Revision of plant pest temporary prohibition lists

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1553 of 9 July 2026 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1941 as regards the temporary prohibition of introduction into, movement within, holding, multiplication or release of certain pests in the Union territory [third amendment]

Commission Implementing Regulation 2025/356 [second amendment]

Commission Implementing Regulation 2024/1957 [first amendment]

Update

The European Union (EU) has added Mexican cabbage head caterpillar (Copitarsia decolora) and darkling beetle (Lagria villosa) to its list of prohibited pests, and has extended the listing of three further prohibited pests.

In total, there are now six pests on the EU list of temporarily prohibited plant pests.

Impacted Products

Alfalfa, apple, asparagus, aubergine (eggplant), banana/plantain, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, chickpea, citrus, coffee, common bean, cucumber, garlic, grapevine, lettuce, maize, onion, peach, peanut, pear, persimmon, pineapple, potato, rice, sorghum, soyabean, stone fruit, strawberry, sunflower, sweet cherry, tanbark, tea, tobacco, tomato, wheat

What is changing?

The EU regularly updates the list of pests that are temporarily prohibited from introduction into the EU on the basis of available scientific evidence. The list is published in the Annex of Regulation 2022/1941.

July 2026

The new Regulation introduces temporary prohibitions for two additional pests until 30 June 2031:

• Mexican cabbage head caterpillar (Copitarsia decolora)
• darkling beetle (Lagria villosa)

The Regulation also extends the existing temporary prohibitions from 31 May 2027 to 31 May 2030 for:

• tobacco budworm (Chloridea virescens)
• Oriental tea tortrix (Homona magnanima)
• yellow-striped armyworm (Spodoptera ornithogalli).

This extension allows additional time to assess whether these pests should be permanently listed as Union quarantine pests.

See Table 1 for the updated list.

February 2025 and July 2024

Snout moth (Leucinodes pseudorbonalis) was removed from the list in 2025, following the removal in 2024 of the eggplant fruit and shoot borer (Leucinodes orbonalis).

The Oriental tea tortrix (H. magnanima) was added to the list in 2024, following its discovery in imported produce intercepted at EU border controls (CABI 2020; JKI 2024).

Why?

Mexican cabbage head caterpillar (C. decolora) and darkling beetle (L. villosa) have been repeatedly intercepted in consignments of plants and plant products imported into the EU from non-EU countries. They are not known to occur in the EU, and preliminary risk assessments conducted by Spain and the Netherlands (NVWA 2025) concluded that they present a high phytosanitary risk and may meet the criteria for Union quarantine pests. The temporary prohibition will remain in place while complete pest risk assessments are conducted.

The removal of L. pseudorbonalis from the list in 2025 followed evaluations by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA 2024a, 2024b).

The list of regulated pests is updated on an ongoing basis according to the most recent scientific evaluations.

Timeline

The revised list of prohibited pests applies from 30 July 2026.

Background

Regulation 2022/1941 prohibits the introduction, movement, holding, multiplication, or release of certain pests within the EU territory.

When EU Member States notify the European Commission of the presence in consignments of new pests that are not listed as Union quarantine pests, but pose a significant risk, these pests are temporarily included in the list pending further assessment and potential addition to Annex II of Regulation 2019/2072.

Resources

Sources

Tables & Figures

Source: based on Regulation 2026/1553 (Annex)