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Official diagnosis of pests in Germany: recent activities to secure the quality of diagnostic work *
Author(s) -
Pfeilstetter E.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
eppo bulletin
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.327
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1365-2338
pISSN - 0250-8052
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2338.2005.00802.x
Subject(s) - status quo , legislation , work (physics) , phytosanitary certification , business , quality (philosophy) , quality assurance , political science , environmental planning , risk analysis (engineering) , environmental resource management , environmental protection , economic growth , geography , engineering , law , marketing , service (business) , economics , mechanical engineering , philosophy , epistemology
Within the federal organization of Germany, the practical implementation of phytosanitary legislation including diagnosis of pests is the task of the Plant Protection Services of the 16 Federal Länder. The Federal Biological Research Centre (BBA) gives support by developing diagnostic methods, advising and in some instances reference testing. Due to budgetary constraints during the past decade, there has been a considerable decrease in diagnostic and taxonomic capacities. An analysis of the status quo of the diagnostic abilities in relation to regulated pests, and new pests not yet present in Germany, was carried out by means of a questionnaire sent to the Plant Protection Services of the Länder and to the various institutes of the BBA. The data gathered by the questionnaire supports the need for maintaining and improving diagnostic capacities in Germany, in order to fulfil legal obligations and to cope with evolving challenges, e.g. in the field of quality assurance. In this respect, a future scenario could be the establishment of a diagnostic network within Germany. Some key elements of such a network are already implemented in the potato sector.