UK: Phytosanitary certificates required for tomatoes from 2018

All importers of fresh fruit and vegetables should be aware that EU Directive 2017/1279 has been published. This amends the EU Plant Health Directive 2000/29/EC and will require tomatoes originating from all third countries (outside the EU but including Canary Islands, Ceuta, Melilla and the French Overseas Departments) and pomegranates originating from countries of the African continent, Cape Verde, Saint Helena, Madagascar, La Reunion, Mauritius and Israel to be imported with a phytosanitary certificate and declared on PEACH.

These requirements will come into effect from 1 January 2018.

This Directive has been introduced with a view to protecting plants, plant products and other objects, in light of increased international trade and following pest risk assessments published by the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation. These risk assessments provided justification for adding tomatoes and pomegranates to the list of controlled material in Annex 5B (regulated material requiring a phytosanitary certificate) of Directive 2000/29/EC following the addition of 3 new harmful organisms to those listed in Annex 1 (prohibited pests):

Keiferia lycopersicella (tomato pinworm) a leaf mining moth
Thaumatotiba leucotreta (false codling month)
Bactericera cockerelli (tomato/potato psyllid) a vector for Candidatus liberibacter solanacearum the causal agent of ‘Zebra Chip’ a serious disease in potatoes