The citrus containers stranded at ports of entry in the European Union will be cleared thanks to a deal that the South African government was able to reach (EU).
The settlement comes in response to new regulations the EU has put in place to control the danger of the False Codling Moth (FCM) on citrus crops.
The updated procedures include improved cold treatment protocols for oranges and enhanced phytosanitary declarations for grapefruit and soft citrus.
The measures, according to the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD), were published on June 21, 2022, and were scheduled to take effect on June 24, 2022.
“This suggested that shipments entering Europe starting on July 14 had to adhere to the new regulations.
The department said that, given the shortest sailing time to the EU, consignments that departed South Africa on June 24, 2022, or three days after the publication, should have been certified on the new standards.
The European Commission (EC) was informed that the date was arbitrary by the DALRRD in a meeting and by written correspondence.
“There were consignments that were certified and had already departed for the EU, as well as those that were in the process of being shipped, at the time the new restrictions were published.
According to the agency, “the DALRRD allegations that modifying the inspection and certification system within three days were unachievable.”
According to the report, a reasonable deadline for compliance with the new measures would have been for shipments to depart South Africa on July 9, 2022, taking into account the system adjustments that would be necessary as well as the communication with the various regulatory sites, both of which would take at least three weeks from publication.
The EC insisted on the implementation date of July 14, 2022, according to the department, and as expected, the department began receiving inquiries from exporters concerns the rejection of shipments at EU ports after the implementation date.
“Phytosanitary certifications that complied with the new FCM requirements were required by the EU authorities.
The DALRRD divided the cases into just those involving grapefruit and soft citrus, as well as compliance with cold therapy on oranges.
The issue was eventually resolved by commencing on July 22, 2022, to replace phytosanitary certifications with the appropriate supplementary declarations.
When the industry met with the DALRRD on July 25, 2022, to discuss potential similar actions about the treatment given to these consignments under South Africa’s Systems Approach for FCM, the orange instances remained a problem, the department stated.
Through the appropriate National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPOs), the DALRRD promised to work with the EU so that they would take these equal actions into consideration.
According to the department, the Netherlands NPPO got a good answer on July 28, 2022, after the first formal letter was delivered to it on July 27, 2022.
According to this arrangement, new phytosanitary certifications will be provided for oranges with comparable cold treatment declarations, according to the department.
“On Monday, August 1, 2022, the issuance of replacement phytosanitary certifications for oranges began.
After receiving yet another affirmative answer from Italy on an identical cold treatment declaration, the DALRRD decided to add more ports of entry at a meeting with business representatives on August 3, 2022.
“Ports in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden were among the ports listed by the industry as places where South African oranges were turned away.
This bottleneck harmed around 2000 containers, believed to be worth R500 million, according to the government.
The government said that it had so far recertified orange shipments that were stopped at Dutch and Italian ports using data provided by industry.
“We have confirmation that the containers are being evacuated, according to our sources.
“Furthermore, on August 5, 2022, the DALRRD and the EC met to discuss how to handle the non-compliant shipment in EU ports.
They agreed on the temporary measures, which included the EU granting the DALRRD’s request to finish the cooling time there.
The department said that the “interim measures” call for the consignments to be handled at the EU’s cold treatment facilities and for the department to inform other EU member states.
More than 300 of the 509 containers have already been cleared, according to the department, and the clearance of the remaining containers is being worked on.