In a recent thread there was some discussion about plant health regulation with regard to import of rose seeds and cuttings into the EU. I would like to add to this discussion.
Plant health checks are not a mere bureaucratic nuisance. Every year we find new organisms that may or may not be harmful to our crops. Every year we find numerous harmful organisms in imported plant material that is subsequently returned to the country of origin or destroyed. Despite plant health checks of imported material and of plants grown and marketed in the EU, every couple of years an outbreak of a serious harmful organism occurs. This then has to be exterminated, if possible, or contained.
Some organisms that are harmful to roses occur around the world, like mildew or blackspot, aphids and (more or less) thrips. Other organisms, however, like rose midge and the dreaded Japanese beetle do not yet occur in the European Union. Vice versa, Ardis brunniventris, a sawfly whose larvae massively bore into young rose wood, has not yet gained a foothold in North America.
Plant health regulation is designed to keep these nasty creatures out of your country. Therefore, it is of profound importance that you closely follow the rules your country has established to regulate import and export of plant material.
Surely, you do not want to be responsible for introducing yet another pest to terrorize your beloved rose!
Rob
P.S. Rose seeds do not need to be inspected and do not have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate. Cuttings, on the other hand, do. If you need more information on
Thanks for the link, Henry.