Pest categorisation of Beet curly top virus (non‐EU isolates)

The EFSA Panel on Plant Health performed a pest categorisation of non-EU isolates of Beet curly topvirus (BCTV) for the European Union territory. The virus causes severe diseases in beet, tomatoes andpepper crops, occurs predominantly in warm and dry zones and is reported from many countriesoutside the EU in particular from western USA and Mexico. New data from complete virus genomesmake BCTV a well characterised virus species of which currently 11 strains are known and for whichdiagnostic methods are available. BCTV has a very broad host range of more than 300 species some ofwhich may remain symptomless. Aside from vegetative propagation of infected plants, the only modeof BCTV transmission and spread is by the leafhopperCirculifer tenelluswhich efficiently transmits thevirus in a persistent mode and which is present in several southern EU Member States. No currentreports of BCTV presence in the EU exist and because of doubts about the accuracy of older reports,BCTV likely is absent from the EU territory. BCTV can enter into the EU with viruliferous insects andwith imports of plants not subject to specific EU regulation. Because both the virus and its vector havea wide host range, BCTV is expected to establish and spread in the Member States where its vector ispresent and to cause severe diseases in sugar beet and tomato as well as in other crops. Overall,BCTV non-EU isolates meet all the criteria evaluated by EFSA to qualify as a Union quarantine pest anddo not meet the criterion of presence in the EU to qualify as a Union regulated non-quarantine pest(RNQP). The main uncertainties concern (1) the presence of BCTV in the EU, (2) the distribution ofC. tenellusand (3) the main commodities for virus entry.