The new EU Control Regulation 2017/625 regulates for the first time official controls and other official activities in the field of plant health, in addition to other legal areas such as food and feed, animal health and plant protection. In order to improve the related laboratory diagnoses in the Union and to raise them to a uniform level, European reference laboratories for 5 plant pest categories (EU-RL for bacteria, EU-RL for fungi and egg fungi, EU-RL for viruses, viroids and phytoplasmas, EU-RL for nematodes and EU-RL for insects and mites) were appointed by the EU Commission.

The Institute for Sustainable Plant Production, in consortium with its French sister organization ANSES, received the mandate for insects and mites, making it the highest laboratory authority for this pest category in Europe.

The tasks of the EU-RL are manifold, but above all it supports, trains and tests the national reference laboratories (NRLs) of the member states. This contributes to European standardization of diagnostic methods and ensures that the quality of analytical data obtained in the different NRLs is comparable.

The EU-RL is also an important contact for scientific and technical support to the EU Commission.

For more information on the EU-RL for insects and mites, click here.

Supporting Member State NRLs by:

• Providing detailed information on diagnostic methods.
• Elaboration of performance metrics of diagnostic methods (validation studies)
• Recommendation of reference methods
• Validation of reagents
• Provision of reference material
• Annual organization of proficiency tests
• Organization of training courses and workshops
• Confirmatory studies

Support of the EU Commission by:

• Providing scientific advice on the occurrence of new pests
• Carrying out arbitration analyses in case of disputes