Statement on a heat treatment to control Agrilus planipennis

In 2011, the EFSA Panel on Plant Health was asked by the European Commission to provide an opinion on a technical file submitted by the US Authorities to support a request to list a new heat treatment (60 °C/60 min) among the EU import requirements for wood of Agrilus planipennis host plants. After a thorough analysis of the documents provided the Panel concluded that, with a low uncertainty, A. planipennis is likely to survive the proposed heat treatment of 60 °C/60 min, and that, to ensure a control level of 99 % the temperature of the heat treatment of 60 min should be higher than 70 °C. Following the publication of this scientific opinion, the US Authorities submitted a new proposal to the European Commission, consisting in a new heat treatment (71.1 °C/60 min). The EFSA Panel on Plant Health was asked to consider whether this new proposal was within the scope of the published opinion and, if not, to clarify its conclusion and indicate what data would be needed to assess the effectiveness of the new treatment. The Panel concluded that the new proposal is not within the scope of the opinion as the data provided by the US Authorities cannot be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the new proposed heat treatment. An accurate assessment of the new proposed heat treatment (71.1 °C/60 min) would require an experiment including several temperatures higher than 70 °C (one corresponding to the proposed treatment). Regarding the data requirements for assessing the effectiveness of the new treatment, the Panel lists the information required in the checklist presented in the Panel’s draft guidance document on methodology for evaluation of the effectiveness of options to reduce the risk of introduction and spread of organisms harmful to plant health in the EU territory, currently under public consultation on EFSA website.