Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2298 of 14 November 2025 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 as regards certain plants for planting of Salix caprea and Salix cinerea originating in the United Kingdom

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 [^ntr1-L_202502298EN.000101-E0001], and in particular Article 42(4), first subparagraph, thereof,

Whereas:

• (1) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 [^ntr2-L_202502298EN.000101-E0002] establishes, on the basis of a preliminary risk assessment, a list of high-risk plants, plant products and other objects.

• (2) Following a preliminary assessment, 34 genera and one species of plants for planting originating from third countries were provisionally listed in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 as high-risk plants. That list includes the genus Salix L.

• (3) On 7 August 2023, the United Kingdom [^ntr3-L_202502298EN.000101-E0003] submitted to the Commission two requests for export to the Union of up to 2-year-old cell-grown plants of Salix caprea and Salix cinerea with a maximum diameter of 1 cm, up to 2-year-old cuttings/graftwood of Salix caprea and Salix cinerea with a maximum diameter of 12 mm, up to 7-year-old bare rooted plants for planting of Salix caprea and Salix cinerea with a maximum diameter of 40 mm at the base of the stem and up to 15-year-old plants for planting of Salix caprea and Salix cinerea in growing medium, with a maximum diameter of 140 mm at the base of the stem (‘the relevant plants’). Those requests were supported by the relevant technical dossiers.

• (4) On 28 March 2025, the European Food Safety Authority (‘the Authority’) adopted a scientific opinion regarding the risk assessment of the relevant plants [^ntr4-L_202502298EN.000101-E0004]. The Authority identified Bemisia tabaci (European populations), Entoleuca mammata and Phytophthora ramorum (non-EU isolates) as pests relevant for those plants, evaluated the risk mitigation measures described in the technical dossiers and estimated the likelihood of freedom of the relevant plants from those pests.

• (5) Phytophthora ramorum (non-EU isolates) is listed as a Union quarantine pest in Annex II to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 [^ntr5-L_202502298EN.000101-E0005], and Bemisia tabaci (European populations) and Entoleuca mammata are listed as protected zone quarantine pests in Annex III to that Implementing Regulation.

• (6) On the basis of the opinion of the Authority, the phytosanitary risk arising from the introduction into the Union territory of the relevant plants is considered to be reduced to an acceptable level, provided that the respective import requirements set out in Annex VII to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 are complied with.

• (7) As the phytosanitary risk from the introduction into the Union territory of large up to 15-year-old plants for planting in growing medium of Salix caprea and Salix cinerea is considered to be reduced to an acceptable level, it is justified to conclude that the phytosanitary risk from the introduction into the Union of all plants for planting of Salix caprea and Salix cinerea, irrespective of their size, age, bare rooted or in growing medium, originating in the United Kingdom, is reduced to an acceptable level.

• (8) Consequently, plants for planting of Salix caprea and Salix cinerea should no longer be considered high-risk plants. They should therefore be removed from the list of high-risk plants, plant products and other objects in the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019.

• (9) Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 should therefore be amended accordingly.

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

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

The Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 is amended in accordance with the Annex to this Regulation.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third 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, 14 November 2025.

For the Commission

The President

Ursula VON DER LEYEN

[^ntr1-L_202502298EN.000101-E0001]: OJ L 317, 23.11.2016, p. 4, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/2031/oj.

[^ntr2-L_202502298EN.000101-E0002]: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 of 18 December 2018 establishing a provisional list of high risk plants, plant products or other objects, within the meaning of Article 42 of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 and a list of plants for which phytosanitary certificates are not required for introduction into the Union, within the meaning of Article 73 of that Regulation (OJ L 323, 19.12.2018, p. 10, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2018/2019/oj).

[^ntr3-L_202502298EN.000101-E0003]: In accordance with the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, and in particular Article 5(4) of the Windsor Framework (See Joint Declaration No 1/2023 of the Union and the United Kingdom in the Joint Committee established by the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (OJ L 102, 17.4.2023, p. 87) in conjunction with Annex 2 to that Framework, for the purposes of this Regulation, references to the United Kingdom do not include Northern Ireland.

[^ntr4-L_202502298EN.000101-E0004]: EFSA Panel on Plant Health, 2025. Commodity risk assessment of Salix caprea and Salix cinerea plants from the UK. EFSA Journal, 23(4), e9384. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9384.

[^ntr5-L_202502298EN.000101-E0005]: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 of 28 November 2019 establishing uniform conditions for the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 of the European Parliament and the Council, as regards protective measures against pests of plants, and repealing Commission Regulation (EC) No 690/2008 and amending Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 (OJ L 319, 10.12.2019, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2019/2072/oj).

ANNEX

In the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019, in the table of point 1, in the second column ‘Description’, the entry ‘ Salix L.’ is replaced by the following:

‘ Salix L., other than plants for planting of Salix caprea and Salix cinerea, originating in the United Kingdom.’

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2025/2298/oj

ISSN 1977-0677 (electronic edition)