Plant Health Management Standard 1.3 - release date: 1 July 2025

Current version of the Plant Health Management Standard 1.3 (released on the 1 July 2025). This version of the Standard is now available to use and to be audited against. Version 1.3 will be the sole version used for audits from the 1st October 2025.

The Plant Health Management Standard is intended to assist businesses and organisations in the development of a consistent plant biosecurity management system. The overarching aim of this standard is to minimise the threat of notifiable pests being spread via the live plant supply chain. The standard sets out the requirements for an integrated plant biosecurity management system for a business or organisation, including periodic reviews for the continual improvement of management processes.

Updates from the previous Plant Health Management Standard (version 1.2):

Plant Health Management Standard - version 1.3

• P8: Definitions • edits / additions re: notifiable pests, detections, interceptions, incursions and outbreaks.
• P8: Addition of a new requirement - 1.1 Registration as a Professional Operator
• P9: Requirement 1.2 Plant Passports • Renumbered – previously 1.1 • under the requirement - add ‘according to the rules applicable to the relevant country or countries’ • Updates to text under requirements relating to UK, GB and Northern Ireland Plant Health Label (NIPHL) • under guidance - new links.
• P10: Requirement 1.3 Phytosanitary Certificates • Renumbered – previously 1.2 • under requirements - update re: NIPHL • under guidance - new links.
• P10: Requirement 1.4 Forest Reproductive Material (FRM) • Renumbered – previously 1.3
• P11: Requirement 1.5 Notifiable Pest Interceptions or Outbreaks • Renumbered – previously 1.4 • addition of ‘incursion’ to the text of the requirement • under requirements – add ‘and suspected pests’ re: isolating and containing the affected plants • under guidance – additional text relating to plant health authorities.
• P11: Requirement 1.6 Other Statutory Requirements • Renumbered – previously 1.5 • under how this is assessed – add ‘Records of compliance with any statutory plant health notices’ • under guidance - new links.
• P12: Requirement 1.7 Wood Packaging Material • Renumbered – previously 1.6 • under requirements – add and ‘other WPM’/’and other products’ • under how this is assessed – add ‘Personnel awareness and implementation of the management processes’ • under guidance – add information on ISPM 15 and international movements.
• P13: Requirement 2.1 Plant Biosecurity Policy • under how this is assessed - add ‘signed by most the senior person’.
• P17: Requirement 5.1 Supply Chain Management • under requirements - add that the list of all approved suppliers ‘..is accessible by relevant staff‘ • under how this is assessed – add list of approved suppliers ‘(that are reviewed on an annual basis)’ • under guidance – add link to Plant Healthy membership directory.
• P18: Requirement 6.2 Growing media and soil • edit requirement to include ‘..manures and mulches’ • under guidance – include coir bark, wood fibre and pot toppers as examples.
• P20: Requirement 6.6 Waste treatment and disposal • edit requirement to include ‘..and treated accordingly’ • under guidance – add ‘..and/or exemptions’ re: relevant permits • under guidance – add ‘Records (e.g. duration and temperatures reached) will help ensure and demonstrate that composting processes are effective.’
• P22 - 23: Requirement 7.2 Traceability (chain of custody) • under guidance – add ‘The system should identify where plant material is sourced from (e.g. seed or mother plants) and if and when batches of live plants have been split for either the purposes of production or dispatch.’
• P24: Requirement 8.2 Self-assessment • under guidance – re: self-assessment tool on Plant Healthy website add ‘This system can be used to conduct a self-assessment or assist in an internal audit of an enterprise against the Plant Health Management Standard.’
• P24 - 25: Addition of a new requirement – 8.4 Detection of Notifiable Pests • This requirement aims to record all notifiable pest detections details of statutory notices and outcomes • it also ensures that a Root Cause Analysis is conducted to identify and rectify the cause of the pest incursion / outbreak.
• P27: Appendix. Guidance for SOPRA (i) edit to the definition of Quarantine pests.

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