Control of Potato Cyst Nematodes: Consultation on the Implementation in Scotland of Directive 2007/33/EC

1. Introduction

1. Potato cyst nematodes ( PCN), Globodera rostochiensis and Globodera pallida, are serious pests of potato crops world-wide. They feed on the roots of the plant and can cause significant loss of yield. Controls are in place in most potato-producing countries to limit the increase and spread of PCN. This consultation paper addresses the implementation of updated controls which are due to be introduced in all EU Member States from 1 July 2010.

2. Potatoes are an important crop for Scotland, which produces and markets seed potatoes of high health status and is recognised within the European Union as a Community Grade region for seed potato production. Maintaining the supply of seed potatoes free of PCN (and other quarantine diseases) is vital to the ware potato industry in Scotland, as well as for export sales. It is also in the interest of the industry to avoid the spread of PCN within Scotland, to maintain the supply of land for potato production.

3. The main route by which PCN spreads is through the movement of infested seed potatoes, or in soil moved with tubers or other plants and on farm machinery. Cysts can also be transported by water, so there is a risk of contamination from washing water as well as soil and waste from grading and processing. PCN multiply rapidly in the presence of host plants, which include peppers, tomatoes and aubergine, as well as potatoes. In the absence of hosts, populations decline, so long rotation of host crops is an effective control method. Resistant varieties can be used to control PCN; many successful commercial varieties have high levels of resistance to G. rostochiensis but breeders have so far not been successful in incorporating similar levels of resistance to G. pallida into new varieties that are suitable for the UK market.

Background

4. PCN, then known as Potato Cyst Eelworm, Heterodera rostochiensis Wollenweber, was one of the first plant pathogens to be subject to a European Control Directive, Council Directive 69/465/EEC. The Directive requires an official investigation to ensure that seed potatoes "intended for marketing" are produced only on land that has been confirmed as uncontaminated by Eelworm. On land found to be contaminated, no potatoes or plants intended for transplanting can be grown, although derogations are permitted for some ware potato production on contaminated land. These allow fully resistant varieties to be grown, crops to be harvested before the cysts mature and crops to be produced following disinfection.

5. PCN is also listed as a quarantine organism in Annex IAII of the Plant Health Directive, 2000/29/EC, meaning that its introduction and spread within the EU is banned. Annex IV of that Directive requires that seed potatoes and plants with roots intended for planting, introduced into or moved within the EU, must come from a field or place of production known to be free of PCN. The Seed Potatoes Marketing Directive (2002/56/EC) also requires that both the production ground of classified seed potatoes and individual lots of classified seed potatoes are free of PCN.

6. These controls are currently implemented in Scotland by a range of legislative and other measures:

• Annexes 2 and 4 of the Plant Health (Scotland) Order 2005 implement the requirements of the Plant Health Directive in relation to the introduction and movement of PCN, seed potatoes and plants with roots intended for planting.
• Annex 15 of the Plant Health (Scotland) Order 2005 implements the requirements of the 1969 PCN Control Directive relating to land contaminated with PCN.
• Schedule 1 of the Seed Potato (Scotland) Regulations 2000 implements the requirements of the Seed Potatoes Marketing Directive that both the production ground of classified seed potatoes and individual lots of classified seed potatoes are free of PCN.
• The rules of the Scottish Seed Potato Classification Scheme ( SPCS) require that crops entered for classification must be grown on land for which a certificate of PCN clearance is in force at the time of planting. They set out in detail the current arrangements for carrying out soil tests and the restrictions placed on a field when live or dead cysts of PCN are found. Although they are administered by the SPCS, the rules on infested land and contaminated soil and plant material also apply to ware potatoes, bulbs and other relevant plants.

Soil sampling and testing is carried out by the Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate ( RPID), which now incorporates SASA.

7. In recent years efforts have been made to update the 1969 Directive, to take account of changes in the understanding of the biology of the pest, its distribution across the EU and practices within the potato industry. The new PCN Control Directive, 2007/33/EC was adopted by the European Parliament on 11 June 2007 and will come into force on 1 July 2010, in preparation for planting in 2011 ¹.

Consultation

8. Some of the provisions of the new PCN Control Directive are obligatory, with the aim of harmonising measures in all Member States. Others allow some flexibility for local implementation. The requirement to amend current arrangements also provides an opportunity to review some of the SPCS rules on PCN which are not set out in legislation. This paper explains the requirements of the new Directive and seeks stakeholders' views on various options in those areas where flexibility is available. We will take all responses into consideration in deciding how the new regime should operate.

Responding to this consultation paper

We are inviting written responses to this consultation paper by 29 May 2009

Please send your response to:

Jean.Waddie@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

or

Jean Waddie

If you have any queries contact Jean Waddie on 0131 244 4895.

We would be grateful if you could order your response according to the numbered questions in this paper, as this will aid our analysis of the responses received.

Handling your response

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form enclosed with this consultation paper as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly. All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Further information about Scottish Government consultations and how responses will be handled is provided in Annex B. A list of initial recipients of this paper is at Annex A.