Great Britain’s Plant Health Services propose to introduce new pest measures to come into force from 30 May 2025.

We propose to introduce legislative changes to enhance our biosecurity. The proposed changes include:

• Reclassifying Neodiprion abietis, known as the balsam fir sawfly, as a quarantine pest.
• Reclassifying Pseudomonas avellanae, a bacterial pathogen of hazel, as a quarantine pest, with specific import requirements.
• Consequential amendments to ensure that import controls apply to certain regulated commodities, as originally intended.

 We also have several trade-facilitating changes proposed. These include:

• Updating the regulation of Tobacco ringspot virus and Tomato ringspot virus. Stakeholder engagement is ongoing for each of these proposals (see here).
• Update the list of plants regulated as hosts of the pests Agrilus planipennis (known as Emerald Ash Borer). Stakeholder engagement is also ongoing (see here).
• Carrying out technical updates to clarify or correct the legislation.

Finally, the Plant Health Services propose to extend certain import requirements to cover all conifer plants (see here for the ongoing stakeholder engagement). This single measure would come into force from 8 November 2025.

Please see a Q&A document as well as a summary of the main legislative changes proposed for more information.

The WTO will be notified shortly of the proposals. If you have any comments or questions, email planthealth@defra.gov.uk.