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SASA provides the following scientific support on plant health to the Scottish Government in support of Scottish and EU plant health legislation. All plant health work is overseen by the Chief Plant Health Officer for Scotland (CPHOS).
If you wish to find out more information or contact us about a non-urgent plant health issue, please email Plant Health at SASA. For plant health inspections or urgent enquiries, refer to the section below relating to the Horticulture and Marketing Unit.
Further information on plant health can be found on the Scottish Government's Plant Health webpages or the Gov.uk website.
SASA provides scientific, technical and policy advice to the Scottish Government on:
SASA staff also represent the Scottish Government and UK Plant Health Service nationally and internationally on committees, as editors and in consultancy work.
Horticulture and Marketing Unit (HMU)
HMU staff provide technical advice (see above) and undertake inspections to ensure compliance with:
HMU staff also support the implementation of the fruit and vegetable regime in Scotland.
For more information in relation to inspections, or to notify the appearance, or suspected appearance, of a harmful plant pest, please contact HMU.
Pests and pathogen diagnosis and surveillance -
SASA issues plant health licences on behalf of Scottish Ministers for work with organisms and materials that are normally prohibited under Plant Health legislation.
Plant health research
SASA undertakes research projects in support of plant health functions.
SASA runs the Potato Quarantine Unit on behalf of the UK Plant Health Authorities.
Pest and pathogen diagnosis is an essential part of the plant health support for the Scottish Government and is the basis of much of the plant health advice given.
Quarantine and other pests and pathogens are diagnosed:
Samples from Scottish Government inspectors are examined for pests and pathogens using microscopic, microbiological, serological, molecular, electron microscopic and bioassay methods. SASA collaborates internationally to introduce and develop new techniques for the diagnosis of quarantine and other harmful organisms and is involved with EC evaluation of existing and new methods (see the R&D section).
SASA issues plant health licences on behalf of Scottish Ministers
for the following activities in Scotland:
Licences are issued following inspection of premises and assessment of the risks associated with the activities, in accordance with EC legislation. Particular attention is given to the containment procedures to be used when handling the licensed material and its disposal on completion of the work. Please see the guidance notes or email Plant Health Licensing for further information.
Download the application form for soil, plant material and prohibited organisms and send the completed form to:
The Plant Health Licensing Officer
SASA
Roddinglaw Road
Edinburgh
EH12 9FJ
For potato quarantine testing see the Potato Quarantine page or download the PQU Licence Application form.
The Scottish Government issues plant health licences for collection of wild plant material. Contact hort.marketing@gov.scot for further information.
For information on imports of plants and plant material, see the Plant Health Guide for Importers on the Scottish Government website.
SASA also provides advice to the Scottish Government in support of legislation on the contained use of genetically modified organisms.
Entry of stolon- and tuber-forming Solanum material into the EU for further propagation is prohibited ( EC Plant Health Directive (2000/29/EC as amended). Material may, however, enter the EU under a derogation specified in Commission Directive 2008/61/EC. The material must undergo official post-entry quarantine testing.
In the UK potato quarantine testing is done at the UK Potato Quarantine Unit (UKPQU), a purpose-built facility at SASA.
A plant health import licence is required prior to import.
The UKPQU is overseen by a Review Committee comprising stakeholders including the Scottish Government, the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for Northern Ireland (DARD-NI), British Society of Plant Breeders and research and commercial interests. The committee meets every several years. A report of the work of the UKPQU is prepared for these meetings and can be viewed here.
Each unit of potato material is established as in vitro microplant cultures, observed over a growing season in the glasshouse for the presence of diseases and tested for specific pathogens. The testing done by the UKPQU exceeds EC requirements.
Material released by the UKPQU is issued with a plant passport and may be planted without further testing anywhere in the EC. You can obtain a copy of our testing procedures from the Potato Quarantine Unit.
Virus elimination and rapid multiplication services are provided for customers.
The UKPQU has been involved in quarantine testing programmes for true potato seed from UK gene banks. Tested seed is held in the Commonwealth Potato Collection at the Scottish Crop Research Institute.
The UKPQU collaborates with other potato quarantine scientists internationally to develop new methods, evaluate existing methods for pathogen diagnosis for potato quarantine purposes and to develop guidelines for the safe movement of potato germplasm.
View the reports of the work of the United Kingdom Potato Quarantine Unit
The Official Controls Regulation (OCR) and Plant Health Regulation (PHR) became applicable in the UK from 14 December 2019 and are part of the Smarter Rules for Safer Food (SRSF) package. Although we are no longer a member of the EU, we are in a transition period where all EU laws will continue to apply.
The Smarter Rules for Safer Food (SRSF) package is a set of EU regulations for the protection against animal disease and plant pests. The package will modernise, simplify and improve existing health and safety standards for the agri-food chain. It will take a risk-based approach to animal, plant and public health protection, introducing more efficient pest and disease control measures.
The package includes 3 principal EU regulations:
The 3 principal EU regulations are supported by EU negotiated tertiary legislation that adds the detail to the legislation. The technical detail in the tertiary legislation can be updated quickly in response to changing situations and new technology. The Scottish Government has been working with Defra, the devolved administrations, the European Commission and other EU member states on the content of the tertiary legislation.
In order to ensure a co-ordinated approach to regulatory implementation is made across the UK, the Scottish Government and UK Government are working closely with delivery bodies, the devolved administrations and crown dependencies to ensure any new rules protect the UK’s biosecurity without putting any unnecessary burden on industry.
The Plant Health Regulation (PHR) became applicable in the UK from 14 December 2019 alongside the Official Controls Regulation.
The PHR helps the agricultural, horticultural and forestry sectors remain sustainable and competitive, as well as protecting domestic biodiversity and ecosystems. Globalised trade and climate change now present a greater risk to these sectors. The new PHR sets out controls and restrictions that will apply to imports and internal movement of certain plants, plant pests, and other materials like soil, to help reduce these risks.
Some of the areas changing include:
Please see the plant passports page for more details.