Vietnam Sanitary and Phytosanitary Notification Authority and Enquiry Point

To prevent ToBRFV from entering Japan, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF) take the emergency measure for seeds listed in item 3. This measure includes three underlined changes from current measure as provided for in item 36 of the annexed table 2-2 of the ordinance for enforcement of the plant protection act and the details of requirements for ToBRFV:

A. Current measure

For seeds, either:

i. The samples randomly taken from parent plants and ones with suspected symptoms are tested during harvest period by an appropriate genetic method such as RT-PCR assay and found to be free from Tomato brown rugose fruit virus; or

ii. The seeds are tested prior to export by an appropriate genetic method such as RT-PCR assay and found to be free from Tomato brown rugose fruit virus; 4,600 seeds are randomly taken from a lot as samples in accordance with the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) procedures; or in case that the number of seeds of a lot is less than 46,000, 10% of the seeds are used for the testing; they are divided into at most 400 seeds as sub-samples.

In addition, National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPO) of the exporting countries will be required to declare as below in the column of Additional declaration of Phytosanitary Certificate.

"Fulfills item 36 of the Annexed Table 2-2 of the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Plant Protection Act (MAF Ordinance No. 73/1950)

B. Emergency measure

For seeds, either:

i. The samples randomly taken from parent plants and ones with suspected symptoms are tested during harvest period by an appropriate genetic method such as RT-PCR assay and found to be free from Tomato brown rugose fruit virus; or

ii. The seeds are tested prior to export by Real-time RT-PCR assay using such method as described in the International Seed Federation (ISF) protocol (2020) and found to be free from Tomato brown rugose fruit virus; 4,600 seeds are randomly taken from a lot as samples in accordance with the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) procedures; or in case that the number of seeds of a lot is less than 46,000, 10% of the seeds are used for the testing; they are divided into at most 400 seeds as subsamples.

In addition, the NPPO will be required to declare as below in the column of Additional declaration of Phytosanitary Certificate.

i. "Fulfills item 36 (Appropriate genetic method for parent plants) of the Annexed Table 2-2 of the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Plant Protection Act (MAF Ordinance No. 73/1950)"

ii. "Fulfills item 36 (Real-time RT-PCR for seeds) of the Annexed Table 2-2 of the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Plant Protection Act (MAF Ordinance No. 73/1950)"