Surveys of the specified pest in the territories of the Member States
Article 2
Open ↗1. Member States shall conduct annual surveys of the host plants, and any other plant species in case of suspicion of infection, for the detection of the specified pest in their territory. Those surveys may also cover vectors. 2. Those surveys shall be carried out by the competent authorities, or under the official supervision of the competent authorities. 3. Those surveys shall be performed on the basis of the level of risk. They shall take place in open air, including cropping fields, orchards, vineyards, as well as nurseries, garden centres and/or trading centres, natural areas and other relevant locations. In those Member States where the specified pest cannot become established in open air due to the ecoclimatic conditions, surveys shall be carried out only in locations, other than in open air, where host plants are grown and are likely to pose a risk for spread of the specified pest to the Union territory. 4. Those surveys shall consist in the collection of samples and testing of plants for planting, and, if applicable, of vectors. Taking into account the European Food Safety Authority’s (Authority) Guidelines for statistically sound and risk-based surveys of Xylella fastidiosa , the survey design and the sampling scheme used shall enable detecting with a sufficient level of confidence, a low level of presence of the specified pest within the Member State concerned. 4a. Where the presence of the specified pest is confirmed in a vector, in an area where the specified pest is not known to be present, the Member State concerned shall, without delay, carry out surveys in a radius of at least 400 m around the finding of the infected vector, as well as sampling and testing of host plants and any other plant species in case of suspicion of infection. 5. Those surveys shall be carried out at appropriate times of the year with regard to the possibility to detect the specified pest, taking into account the biology of that pest and its vectors, the presence and biology of host plants, and the scientific and technical information referred to in the Authority’s Pest Survey Card on Xylella fastidiosa. 6. The presence of the specified pest shall be monitored by one of the molecular tests listed in Annex IV. In case of positive results detected in areas other than the demarcated areas, the presence of the specified pest shall be confirmed by one more positive molecular test listed in that Annex, targeting different parts of the genome. Those tests shall be performed on the same plant sample or, if appropriate for the molecular confirmatory test used, on the same plant extract. 7. The identification of the subspecies of the specified pest shall be carried out on each plant species that is found infected by the specified pest in the demarcated area concerned. That identification shall be carried out by using the molecular tests listed in Section B of Annex IV. 8. Member States shall report the results of the surveys referred to in paragraph 1 in accordance with Article 22(3) of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031.