New Zealand
March 18, 2016

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has issued an amendment to the import health standard (IHS) 155.02.06 Importation of Nursery Stock under section 24A of the Biosecurity Act (1993). The IHS, dated 11th March 2016, replaces the earlier version of the standard dated 10th December 2015. The revised IHS can be downloaded here:

Download the IHS 155.02.06 Importation of Nursery Stock (PDF, 2.9 MB)

The following changes have been incorporated in this amendment to the IHS:

1. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was removed as a requirement for pre-determined testing from the schedules of Olea, Prunus, Vaccinium and Solanum tuberosum  and replaced with woody indexing or herbaceous indexing as a specific phytosanitary measure for the following viruses of Prunus and Olea for which TEM was currently the only specific measure: Apricot latent virus, Carnation Italian ringspot virus, Cherry Hungarian rasp leaf virus, Cherry rough fruit virus, Peach yellow leaf virus, Prunus virus S, Stocky prune virus, Olive leaf yellowing-associated virus and Olive vein yellow virus.
2. Sodium hypochlorite treatment was added in the Table ‘Inspection, Testing and Treatment Requirements’ under fungi and bacteria for the schedules of Fragaria, Malus, Prunus, Rubus, and Vitis as to provide clarity of the necessary requirements.
3. An additional declaration for Syrah decline written under sections 3.1 (iii) and 3.2 (iii) of the Vitis schedule in the IHS Nursery stock, was added as to provide clarity of the necessary requirements.
4. The virus Peach violet mosaic virus was removed from the pest list of Prunus as this virus is not now recognised as a valid name and it has been removed from BORIC.
5. The virus Andean potato mild mosaic virus (APMMV) has be added to the Solanum tuberosum pest list and schedule in the Import Health Standard 155.02.06 – Importation of Nursery Stock. The seed and tuber transmitted virus APMMV was formerly considered to be a strain of another seed and tuber-transmitted regulated virus, Andean potato latent virus (APLV, strain Hu), but it has since been recognised as a new species by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) and the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO).
6. The current non-GMO declaration form in the Solanum tuberosum schedule was replaced for the new declaration form already in use in the Import Health Standard 155.02.05 - Seeds for sowing as to maintain consistency across both standards.

Questions related to this amendment should be directed to:
Plant Germplasm (Imports) team
Ministry for Primary Industries
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
plantimports@mpi.govt.nz

Additional information about importing nursery stock can be found on the MPI website:
Importing nursery stock

Website: http://www.maf.govt.nz

Published: March 18, 2016