Plants

Criteria	Criteria Required?
Import Permit	No
Phytosanitary Certificate	Yes
Additional Declaration/Endorsement	Yes
Protocol Market	No

The import conditions apply to seeds produced on or after 14 December 2019. Refer to the MICoR case Capsicum annuum seed - European Union (EU) for exporting seeds produced before 14 December 2019.

Consignments are to be free from pests, soil, weed seeds and extraneous material.

It is the exporter’s responsibility to ensure that the phytosanitary certificate is issued within 14 days of the consignment being exported from Australia.

Refer to the departure date and inspection date in the Request for Permit.

From 15 August 2020, Capsicum annuum seeds exported from Australia to the EU must be tested prior to export and found free of Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) regardless of their origin. Capsicum annuum varieties which are known to be resistant to ToBRFV are exempt from the requirements for testing if they are officially attested as resistant on the phytosanitary certificate. These emergency measures will be in place until 31 May 2022.

Note:

ToBRFV is not known to occur in Australia.

ToBRFV sampling schemes

Sampling of seeds for testing for ToBRFV must be carried out under the following sampling schemes depending on the seed lots as referred to in the relevant table of the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures 31 Methodologies for sampling of consignments (ISPM 31):

For seed lots less than or equal to 3,000 seeds: application of a hypergeometric sampling scheme able to identify with 95% reliability a level of presence of infected plants of 10% or above;
For seed lots of more than 3,000 but less than 30,000 seeds: application of a sampling scheme able to identify with 95% reliability a level of presence of infected plants of 1% or above;
For seed lots of more than 30,000 seeds: application of a sampling scheme able to identify with 95% reliability a level of presence of infected plants of 0,1 % or above.

Sub samples must consist of 1,000 seeds maximum for Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) methods. Sub samples shall consist of 250 seeds maximum for the Enzyme Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay (ELISA) method.

ToBRFV testing methods

One of the following testing methods must be used for the detection of ToBRFV on seeds:

ELISA (accepted only until 1 October 2020);
Real-time PCR using the primers and probes described in the ISF protocol (2020)(Protocol developed by the International Seed Federation (International Seed Health Initiative for Vegetable Crops (ISHI-Veg));
Real-time PCR using primers and probe of Menzel and Winter (Acta Horticulturae, in press).

If a positive result is obtained from the first test (detection test), a second testing method which is different from the one used for detection must be carried out, using the same sample to confirm the identification. If there is inconsistency between detection and identification results obtained for coated seeds, the coating of the seeds must be removed and the seeds should be retested.

Where applicable, the exporter is to provide evidence attesting to the endorsement and present it to the Authorised Officer at the time of inspection.

Explanation of the endorsements

Endorsement 6029:

Applies to seeds of Australian origin.
A seed supplier's declaration or an exporter declaration must be provided as evidence that the seeds have been obtained by an appropriate acid extraction method or an equivalent method.
An area freedom certificate must be provided as evidence that the seeds originate in areas where Xanthomonas euvesicatoria, Xanthomonas perforans, Bacterial spot of pepper (Xanthomonas vesicatoria) and Potato spindle tuber viroid are not known to occur.
A laboratory analysis certificate must be provided as evidence that the seeds or their mother plants have been tested and found free of ToBRFV.

Endorsement 6030:

Applies to seeds of Australian origin.
A seed supplier's declaration or an exporter declaration must be provided as evidence that the seeds have been obtained by an appropriate acid extraction method or an equivalent method.
A crop inspection report must be provided as evidence that no symptoms of diseases caused by Xanthomonas euvesicatoria, Xanthomonas perforans, Bacterial spot of pepper (Xanthomonas vesicatoria) and Potato spindle tuber viroid have been observed during field inspections.
A laboratory analysis certificate must be provided as evidence that the seeds or their mother plants have been tested and found free of ToBRFV.

Endorsement 6031:

Applies to seeds of Australian origin.
A seed supplier's declaration or an exporter declaration must be provided as evidence that the seeds have been obtained by an appropriate acid extraction method or an equivalent method.
A laboratory analysis certificate must be provided as evidence that the seeds have been tested and found free of Xanthomonas euvesicatoria, Xanthomonas perforans, Bacterial spot of pepper (Xanthomonas vesicatoria) and Potato spindle tuber viroid.
A laboratory analysis certificate must be provided as evidence that the seeds or their mother plants have been tested and found free of ToBRFV.

Endorsement 6433:

Applies to seeds of Australian origin.
A seed supplier's declaration or an exporter declaration must be provided as evidence that the seeds have been obtained by an appropriate acid extraction method or an equivalent method.
An area freedom certificate must be provided as evidence that the seeds originate in areas where Xanthomonas euvesicatoria, Xanthomonas perforans, Bacterial spot of pepper (Xanthomonas vesicatoria) and Potato spindle tuber viroid are not known to occur.
A breeder's note attesting to the resistance of the seed variety to ToBRFV must be provided as evidence that the seed variety is recognised as being resistant to this virus.

Endorsement 6434:

Applies to seeds of Australian origin.
A seed supplier's declaration or an exporter declaration must be provided as evidence that the seeds have been obtained by an appropriate acid extraction method or an equivalent method.
A crop inspection report must be provided as evidence that no symptoms of diseases caused by Xanthomonas euvesicatoria, Xanthomonas perforans, Bacterial spot of pepper (Xanthomonas vesicatoria) and Potato spindle tuber viroid have been observed during field inspections.
A breeder's note attesting to the resistance of the seed variety to ToBRFV must be provided as evidence that the seed variety is recognised as being resistant to this virus.

Endorsement 6435:

Applies to seeds of Australian origin.
A seed supplier's declaration or an exporter declaration must be provided as evidence that the seeds have been obtained by an appropriate acid extraction method or an equivalent method.
A laboratory analysis certificate must be provided as evidence that the seeds have been tested and found free of Xanthomonas euvesicatoria, Xanthomonas perforans, Bacterial spot of pepper (Xanthomonas vesicatoria) and Potato spindle tuber viroid.
A breeder's note attesting to the resistance of the seed variety to ToBRFV must be provided as evidence that the seed variety is recognised as being resistant to this virus.

Endorsement 6032:

Applies to seeds of non-Australian origin where the seeds are tested for ToBRFV and Xanthomonas gardneri, in addition to the other pests listed, in Australia.
A laboratory analysis certificate must be provided as evidence that the seeds have been tested and found free of Xanthomonas euvesicatoria, Xanthomonas perforans, Bacterial spot of pepper (Xanthomonas vesicatoria), Potato spindle tuber viroid, Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) and Xanthomonas gardneri. Refer to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1191 for sampling schemes and testing methods for ToBRFV accepted by the EU.
An additional declaration stating that ToBRFV is not known to occur in the country of origin, or that the mother plants of the seeds have been produced in a production site where ToBRFV is known not to occur on the basis of official inspections carried out at the appropriate time to detect ToBRFV, must be endorsed on the phytosanitary certificate issued by the country of origin.
If the seeds remained in the original packaging and the seeds were not treated or processed in Australia, the exporter should apply for a manual re-export phytosanitary certificate (EX25) which includes an additional declaration with the exact same wording as Endorsement 6032. The EX25 must accompany the original or a certified copy of the phytosanitary certificate issued by the country of origin.
If the consignment was opened, the seeds were treated, processed and/or re-packaged after arrival in Australia, the exporter should apply for a phytosanitary certificate for export (E16) via EXDOC, select Endorsement 6032 and include the country of origin in the additional product description field of the RFP.

Note:

Xanthomonas gardneri is not known to occur in Australia. No evidence is required for endorsing freedom from this pest.

Option 1 (EXDOC Endorsement 6029)

1) The seeds have been obtained by means of an appropriate acid extraction method or an equivalent method.
2) The seeds originate in areas where Xanthomonas euvesicatoria, Xanthomonas perforans, Bacterial spot of pepper (Xanthomonas vesicatoria) and Potato spindle tuber viroid are not known to occur.