1.

Notifying Member: Slovenia

If applicable, name of local government involved:  

2.

Agency responsible: Administration of the Republic of Slovenia for Food Safety, Veterinary Sector and Plant Protection

3.

Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where applicable): Hop plants Humulus lupulus L. (HS Codes: 0601, 0602, 0603, 0604, 1210)

4.

Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable:

[X]    All trading partners  

[ ]      Specific regions or countries:  

5.

Title of the notified document: Decision on emergency measures against the introduction and spread of viroid hop stunt diseases  Language(s): English and Slovenian  Number of pages: 7 and 5

http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2015/SPS/SVN/15_1883_00_e.pdf

http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2015/SPS/SVN/15_1883_00_x.pdf

6.

Description of content: Emergency phytosanitary measures have been adopted to prevent the introduction and spread of hop stunt disease caused by the Hop Stunt Viroid (HSVd) and the severe hop stunt disease caused by the Citrus Bark Cracking Viroid (CBCVd) in hop plants Humulus lupulus L. The introduction and spread of HSVd and CBCVd on hop plants shall be prohibited. Eradication measures, obligations of hop growers and requirements for the establishment of pest free hop production sites are defined.

7.

Objective and rationale: [ ] food safety, [ ] animal health, [X] plant protection, [ ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [X] protect territory from other damage from pests.  

8.

Nature of the urgent problem(s) and reason for urgent action: HSVd and CBCVd are new harmful organisms to hop plants in Europe. They were found in very limited areas in Slovenia, where eradication measures have been in place since first outbreak of HSVd in 2011. In 2015 eradication measures have been extended to CBCVd, as CBCVd was identified by next-generation sequencing to be a new pathogen to hop plants, causing severe hop stunt disease and plant death in the same outbreak area. Therefore the introduction and spread of HSVd and CBCVd on hop plants have been prohibited. The main objective of official measures is to prevent the spread of the hop stunt disease caused by the HSVd and the severe hop stunt disease caused by CBCVd from infected zones. CBCVd is very damaging to hop plants: severe symptoms are developed four months to one year after infection. The incubation period for the development of hop stunt disease caused by HSVd is 3-5 years. Disease is spread by plants for planting, hop debris and within a hop field rapidly in a direction of handling with machinery and tools. HASVd and CBCVd can cause high economic losses in hop production area.

9.

Is there a relevant international standard? If so, identify the standard:

[ ]      Codex Alimentarius Commission (e.g. title or serial number of Codex standard or related text)  

[ ]      World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) (e.g. Terrestrial or Aquatic Animal Health Code, chapter number)  

[X]    International Plant Protection Convention (e.g. ISPM number) ISPM 1, ISPM 9, ISPM 10, ISPM 36

[ ]      None

Does this proposed regulation conform to the relevant international standard?

[X] Yes   [ ] No

If no, describe, whenever possible, how and why it deviates from the international standard:  

10.

Other relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:    

11.

Date of entry into force (dd/mm/yy)/period of application (as applicable): 28 March 2015

[ ]      Trade facilitating measure  

12.

Agency or authority designated to handle comments: [X] National Notification Authority, [X] National Enquiry Point. Address, fax number and e-mail address (if available) of other body:

European Commission

DG Health and Food Safety, Unit G6-Multilateral International Relations

Rue Froissart 101

B-1049 Brussels

Tel: +(32 2) 295 4263

Fax: +(32 2) 299 8090

E-mail: sps@ec.europa.eu

13.

Text(s) available from: [X] National Notification Authority, [X] National Enquiry Point. Address, fax number and e-mail address (if available) of other body:

European Commission

DG Health and Food Safety, Unit G6-Multilateral International Relations

Rue Froissart 101

B-1049 Brussels

Tel: +(32 2) 295 4263

Fax: +(32 2) 299 8090

E-mail: sps@ec.europa.eu