The GB Plant Health Service have introduced legislation that will come into force from 30 May 2025. Risk assessments are a dynamic process, so all commodities remain under continuous review.

Changes to enhance our biosecurity 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 introduced several trade-facilitating changes. These include:

• Updating the regulation of Tobacco ringspot virus and Tomato ringspot virus.
• Revising the list of plants regulated as hosts of the pests Agrilus planipennis (known as Emerald Ash Borer).
• Carrying out technical updates to clarify or correct the legislation.

Finally, the Plant Health Services will extend certain import requirements to cover all conifer plants. This single measure would come into force from 8 November 2025.

For more information, please refer to the attached Q & A.  If you have any comments or questions, email planthealth@defra.gov.uk.