Plant Health

Phytosanitary measures  are designed to prevent the introduction and spread of plant diseases and pests to new areas, which is important to avoid unacceptable impacts on the economy, society and the environment. The Swiss Federal Plant Protection Service (SPPS) – operated jointly by the Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG) and the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) – is responsible for these tasks at the national level.

Companies and professionals

Private individuals

General information

Key topics

Plant passport

Import regulations in tourist traffic

Swiss Plant Health Network

What's new

Swiss Plant Health Network

The Swiss Plant Health Network was officially founded on 18 February 2021. The aim of this network is to better protect the health of cultivated and forest plants in Switzerland against the introduction and spread of new pests by coordinating communication activities.

Further information:

 

Swiss Plant Health Network

Brexit: What will apply from 1 January 2021?

The United Kingdom (UK) left the EU at the end of January 2020, with a transitional period until the end of 2020. Since 1 January 2021 the UK (with the exception of Northern Ireland) is considered as a non-EU country for trade in plant material.

This concretely means the following:

• For imports of fresh plant material (plants, fruits, vegetables, cut flowers etc.) from the UK (except Northern Ireland) into Switzerland and the EU, a phytosanitary certificate will in principle be required from 1 January 2021. In addition, certain goods (e.g. vine plants) will be subject to an import ban from that date, as is already the case for other non-EU countries. Exports of plant products to the UK must comply with the new UK phytosanitary rules (a phytosanitary certificate is often also required; for more information see https://www.gov.uk/guidance/importing-and-exporting-plants-and-plant-products-from-1-january-2021).
• Northern Ireland is practically considered as a European Union state: plants and other goods requiring a plant passport can continue to be traded between Northern Ireland and Switzerland/EU with a plant passport. It is still possible to trade other plant products (vegetables, cut flowers, fruits, etc.) with Northern Ireland without phytosanitary documents.

 

 

Last modification 22.02.2021