Commodity risk assessment of Petunia spp. and Calibrachoa spp. unrooted cuttings from Costa Rica

The European Commission requested the EFSA Panel on Plant Health to evaluate the probability of entry of pests (likelihood of pest freedom at entry), including both regulated and non-regulated pests, associated with unrooted cuttings of the genera <i>Petunia</i> and <i>Calibrachoa</i> produced under physical isolation in Costa Rica. The relevance of any pest for this opinion was based on evidence collected according to specific criteria, following the methodology used for high-risk plants adapted for the specificity of this assessment. Twenty-two EU regulated pests (beet curly top virus, <i>Bemisia tabaci</i>, <i>Chloridea virescens</i>, <i>Eotetranychus lewisi</i>, <i>Epitrix cucumeris</i>, <i>Epitrix tuberis</i>, euphorbia mosaic virus, <i>Helicoverpa zea</i>, <i>Liriomyza huidobrensis</i>, <i>Liriomyza sativae</i>, <i>Liriomyza trifolii</i>, pepper golden mosaic virus, potato spindle tuber viroid, <i>Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum</i>, <i>Ralstonia solanacearum</i>, <i>Spodoptera ornithogalli</i>, squash leaf curl virus, <i>Thrips palmi</i>, tomato golden mosaic virus, tomato leaf curl Sinaloa virus, tomato spotted wilt virus, tomato yellow leaf curl virus) and one pest that is not regulated in the EU (<i>Aleurodicus dispersus</i>) fulfilled all relevant criteria and were selected for further evaluation. For these pests, the risk mitigation measures proposed in the technical dossier from Costa Rica were evaluated taking into account possible factors limiting their efficacies. Additionally, an expert judgement is given on the likelihood of pest freedom taking into consideration the risk mitigation measures acting on the pest, including uncertainties associated with the assessment. The estimated degree of pest freedom varies among the pests evaluated, with tomato spotted wilt virus being the pest most frequently expected on the imported cuttings. The expert knowledge elicitation indicated, with 95% certainty that between 9927 and 10,000 bags containing unrooted cuttings of <i>Petunia</i> spp. and <i>Calibrachoa</i> spp. per 10,000 would be free of tomato spotted wilt virus.