Number of notifications of interceptions to EUROPHYT showing non-conformities attributable to Third Countries (TCs) or Member States

Evidence on the scale of the threat posed by plant pests can be obtained from statistics on notifications in respect of plant health interceptions found during import controls and in respect of intra-EU trade. These are recorded by EUROPHYT, an online web-based notification and rapid alert system for plant health interceptions in the EU. Its annual report for 2014 showed that there were 6 662 notifications covering all non-conformities, of which 96% originated from third-country consignments. The remaining 4% represented interceptions recorded within the EU. Figure 1 provides an overview of the number of interceptions for third counties and Member States over the reference period 2010-2014. The principal trigger for notifications in 2014 was the detection of harmful organisms in 37% of all interceptions from third countries. Over this period, fruit and vegetable interceptions constituted the largest number of notifications in 2014, followed by wood packaging material. For interceptions due to the presence of harmful organisms (see Figure 2), the main commodities intercepted were fruit and vegetables (73%), wood packaging material (11.5%), cut flowers (7.6%) and planting material (4%).