APHIS Amends Entry Requirements for Importation of Boxwood, Euonymus, and Holly from Canada into the United States

FOR INFORMATION AND ACTION

DA-2020-07

March 3, 2020

 

Subject:          APHIS Amends Entry Requirements for Importation of Boxwood, Euonymus, and Holly from Canada into the United States

 

To:                  State and Territory Agricultural Regulatory Officials

 

Effective immediately, the United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is amending entry requirements for importation into the United States of Buxus spp., Euonymus spp., and Ilex spp. plants for planting imported from Canada.

 

Box tree moth (Cydalima perspectalis) is a serious pest of boxwood (Buxus spp.), Euonymus (Euonymus spp.), holly (Ilex spp.), and curry leaf tree (Murraya spp.) plant species, which are pathways for entry of the box tree moth into the United States. Currently, the importation of all propagative plant material, except seeds, of certain hosts of box tree moth are Not Authorized Pending Pest Risk Analysis (NAPPRA). Buxus spp. are NAPPRA from all countries except Canada, and Ilex spp. are NAPPRA from all countries except Canada and the Netherlands. Euonymus spp. is NAPPRA from Europe and Postentry Quarantine from all other countries except Canada and Japan. Murraya spp. are NAPPRA from all countries.

 

In November 2018, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed the presence of box tree moth in Toronto (Ontario), Canada, and later posted an official pest report on The North American Plant Protection Organization Phytosanitary Alert System. Box tree moth symptoms include green-black frass and silk threads on the host plant. Larvae feeding on leaves cause loss of leaves and mortality. Bark feeding by larvae results in extreme dryness and death of plants.

 

To prevent the introduction of box tree moth into the United States, APHIS is restricting the importation of Buxus spp., Euonymus spp., and Ilex spp. plants for planting imported from Canada by requiring the plants to be free of box tree moth as specified in the attached Federal Order. Currently, APHIS considers propagative hosts a high risk pathway for the introduction of box tree moth. According to the conditions of the Federal Order, imports of propagative material must be free from box tree moth, based on origin of plants from an area where the pest is absent, or based on negative results by visual inspection.

 

For additional information regarding this Federal Order, please contact Senior Regulatory Policy Specialist Narasimha Chary Samboju at 301-851-2038 or narasimha.c.samboju@usda.gov.

 

 

/s/

Osama El-Lissy

Deputy Administrator

Plant Protection and Quarantine

 

Attachment: Federal Order

 

 

FEDERAL ORDER

 

APHIS amends requirements for Buxus spp., Euonymus spp., and Ilex spp. plants for planting from Canada, into the United States to prevent the entry of box tree moth (Cydalima perspectalis)

 

DA-2020-07

March 3, 2020

 

Effective immediately, USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is revising entry requirements for the importation of Buxus spp., Euonymus spp., Ilex spp., plants imported from Canada to prevent the introduction of the box tree moth into the United States and territories.

 

Box tree moth is a serious pest of boxwood (Buxus spp.), Euonymus (Euonymus spp.), holly (Ilex spp.), and curry leaf tree (Murraya spp.), and these hosts are a pathway for entry of this pest into the United States. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) first detected box tree moth at two sites in Toronto, (Ontario), Canada in August 2018. In November 2018, CFIA confirmed the presence of this pest in an urban neighborhood in Toronto and posted an official pest report in The North American Plant Protection Organization (NAPPO) Phytosanitary Alert System in February, 2019. This is the first confirmed report of this pest in North America.

 

Box tree moth symptoms include green-black frass and silk threads on the host plant. Larvae feeding on leaves causes defoliation and mortality. Bark feeding by larvae results in desiccation and death of plants.

 

Currently, the importation of all propagative plant material, except seeds, of certain hosts of box tree moth are Not Authorized Pending Pest Risk Analysis (NAPPRA). Buxus spp. are NAPPRA from all countries except Canada, and Ilex spp. are NAPPRA from all countries except Canada and the Netherlands. Euonymus spp. is NAPPRA from Europe and Postentry Quarantine from all other countries except Canada and Japan. Murraya spp. are NAPPRA from all countries.

 

This Federal Order modifies the entry requirements for Buxus spp., Euonymus spp., and Ilex spp. imported from Canada.

 

Shipments imported from Canada must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration (AD) certifying that the plants in the shipment fulfill the following requirements prior to importation into the United States and territories:

 

• The plants have been produced in a facility or area officially recognized by CFIA as free of box tree moth (Cydalima perspectalis); or
• The shipment has been officially inspected and found to be free of box tree moth (Cydalima perspectalis).

 

Buxus spp., Euonymus spp., Ilex spp., plants for planting shipments imported from Canada, that arrive into the United States without the required phytosanitary certificate and AD will be rejected. This action is necessary because the APHIS Administrator has determined that the introduction and establishment of the box tree moth poses a serious threat to agriculture in the United States.

 

This Federal Order is issued in accordance with the regulatory authority provided by the Plant

Protection Act of June 20, 2000, as amended, Section 412(a), 7 U.S.C. 7712(a). Under the Act, the Secretary may prohibit or restrict the importation, entry, exportation, or movement in interstate commerce of any plant, plant product, biological control organism, noxious weed, article, or means of conveyance, if the Secretary determines that the prohibition or restriction is necessary to prevent the introduction into the United States or the dissemination of a plant pest or noxious weed within the United States. The regulatory authority provided by 7 U.S.C. 7754 allows the Secretary to issue orders to carry out this provision of the Plant Protection Act.

 

For additional information regarding this Federal Order, please contact Senior Regulatory Policy Specialist Narasimha Chary Samboju, at 301-851-2038 or narasimha.c.samboju@usda.gov.