Alerts

As originally notified in the BICON Change Notice issued on 8 November 2022, the department has accepted alternative diagnostic testing protocols delivered by the Naktuinbouw (NAKT) laboratory in the Netherlands for imported consignments of capsicum seed for sowing.

Effective immediately, pathogen test reports issued by the NAKT laboratory using the new protocols will be accepted for capsicum seeds imported for sowing. The import conditions are available within the pathways for ‘Pathogen tested prior to shipment at the NAKT laboratory’.

The protocols test capsicum seed for the presence of Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV), Tomato mottle mosaic virus (ToMMV) and regulated pospiviroids. These protocols are approved for an increased sub-sample size of up to 1,000 seeds. For further background on the approval of the NAKT protocols, refer to the BICON Change Notice 'Commencement of Naktuinbouw pathogen testing protocols for capsicum seed for sowing from 7 Dec 2022'.

What are the conditions of the alternative NAKT protocol?
If you elect to have capsicum seeds pathogen tested at the NAKT laboratory using the newly approved protocols, consignments must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with the below additional declaration, as well as a corresponding laboratory report which meets the following report criteria:

• Phytosanitary certificate with the additional declaration: “The consignment of [botanical name(s) (Genus species)] comprises [insert seed lot number(s)] seed lot(s); for each seed lot, seeds were tested by PCR using protocols approved by the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry at the Naktuinbouw laboratory, Netherlands, [insert report number(s)], on a sample size of 20,000 seeds (or 20 per cent of small seed lots) as sub-samples of no more than 1000 seeds and found free from Columnea latent viroid, Pepper chat fruit viroid and Potato spindle tuber viroid, Tomato brown rugose fruit virus and Tomato mottle mosaic virus."
  

• The laboratory test report must accompany the phytosanitary certificate. These reports must include:

  1. The address of the Naktuinbouw testing laboratory.
  2. The full botanical name of the species tested.
  3. The date of testing.
  4. The type of test done (including the protocol number).
  5. The seed lot number(s) (which must match those in the phytosanitary certificate).
  6. The sample size, which must be 20,000 seeds (or 20% of the seed lot by weight for small seed lots).
  7. The sub-sample size, which must be no greater than 1,000 seeds per sub-sample.
  8. The pathogens targeted, which must include:
     a. Columnea latent viroid
     b. Pepper chat fruit viroid
     c. Potato spindle tuber viroid
     d. Tomato mottle mosaic virus
     e. Tomato brown rugose fruit virus.
  9. The test result confirming that targeted pathogens were not detected within the seed lot/s.

Variation of capsicum seed permits:
All affected import permits have been varied on 7 December 2022 and now list the alternative import conditions containing the approved NAKT laboratory protocols.

Who does this alert affect:
Importers (and their brokers) of capsicum seed for sowing, Client Contact Group Canberra and Cargo Operations.

Further information:
Please contact Plant Import Operations at imports@agriculture.gov.au (include ‘Plant T2 – NAKT protocol capsicum’ in the subject line) or phone 1800 900 090.