management or plant health may be used by state and territory government agencies to control interstate movement of plants and their products. Once plant and plant products have been cleared by Australian biosecurity officers, they may be subject to interstate movement conditions. It is the importer’s responsibility to identify, and ensure compliance with all requirements. Contaminating pests This draft report assesses pests with a known association with commercial peach, plum and apricot fruit grown in China. However, other organisms may unintentionally be imported with these fruits. These organisms are considered to be contaminating pests that could pose human health and phytosanitary risks. These risks are identified and addressed using existing operational procedures that require a 600 unit inspection of all consignments, or equivalent. The department will investigate if any pest detected in an imported consignment is of quarantine concern to Australia and requires remedial action. Consultation The department stated in the Final Report for Chinese Nectarines (see section 1.2.3), that the assessment for nectarines is likely to form the basis of import requirements for similar risk commodities including peaches, plums and apricots. The stone fruit industry in Australia has been consulted and is supportive of this approach. The department has consulted with the relevant and territory governments and the stone fruit industry in Australia about the department’s progress on mutual market access for additional Australian and Chinese stone fruit commodities (peaches, plums and apricots). Next This draft report gives stakeholders an opportunity to comment and draw attention to any scientific, technical, or other gaps in the data, or misinterpretations or errors. The department will consider submissions received on the draft report and may consult informally with stakeholders. The department will then prepare a final report, taking into account stakeholder comments. The final report will be published on the department’s website together with a notice advising stakeholders of the release. The department will also notify the proposer, the registered stakeholders and the WTO Secretariat of the release of the final report. Publication of the final report represents the end of the risk analysis process. The recommendations made in the final report will be the basis of any biosecurity import conditions.
Appendix A: Categorisation of Phenacoccus aceris with stone fruit from China Pest Present in China Present within Australia Potential to be on pathway Potential for establishment and spread Potential for economic consequences Pest risk assessment required HEMIPTERA Phenacoccus aceris (Signoret, 1875) [Pseudococcidae] Apple mealybug Yes (Raine, McMullen & Forbes 1986; Wu 2000) No records found Yes. Nymphs feed on fruit and bark (MAL 2007) on a wide range of hosts including stone fruit such as nectarines, peaches, plums and apricots (Beers 2007; García et al. 2015; Kaydan, Kilinçer & Kondo 2015; Trencheva & Tomov 2014). Yes. Phenacoccus aceris attacks more than 100 host plants, some of include apples, citrus, pears, stone fruit, cherries, pine trees, potato, hibiscus, rose, banana, catalpa, mulberry, honeysuckle, camellia and rhododendron (García et al. 2015; Kaydan, Kilinçer & Kondo 2015; Trencheva & Tomov 2014) and many of these hosts are present in Australia. Phenacoccus aceris occurs in many parts of Asia, Europe, Africa and North and South America, indicating parts of the Australian environment would be suitable for its establishment. Yes. This species is known to vector little cherry disease (little cherry closterovirus) (Mekuria, Zhang & Eastwell 2014; Raine, McMullen & Forbes 1986; Sforza, & Greif 2003) which is present in Australia (IPPC 2015). Little cherry virus 2 (LChV2) (genus Ampelovirus) is the primary causal agent of little cherry disease in sweet cherry in North America and other parts of the world. Infected trees produce poor quality fruit that unevenly ripen (IPPC 2015; Mekuria, Zhang & Eastwell 2014). Yes (EP)