Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/356 of 21 February 2025 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1941 as regards the prohibition of introduction, movement, holding, multiplication or release of certain pests

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 30(1) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1941 (2) lists the pests which, pursuant to Article 30(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031, are temporarily prohibited to be introduced into, moved within, or held, multiplied or released, in the Union territory.

(2) The pest Leucinodes pseudorbonalis was initially included in the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1941, on the basis of a pest categorization performed by the European Food Safety Authority (‘the Authority’).

(3) In 2024, the Authority delivered a scientific opinion on a full pest risk assessment of the African Leucinodes species (3), which includes Leucinodes pseudorbonalis. It concluded that the probability and the expected impact of the establishment of Leucinodes pseudorbonalis in the Union is very low.

(4) In view of the opinion of the Authority, it is appropriate to conclude that the pest Leucinodes pseudorbonalis does not pose an unacceptable phytosanitary risk to the Union territory and therefore does not fulfil the criteria for Union quarantine pests set out in Section 1, or in Section 3, Subsection 2, of Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2016/2031, as regards the Union territory. Therefore, it should no longer be subject to the temporary measures adopted pursuant to Article 30 of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031. Leucinodes pseudorbonalis should therefore be removed from the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1941.

(5) In order to facilitate the identification of the pests subject to the prohibition and the duration of the prohibition, it is appropriate to specify in the Annex the codes used by the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization to designate the relevant pests and the date of expiry of the prohibition.

(6) The Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1941 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(7) The provisions of this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee for Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1941 is amended as follows:

(1) Articles 1 and 2 are replaced by the following: ‘Article 1 Prohibition of pests The pests listed in the Annex shall not be introduced into, moved within, or held, multiplied or released in the Union territory, until the date set out in that Annex for the pest concerned.

Article 2

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

(2) the Annex is replaced by the text set out in the Annex to this Regulation.

Article 2

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

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

Done at Brussels, 21 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/2016/2031/2019-12-14.

(2) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1941 of 13 October 2022 on the prohibition of introduction, movement, holding, multiplication or release of certain pests pursuant to Article 30(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 268, 14.10.2022, p. 13, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2022/1941/oj).

(3) EFSA Panel on Plant Health (PLH), 2024. Scientific Opinion on Pest risk assessment of African Leucinodes species for the European Union, https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2024.8739.