Annual Report and Council Recommendations 2023

Abstract

The work of EPPO continued in 2023 with the inputs of many experts in plant health of member countries from all over the EPPO region and beyond as well as the hard work and dedication of EPPO staff members to facilitate and organize all the different activities.

A major change for the EPPO Secretariat was the resignation of Françoise Petter, after having worked with dedication for more than 20 years at EPPO as Assistant Director, and the recruitment of Valérie Grimault who took over the position of Assistant Director of EPPO bringing new ideas. I would like to thank Françoise for her years of valuable contribution to the work of EPPO.

In 2023, EPPO held an Inspectors' Workshop in 2023. Inspectors are at the basis of our work on plant health, they inspect the plants, both at import, before export and in the field for instance during surveillance. They ensure plant health every day and need to be well equipped for this task. The Workshop addressed several aspects of inspection, firstly, the role that targeted sampling and inspection can play in using the limited time of inspectors efficiently. The Workshop also addressed new tools for inspection and how inspectors can increase their expertise and make use of each other's expertise, for instance within an inspectors' network. This will be further explored by EPPO.

Databases were further developed and populated with more and more information. This is essential in a fast-developing world increasingly dependent on technology and speed in exchange of information. It is of course fundamental to know which information on plant health is reliable. EPPO can play an important role in this via EPPO Global Database, a Database on Diagnostic expertise, the PP1 Database, a Database on resistance development of pests against plant protection products. Furthermore, EPPO helps by sharing information via its platform on PRAs and on Communication material. Another example of how EPPO facilitates plant health experts making use of each other's expertise.

The IPPC community reconsidered the place of plant health in One Health. In the past, the focus was mainly on the use of antimicrobials in agriculture affecting the control of diseases in human and animal health. The focus broadened to what plant health can contribute to human and animal health. Healthy plants are essential for ensuring food security and for the supply of fodder to animals including those held for human food production. Plants are at the basis of all life on earth. Plant health is contributing to human and animal health and welfare. EPPO is part of this discussion and can contribute to it.

During 2023, climate change caused disasters, drought, excessive rainfall, enormous fires, and affected human and animal lives and plants. In 2023, EPPO started work on a Special Issue of the EPPO Bulletin on Climate Change and Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) after a discussion on this subject by the International Pest Risk Research Group. This Special Issue was subsequently published in early 2024 (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/13652338/2024/54/S1).

All these activities and discussions have shown the importance of plant health for the world and EPPO will continue to contribute to this also in 2024.

Nico Horn, 30th of April 2024.

Thirty-one of EPPO's 52 member countries were represented at the annual session of Council held in Paris from the 27th to the 28th of September. The Council session agreed the annual and financial reports for 2021, adopted a number of Standards, noted the progress in 2022, and approved the budget and work programme for 2023.

The Executive Committee, comprising the Chair, Vice Chair and representatives of Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, Georgia, Ireland, Slovakia and United Kingdom met two times in 2023. The main meeting took place in May followed by a meeting as usual the day before Council met in September. Belgium completed its extended term of 4 years on the Executive Committee and the three-year term of Ireland and Slovakia was extended by 1 year.

The 53rd Meeting of the Working Party on Plant Protection Products was held in Celbridge, Ireland from the 31st of May to the 2nd of June. There were 18 participants from 13 EPPO countries.

The 61st meeting of the Working Party on Phytosanitary Regulations was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from the 20th to the 23rd of June. This meeting was attended by 17 participants from 14 EPPO countries and by observers from the European Commission, and one representative from the United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA/APHIS).

The outcomes from the Council, Executive Committee and Working Party meetings are shown below under the relevant headings of the EPPO Strategy.

This section gives an overview of the EPPO staff with a brief indication of each person's main roles and responsibilities during the year. There were a number of staff changes in 2023. Ms. Petter retired from EPPO after more than 20 years as Assistant Director at EPPO leading the Diagnostic and the Phytosanitary Assessment and Measures work of EPPO and assisting several Director-Generals, and Ms. Matyjaszczyk left EPPO. Ms. Perez and Ms. Nikolaeva joined EPPO as members of the Administrative Team.

Nico Horn, Director-General, was responsible to the Council for the overall management of EPPO, chaired the two Working Parties and several Panels, led the EPPO Secretariat and led on development and implementation of the work programme and the strategic plan.

Françoise Petter, Assistant Director, led the programme of the Working Party on Phytosanitary Regulations, including work on Pest Risk Analysis and Diagnostics, and chaired the Panel on Phytosanitary Measures and the six Diagnostics Panels until the 1st of July 2023 when she left EPPO. She also participated in several projects in the area of diagnostics and phytosanitary measures and supported the Director-General in his work.

Valerie Grimault, Assistant Director, joined EPPO in March 2023 and led the programme of the Working Party on Phytosanitary Regulations, including work on Pest Risk Analysis and Diagnostics, and chaired the Panel on Phytosanitary Measures and the six Diagnostics Panels after the departure of Françoise Petter. She also participated in several projects in the area of diagnostics and phytosanitary measures and supported the Director-General in his work.

Nathalie Boutron, IT Officer, provided IT support to the European Minor Uses Coordination Facility (MUCF) and to EPPO including development of websites and databases.

Barbara Edler, led the European Minor Uses Coordination Facility (MUCF) as Coordinator.

Véronique Georges, worked as Administrator and was responsible for all aspects of administration and financial record keeping and worked with EPPO's Chartered Accountant to produce the annual accounts.

Baldissera Giovani, Scientific Officer, co-ordinated the Euphresco network. He also supported the work of EPPO's Diagnostics Panels.

Damien Griessinger, IT and Systems Manager, managed delivery of EPPO's IT systems, and worked with the Information Manager to develop databases and web services. He also participated in some projects.

Valerio Lucchesi, Scientific Officer, supported the Plant Protection Products (PPPs) programme and projects within that programme. From the 1st of September 2023, he led the work on PPPs and was responsible for the Working Party on Plant Protection Products and the Panels dealing with PPPs. He also worked with the Panel on Global Phytosanitary Affairs.

Antoine Martin, Scientific Officer, supported the work of the MUCF work programme and supported the work of several MUCF commodity expert groups.

Ewa Matyjaszczyk, Scientific Officer, led the work on PPPs and was responsible for the Working Party on Plant Protection Products and the Panels dealing with PPPs until the 1st of September 2023 when she left EPPO.

Cintia Mauchien, supervised the administrative support team and provided support on administrative and financial aspects of projects, including the MUCF.

Madeleine McMullen, Managing Editor, managed the production of the EPPO Bulletin and edited EPPO's outputs in English and supported the work of EPPO's Diagnostic Panels.

Dmitrii Musolin, Scientific Officer, supported the Panel on Quarantine Pests for Forestry, worked on pest risk assessment and management and was responsible for communication with Russian speaking experts in the EPPO region.

Anfisa Nikolaeva, Administrative Officer, joined EPPO in November 2023 and provided assistance across many areas of EPPO's work, including organization of technical meetings, and translations into Russian.

Lisa Perez, Administrative Officer, joined EPPO in April 2023 and provided assistance across many areas of EPPO's work, including organization of technical meetings, and translations into French.

Camille Picard, supported the Panel on Phytosanitary Measures and the Working Party on Phytosanitary Regulations, coordinated the work of the Potato Panel and carried out pest risk analysis (PRA).

Anne-Sophie Roy, Information Manager and Webmaster, led the work on horizon scanning and the EPPO Alert List, produced the monthly EPPO Reporting Service, managed the EPPO website and databases and led the project on EPPO Codes and the project on EPPO datasheets.

Muriel Suffert, Scientific Officer, supported the activities related to information services and the work of the Panel on Plant Protection Information. She also maintained the EPPO Platform on Pest Risk Analysis and the EPPO Platform on Communication Material.

Rob Tanner, Scientific Officer, worked with the EPPO Panel on Invasive Alien Plants, the EPPO Panel on Phytosanitary Inspections and the Joint EPPO/IOBC Panel on Biological Control Agents.

Charlotte Trontin, Scientific Officer, supported the work of all EPPO's Diagnostics Panels and contributed to other EPPO diagnostic activities (such as the maintenance of EPPO-Q-bank and of the EPPO database on diagnostic expertise).

The EPPO Secretariat was assisted through several consultancy contracts for specialist advice.

Ms. Fabienne Grousset carried out work on pest risk analysis, translations, datasheets and EPPO Codes. Mr. Jean-Louis Lavigne, Chartered Accountant, assisted the Administrator with the accounts and financial report. Several freelance translators and interpreters helped EPPO to make available documents in English, French and Russian and to facilitate participation in administrative meetings.

Dates and venues of meetings which are not detailed in the text may be found in the Calendar appended to this report.

EPPO continued its evolutionary approach to improving administrative processes during 2023. Staff members were encouraged to follow the internal procedures, and internal procedures were reviewed to achieve a more harmonized application without unnecessary administrative burden. The new procedure for preparing the budget was implemented to ensure consistency and continuity in this important task.

The rules for working in the office and from home were implemented as developed in 2022. These rules combine the benefits of working in the office and working from home, allowing good interaction between the EPPO Staff members and concentrated working to maintain the quality of EPPO's work.

The experience gained in past years with different forms of decision making and consultation between physical meetings was continued in 2023. Physical meetings allowed more effective interaction and reaching consensus on contentious or technically complex problems. Physical meetings also showed that EPPO meetings offer a platform to build networks and to let new members get familiarized with the other Panel members and the way of working of the Panels. On the other hand, short meetings with focused agendas could be organized by videoconference which saved travel time and costs for the experts.