# Commodity risk assessment of Vitis spp. plants from Moldova

**Authors:** Antonio Vicent Civera, Paula Baptista, Elisavet Chatzivassiliou, Jaime Cubero, Nik Cunniffe, Eduardo de la Peña, Nicolas Desneux, Anna Filipiak, Paolo Gonthier, Beata Hasiów‐Jaroszewska, Hervé Jactel, Blanca B. Landa, Lara Maistrello, David Makowski, Panagiotis Milonas, Nikos T. Papadopoulos, Roel Potting, Hanna Susi, Dirk Jan van der Gaag, Pedro Gómez, Annemarie Fejer Justesen, Andrea Lucchi, Gregor Urek, Jonathan Yuen, Lucia Zappala, Umberto Bernardo, Giovanni Bubici, Anna Vittoria Carluccio, Michela Chiumenti, Francesco Di Serio, Elena Fanelli, Paraskevi Kariampa, Cristina Marzachì, Agata Kaczmarek, Louise Matic, Olaf Mosbach‐Schulz, Anna Berlin

PMC · DOI: 10.2903/j.efsa.2026.9807 · 2026-01-07

## TL;DR

This paper assesses the plant health risks of importing grafted grapevine plants from Moldova into the EU.

## Contribution

It evaluates eight pests and determines the likelihood of pest freedom based on risk mitigation measures in Moldova.

## Key findings

- Grapevine fleck virus and 'Candidatus Phytoplasma solani' are most frequently expected on imported plants.
- Expert judgment indicates 9900 or more units per 10,000 will be pest-free with 95% certainty.
- Risk mitigation measures in Moldova were evaluated for effectiveness against selected pests.

## Abstract

The European Commission requests EFSA to provide scientific opinions in the field of plant health in accordance with Article 29 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002. Annex VI of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 lists plants, plant products and other objects whose introduction into the Union from certain third countries is prohibited. This Scientific Opinion covers plant health risks posed by 1‐ to 2‐year‐old grafted bare root plants without leaves of Vitis spp. from the Republic of Moldova, taking into account the available scientific information, including the technical information provided by Moldova. All pests associated with the commodity were evaluated for their relevance for this opinion. Eight pests (one EU quarantine pest and seven Vitis spp. RNQPs) that fulfilled all the criteria were selected for further evaluation. For the selected pests, the risk mitigation measures implemented in Moldova and described in the technical dossier were evaluated. For the selected pests, an expert judgement is given on the likelihood of pest freedom considering the risk mitigation measures acting on the pest, including uncertainties associated with the assessment. The degree of pest freedom varies among the pests evaluated, with grapevine fleck virus (GFkV, Maculavirus vitis) and ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma solani’ being the pests most frequently expected on the imported plants. The Expert Knowledge Elicitation indicated with 95% certainty that 9900 or more units per 10,000 will be free from the above‐mentioned pests.

## Full-text entities

- **Diseases:** pests (MESH:D029021)
- **Species:** Grapevine fleck virus (no rank) [taxon 103722], Candidatus Phytoplasma solani (species) [taxon 69896]

## Figures

15 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12776698/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12776698