(b) carry out an intensive survey in a zone of a radius of at least 500 m around the place(s) of the finding of the specified pest; and

(c) where appropriate, and in particular in case of paragraph 1, points (c) and (d), apply efficient measures preventing the spread of the specified pest through specified fruits or host plants out of the production site.

In case of paragraph 1, point (b), if the competent authorities conclude that the specified pest is not capable to survive the winter conditions, the period for the survey may be limited to the period before the start of the winter conditions.

Article 7

Surveys in demarcated areas

Article 8

Abolition of the demarcated areas

The demarcated area referred to in Article 5 may be abolished, if one of the following conditions is fulfilled:

(a) the specified pest is, on the basis of the surveys referred to in Article 7, not detected in the demarcated area for a period of at least 120 days; or

(b) it has been concluded by the competent authorities that the specified pest has undergone a period of sufficiently cold temperatures.

Article 9

Eradication measures

The competent authorities shall apply, as appropriate, one or more of the following measures for the purpose of eradicating the specified pests in the infested zone:

(a) use of male annihilation treatments and/or bait application techniques, using appropriate attractants;

(b) collection and safe disposal of windfall and of harvested specified fruits at an early stage of ripening and soil treatment, including mechanical, chemical or microbiological one, in and around areas of production of specified plants so as to destroy soil-bound stages of the specified pest;

(c) use of sterile insect technique;

(d) use of plant protection products, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6);

(e) where available, mass trapping of the specified pests with a sufficient number of traps, including the traps deployed in accordance with Article 7(2).

Article 10

Measures preventing the spread of the specified pest

The treatments referred to in the first subparagraph shall include the use of appropriate and sufficiently efficient plant protection products as authorised pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, or the use of alternative methods in accordance with internationally recognised phytosanitary standards, and in particular ISPM 28 (7), such as heat treatment, cold treatment or irradiation.

Specified fruits may also be moved from the infested zone into the buffer zone or out of the demarcated area:

(a) for the purpose of an appropriate treatment, if effective measures are taken to prevent the spread of the specified pest during transport and through the treatment facility;

(b) if they originate from outside the demarcated area, are only moving through the infested zone, and effective measures are taken to prevent their infestation by the specified pest; or

(c) if the specified fruits were harvested in a season of the year, as defined by the competent authorities, where no live stages of the specified pest are expected to occur in those fruits, due to the reproductive biology of the specified pest.

However, host plants bearing fruits may be moved out of, or through, the infested zone, if those plants originate from outside the demarcated area, and effective measures are taken to prevent infestation of the plants by the specified pests.

(a) it has been subject to appropriate measures to eliminate the specified pest; or

(b) it is buried under landfill, with a minimum of 50 cm cover material, under the supervision of the competent authorities.

Any transport of that soil towards the place of treatment or burying shall take place under conditions effectively preventing the spread of the specified pest.

Article 11

Entry into force and application

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 1 March 2025.

However, Article 3(1), second subparagraph, shall apply from 1 January 2026.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 14 February 2025.

For the Commission The President Ursula VON DER LEYEN

(1) OJ L 317, 23.11.2016, p. 4, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/2031/oj.