Pest categorisation of non‐EU viruses of Ribes L.

• Main Authors: EFSA Panel on Plant Health (PLH), Claude Bragard, Katharina Dehnen‐Schmutz, Paolo Gonthier, Marie‐Agnès Jacques, Josep Anton Jaques Miret, Annemarie Fejer Justesen, Alan MacLeod, Christer Sven Magnusson, Panagiotis Milonas, Juan A Navas‐Cortes, Stephen Parnell, Roel Potting, Philippe Lucien Reignault, Hans‐Hermann Thulke, Wopke Van der Werf, Antonio Vicent Civera, Jonathan Yuen, Lucia Zappalà, Thierry Candresse, Elisavet Chatzivassiliou, Franco Finelli, Stephan Winter, Domenico Bosco, Michela Chiumenti, Francesco Di Serio, Franco Ferilli, Tomasz Kaluski, Angelantonio Minafra, Luisa Rubino
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2019-11-01
• Series: EFSA Journal
• Subjects: European Union; pest risk; plant health; plant pest; quarantine; blackcurrant virus
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2019.5859

Abstract Following a request from the EU Commission, the Panel on Plant Health addressed the pest categorisation of the viruses of Ribes L. determined as being either non‐EU or of undetermined standing in a previous EFSA opinion. These infectious agents belong to different genera and are heterogeneous in their biology. Alaska vitivirus 1 and Ribes virus F were excluded from categorisation because these are very poorly characterised viruses. The pest categorisation was completed for seven viruses with clear identity and for which detection methods are available. All these viruses are efficiently transmitted by vegetative propagation techniques, with plants for planting representing the major pathway for long‐distance dispersal and thus considered as the major pathway for entry. Depending on the virus, additional pathway(s) can also be Ribes seeds, pollen and/or vector(s). Most of the viruses categorised here are known to infect only one or few plant genera, but tomato ringspot virus (ToRSV) has a wide host range, thus extending the possible entry pathways. ToRSV meets all the criteria evaluated by EFSA to qualify as potential Union quarantine pest (QP). With the exception of impact in the EU territory, on which the Panel was unable to conclude, Actinidia virus X, blackcurrant leaf chlorosis‐associated virus, blackcurrant leafroll‐associated virus, black currant‐associated rhabdovirus, blackcurrant waikavirus A and Ribes americanum virus A satisfy all the other criteria to be considered as potential Union QPs. For several viruses, especially those recently discovered, the categorisation is associated with high uncertainties mainly because of the absence of data on their biology, distribution and impact. Since this opinion addresses specifically the non‐EU viruses, in general these viruses do not meet the criteria assessed by EFSA to qualify as potential Union regulated non‐quarantine pests.