Draft report for the non-regulated analysis of existing policy for fresh strawberry fruit from the Republic of Korea

Acronyms and abbreviations

Term or abbreviation	Definition
ACT	Australian Capital Territory
ALOP	Appropriate level of protection
BA	Biosecurity Advice
BICON	Australia’s Biosecurity Import Condition System
BIRA	Biosecurity Import Risk Analysis
BLO	Biosecurity Liaison Officer
CABI	CAB International, Wallingford, UK
CSIRO	Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
DAFF	Acronym of the former Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, which is now the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources
The department	The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources
EP	Existing policy
FAO	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
IPC	International Phytosanitary Certificate
IPPC	International Plant Protection Convention
ISPM	International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures
NSW	New South Wales
NPPO	National Plant Protection Organisation
NPQS	National Plant Quarantine Service (superseded by QIA)
NT	Northern Territory
PRA	Pest risk analysis
Qld	Queensland
QIA	Korea’s Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency (since June 2011)
SA	South Australia
SPS Agreement	WTO agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
Tas.	Tasmania
USA	The United States of America
Vic.	Victoria
WA	Western Australia
WTO	World Trade Organization

Summary

The Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources has prepared this draft report to assess the proposal by the Republic of Korea for market access to Australia for fresh strawberry fruit (strawberries).

Australia has existing import conditions for the import of strawberries for human consumption from New Zealand and California, USA.

This draft report proposes that the importation of commercially greenhouse grown strawberries from the Republic of Korea be permitted, subject to a range of biosecurity conditions.

This draft report identifies five pests that require risk management measures to manage risks to a very low level in order to achieve the appropriate level of protection (ALOP) for Australia. Out of these five pests, four are arthropods and one is a pathogen.

The four arthropod pests requiring measures are Frankliniella intonsa (Eurasian flower thrips), Frankliniella occidentalis (western flower thrips), Tetranychus kanzawai (Kanzawa spider mite) and Drosophila suzukii (spotted wing drosophila).

The pathogen pest requiring measures is Xanthomonas fragariae (angular leaf spot).

The proposed risk management measures take account of regional differences within Australia. One arthropod pest requiring measures, western flower thrips, has been identified as a quarantine pest for Northern Territory, and another arthropod pest, Kanzawa spider mite, has been identified as a quarantine pest for Western Australia.

This draft report proposes a range of risk management measures, combined with a system of operational procedures to ensure biosecurity standards are met. These measures will reduce the risks posed by the five quarantine pests, and achieve the ALOP for Australia. These measures include:

visual inspection and, if detected, remedial action for the spider mite and two thrips

area freedom or fruit treatment (such as methyl bromide fumigation or irradiation) for spotted wing drosophila

area freedom or a systems approach approved by the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources for angular leaf spot

a supporting operational system to maintain and verify the phytosanitary status of export consignments.

This draft report contains details of the risk assessments for the quarantine pests and the proposed risk management measures in order to allow interested parties to provide comments and submissions to the department within the stakeholder consultation period.