In brief
- The act dates from April, but part of it only starts to apply on 15 October 2026. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/826 was adopted in Brussels on 14 April 2026, published in the Official Journal of the European Union, L series, of 15 April 2026, and entered into force on 5 May 2026, on the twentieth day following publication. The second paragraph of Article 2 defers to 15 October 2026 a precise list of points of the Annex: point 1(a), (b) and (c), point 4, point 5(c), point 8(a), (c), (f)(i), (f)(ii)(B), (g)(ii), (g)(iv)(B) and point 11. The rest of the Regulation has produced effects since 5 May 2026.
- Three pests join the Union quarantine list and ten entries leave it. Annex II, Part A to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 gains Agrilus bilineatus (Weber), Gymnandrosoma aurantianum Lima, the citrus fruit borer, and Naupactus xanthographus (Germar). Out go nine fruit flies of the Tephritidae family and the bacterium Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum Safni et al., which does not disappear from the rules but moves to Part B, the list of pests already known to occur in the Union territory.
- Wood of oak and sweet chestnut from Canada, Türkiye and the United States of America comes under a phytosanitary certificate. Annex VII gains three new entries, 116, 117 and 118, with requirements for wood, for chips and sawdust and for isolated bark of Quercus L. from Türkiye, while Annex XI, Part A gains two new entries, one for cork oak bark from Türkiye and one for wood of Quercus and Castanea from the three countries. The list of codes includes staves and coopers' products, so it bears directly on the Romanian trade in American oak.
- Ginger and turmeric get rules of their own, both on import and on movement within the Union. Annex VII gains points 22.1 and 22.2, Annex VIII points 11.1 and 11.2, and Annex XIII a new entry, under which rhizomes of Curcuma longa L. and Zingiber officinale Roscoe coming from the infested zone of a demarcated area need a plant passport in order to move within the Union. The reason, from recital (6): the bacterium was detected in water samples from outbreaks reported in Hungary and the Netherlands, and on imported plants.
- Used agricultural and forestry machinery requires a phytosanitary certificate on a longer list of codes. The entry in Annex XI, Part A goes from 26 to 37 CN codes. In come, for the first time, the pedestrian-controlled tractor, the track-laying tractor and some of the harvesting and threshing machinery, while the country of origin remains any state outside the Union, with the exception of Switzerland.
Published: Official Journal of the European Union, L series, of 15 April 2026
In force from: 5 May 2026, on the twentieth day following publication, under the first paragraph of Article 2
Applies from: 5 May 2026 for most of the Annex, 15 October 2026 for the points listed in the second paragraph of Article 2
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 is the act that decides which plant, which fruit and which piece of wood may enter the European Union, from which countries and with what paperwork, and what needs a plant passport in order to travel between Oradea and Lisbon. It is not an act people talk about much, yet it determines whether a consignment of American oak staves stays at customs or passes through, whether a nursery may sell a lot of ginger, and whether a second-hand tractor bought in Serbia reaches the field or the waiting line. On the same subject, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1565, which amends the filing of due diligence statements for wood and the other deforestation-linked products, calls for a second piece of paper on the same goods.
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/826 amends precisely that act. It was adopted on 14 April 2026 and published in the Official Journal of the European Union, L series, of 15 April 2026, and most of it has produced effects since 5 May 2026. What happens on 15 October 2026 is something else: the second paragraph of Article 2 set aside a list of points of the Annex and postponed them by six months. Its wording leaves no room for interpretation, because it spells out every letter and every subpoint: point 1(a), (b) and (c), point 4, point 5(c), point 8(a), (c), (f)(i), (f)(ii)(B), (g)(ii), (g)(iv)(B) and point 11.
Between publication and this second date there are 183 days, and between entry into force and it, 163. Recital (19) explains why: the period „is necessary to allow the competent authorities and professional operators to adapt to the new requirements”. The breathing space was granted, in the words of that same recital, for the listing of the new quarantine pests, for the special requirements attached to them, for the amendment of the CN codes in Annex XI, Part A and for the revisions related to Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum. Everything that is not on the list in Article 2 applies from 5 May 2026 and has nothing to do with 15 October, however much it may resemble the rest of the act.
On 16 October 2026 the Commission redrew the restricted zones for sheep pox and goat pox in Romania.
What it changes in practice
The first effect falls on the list of pests. Point 1 of the Annex, deferred in full, rewrites Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072, that is, the list of Union quarantine pests itself. In Part A, reserved for pests not known to occur in the Union territory, three new entries are inserted in the table „3. Insects and mites”: point 3.1, Agrilus bilineatus (Weber), between Agrilus anxius and Agrilus planipennis; point 36.1, Gymnandrosoma aurantianum Lima; point 48.1, Naupactus xanthographus (Germar). Recital (3) says what this rests on: pest risk analyses carried out by the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation (EPPO), from which it follows that all three meet the conditions of Article 3 and of Section 1 of Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2016/2031.
In the same move, nine entries go out. Point 1(b)(iv) deletes from the table of insects subpoints 77.1, 77.2, 77.15, 77.33, 77.36, 77.39, 77.49, 77.50 and 77.74, that is, nine fruit flies of the Tephritidae family: Acidiella kagoshimensis (Miyake), Acidoxantha bombacis de Meijere, Callistomyia flavilabris Hering, Euphranta oshimensis (Shiraki), Gastrozona nigrifemur David & Hancock, Insizwa oblita (Munro), Paratephritis fukaii Shiraki, Paratephritis takeuchii Ito and Urophora christophi Loew. Recital (4) grounds the removal in their host specificity, because of which they no longer meet the condition of unacceptable economic, social and environmental impact. The Tephritidae list in Annex II, Part A therefore falls from 78 to 69 subpoints.
The tenth entry taken out of Part A is the bacterium Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum Safni et al., point 6 of the table „1. Bacteria”. What matters here is what does not happen: the bacterium is not taken out of the rules. Point 1(c) inserts it as point 1.1 in Part B of the same Annex, the list of Union quarantine pests known to occur in the Union territory, between Clavibacter sepedonicus and Ralstonia solanacearum. It remains a Union quarantine pest, but its regime changes: from being kept out it moves to being fought inside, with demarcated areas and eradication measures set by the competent authority under Articles 17 and 18 of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031.
The second effect, the heaviest in sheer volume, falls on Annex VII, the special requirements for introduction into the Union. Point 4 of the Annex is deferred in its entirety and adds eight new entries. Three of them concern oak and sweet chestnut: point 33.1 for plants of Castanea Mill. and Quercus L. from Canada, Türkiye and the United States of America, point 116 for their wood from those same three countries, point 117 for chips, particles, shavings, sawdust and wood waste and scrap, and point 118 for isolated bark of Quercus L. from Türkiye. All of them rest on Agrilus bilineatus (Weber), and the requirements say, indirectly, where the insect lives: for wood, the official statement must show either that it comes from a pest free area, or that the bark and at least 2.5 cm of the outer sapwood have been removed at an approved facility, or that the debarked wood has been heat treated to a minimum temperature of 56 °C for at least 30 continuous minutes throughout its entire profile, or that it has been irradiated to a minimum absorbed dose of 1 kGy.
The other new entries in Annex VII cover three distinct situations. Point 42.1 requires an official statement for plants for planting of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa), cherimoya (Annona cherimola), Japanese persimmon (Diospyros kaki), loquat (Eriobotrya japonica), Erythrina crista-galli, walnut (Juglans regia), avocado (Persea americana) and blueberry (Vaccinium sect. Cyanococcus) from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, because of Naupactus xanthographus. The simplest of the alternatives is a size criterion: the plant must have a diameter of less than 3 mm at the base of the stem. The others call for a pest free area, a site with physical isolation, or a pest free site of production with a buffer zone of at least 100 m and an official inspection immediately before export, covering the growing medium attached to the plants as well.
Point 62.2 concerns fruit of Citrus L. from the Americas, Canada and the United States aside but the Caribbean islands included, because of the citrus fruit borer. Here the act also recognises a route alternative to the classic ones: an „effective systems approach” in accordance with the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures ISPM 14, provided that the method has been communicated in advance in writing to the European Commission by the national plant protection organisation of the country of origin.
Points 22.1 and 22.2 are about ginger and turmeric. The first concerns plants for planting, the second rhizomes not intended for planting, which is to say the fresh ginger on the shelf, under CN codes ex 0910 11 00 and ex 0910 30 00. Both require an official statement with three options: origin in a country recognised as free from Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum, origin in a pest free area established by the national plant protection organisation and mentioned on the phytosanitary certificate under the rubric „place of origin”, or a registered and supervised site of production, with official inspections before harvest, with a representative sample tested by molecular methods before export and with traceability ensured back to that site.
The third effect falls on movement inside the Union. Point 5(c), the only letter of point 5 that is deferred, inserts points 11.1 and 11.2 into Annex VIII. Point 11.1 requires an official statement for plants for planting of Curcuma longa L. and Zingiber officinale Roscoe, with the same three options but in their internal version: an area declared free by the competent authority, or a registered and supervised site of production, with official inspections before harvest and a molecular test on a representative sample before movement. Point 11.2 applies to rhizomes not intended for planting, but only to those originating in the infested zone of a demarcated area established for this bacterium under Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031.
Point 11 of the Annex, also deferred, closes the chain: it inserts into Annex XIII, the list of commodities whose movement within the Union requires a plant passport, a new entry for „Rhizomes of Curcuma longa L. and Zingiber officinale Roscoe, as referred to in point 11.2 of Annex VIII”. The practical effect is concrete: from 15 October 2026, a lot of ginger or turmeric for consumption that leaves the infested zone of a demarcated area cannot be moved within the Union without a plant passport. Plants for planting already needed a passport, through point 1 of that same Annex, which covers „all plants for planting, other than seeds”; rhizomes for consumption did not.
The fourth effect falls on the phytosanitary certificate on entry into the Union, through point 8, of which six elements are deferred. Letter (a) replaces the first entry in point 1 „Miscellaneous” of Annex XI, Part A, the one on machinery and vehicles which have been operated for agricultural or forestry purposes. The list of CN codes goes from 26 to 37 entries: in come the pedestrian-controlled tractor (ex 8701 10 00), the track-laying tractor (ex 8701 30 00), five codes for road tractors for semi-trailers, three codes for other harvesting or threshing machinery and two for other forestry machinery, while code ex 8701 20 90 goes out, because it was deleted from the Combined Nomenclature. The country of origin stays as it was: any third country other than Switzerland.
Letters (c), (f)(i) and (g)(ii) add Kazakhstan to the country lists for plant parts, for isolated bark and for wood of Chionanthus virginicus L. and Fraxinus L., that is, of ash. The reason sits in recital (11): outbreaks of Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire have taken place close to the border of Kazakhstan with Russia. The same addition is made, through point 4(e) and (f), to points 36, 87, 88 and 89 of Annex VII.
The last two deferred elements of point 8 are new entries in Annex XI, Part A. Letter (f)(ii)(B) adds bark of cork oak (Quercus suber L.) from Türkiye, under codes ex 1404 90 00 and ex 4401 49 10. Letter (g)(iv)(B) adds wood of Quercus and Castanea from Canada, Türkiye and the United States of America, with a list of codes running from fuel wood and chips through railway sleepers, unassembled flooring, coopers' products including staves (ex 4416 00 00), and prefabricated buildings of wood (ex 9406 10 00).
What has changed compared with the previous situation
Up to 14 October 2026, oak wood from Canada and the United States already needed a phytosanitary certificate, through an entry in point 12 of Annex XI, Part A covering Quercus L. from Canada, the United States of America and Vietnam. Two things were missing there: Türkiye and sweet chestnut. From 15 October 2026 both come in, and wood of Castanea falls for the first time under the certificate obligation on entry into the Union from the three countries. On top of that come the substantive requirements in Annex VII, points 116 and 117, which did not exist at all before for Agrilus bilineatus.
For oak bark the change is subtler and worth reading closely, because it shows how an exemption is closed. The old entry in point 11 of Annex XI, Part A required a certificate for isolated bark of Acer saccharum, Populus L. and Quercus L., but „other than Quercus suber L.”, from any third country except Switzerland. Cork oak was therefore the only oak left out. The new entry added by letter (f)(ii)(B) brings it in, but only for Türkiye. The combined result is that, from 15 October 2026, any isolated oak bark from Türkiye needs a certificate, cork oak bark included, and the substantive requirement for it is the one in the new point 118 of Annex VII.
For used machinery the entry existed before as well, but with a list of codes that had fallen behind. The old version carried a single code for road tractors for semi-trailers, ex 8701 20 90, which no longer exists in the Combined Nomenclature, and carried no code at all for pedestrian-controlled tractors or for track-laying tractors. Recitals (15) and (16) present the change as a technical alignment, that is, either codes deleted or replaced in Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, or codes „erroneously omitted”. The effect, though, is not merely technical: a farmer bringing in a used pedestrian-controlled tractor or a used track-laying tractor from a third country needs a phytosanitary certificate from 15 October 2026, which the earlier text did not make clear.
For ginger and turmeric the starting point is a nuance too. Fresh ginger and turmeric rhizomes already needed a phytosanitary certificate on entry into the Union, through an entry in point 2 „General categories” of Annex XI, Part A, which lists „ginger, saffron, turmeric and other spices in the form of plant parts of roots or tubers, fresh or chilled”. What did not exist was the content of the statement. Up to 14 October 2026 the certificate attested general compliance; from 15 October it must attest one of the three options in the new point 22.2 of Annex VII, and the third option calls for a molecular test on a representative sample, carried out before export, plus traceability back to the site of production.
For plants of Castanea and Quercus, other than tissue cultures, pollen, fruit and seeds, the requirement in the new point 33.1 carries a time threshold that any exporting nursery will feel: the plant must have been grown for at least two years before export, or throughout its life if it is younger than two years, at a site with physical isolation against the introduction of Agrilus bilineatus, with at least two official inspections a year. The alternative is the pest free area, with its status communicated in advance in writing to the European Commission.
On the country lists, two changes are harder to spot than the rest, because they appear as replacements of long enumerations. Point 4(p) rewrites the list for points 72.1, 72.2 and 72.3 of Annex VII, those tied to Bactrocera latifrons, Bactrocera dorsalis and Bactrocera zonata, while letter (q) rewrites the list for points 32.2, 32.3, 32.4 and 103-108, those tied to Apriona germari, Apriona rugicollis and Apriona cinerea. Recitals (9) and (10) announce the addition of Israel and Taiwan, on the ground that they had been „erroneously omitted”. The new lists also contain Saudi Arabia, however, which appeared nowhere in the previous version of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 and which no recital mentions.
Advantages and disadvantages
What it improves
- It protects a resource Romania has in abundance. Agrilus bilineatus attacks oak and sweet chestnut, two species that grow in Romania, the first of them one of the backbone timbers of the Romanian forest. The measures are taken before the insect is found in the Union, not after, which is the only logic in which phytosanitary protection comes cheap.
- The six-month period was given, not promised. Between publication and the application of the deferred points there are 183 days, with a text already known since 15 April 2026. A nursery or an importer has had time to prepare its procedures, and recital (19) says in so many words that this is what the breathing space is for.
- The chain is complete, from the border to the shelf. For Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum the act does not stop at import: Annex VII covers entry into the Union, Annex VIII internal movement, Annex XIII the plant passport, and Annex II, Part B opens the way to demarcated areas. It is rare to see an amendment of annexes close all four doors.
- It takes nine species out of the rules that had no business being there. The nine Tephritidae fruit flies removed are specific to hosts that are not grown in the Union, and keeping them on the list meant control and reporting with nothing at stake. The relief is real, even if it shows up in nobody's turnover.
- The technical alternatives are several, not one. For wood, the operator may choose between a pest free area, debarking with 2.5 cm of sapwood, heat treatment at 56 °C or irradiation at 1 kGy. For the South American plants, the threshold of 3 mm in diameter at the base exempts very young material altogether. The requirement can be met by more than one route, not only by the most expensive one.
What remains a problem
- Staged application splits one single list across two dates. Point 8(f)(ii) adds two entries, (A) for Juglans and Pterocarya from the United States and (B) for Quercus suber from Türkiye, and only (B) is deferred. The same goes for letter (g)(iv). An operator reading Annex XI sees a uniform list and has no way of guessing, without Article 2, that neighbouring entries took effect five months apart.
- Recital (19) describes less than Article 2 defers. The explanation for granting the breathing space speaks of the new pests, of the requirements attached to them, of the codes in Annex XI, Part A and of Ralstonia. The addition of Kazakhstan, prompted by recent outbreaks near the border with Russia, falls into none of those categories, yet it too is deferred by six months, without explanation.
- Saudi Arabia appears in two lists with no justification anywhere in the text. Recitals (9) and (10) announce Israel and Taiwan. Saudi Arabia figures in no recital, did not appear in the previous version of the regulation being amended, and nonetheless joins the lists of origin for Bactrocera and for Apriona. An operator who wants to understand why the regime for a consignment has changed will not find the answer in the act.
- The molecular test shifts the cost onto the exporter and, through the price, onto the buyer. The third option in points 22.1, 22.2, 11.1 and 11.2 calls for a representative sample to be tested by appropriate molecular methods. The act does not say which method, who validates it or how large the sample must be, so the margin of interpretation stays with the national plant protection organisation of the country of origin.
- In the Romanian version, the numbering of the new point in Annex XIII departs from the convention of the act. Point 11 of the Annex introduces an entry numbered „2,1.”, with a comma, although Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 uses the full stop as its separator throughout, from 4.1 to 77.74. The same comma appears in the cross-reference in point 4(p), which in Romanian reads „punctele 72,1, 72,2 și 72,3”. The English text of the Official Journal writes both with a full stop, so the slip is confined to the Romanian version, which is nonetheless the version a Romanian case file quotes. The meaning can be worked out, but a provision cited in a file is cited by its exact number.
Practical advice
- Check first whether your own obligation is one of the deferred ones. Open the second paragraph of Article 2 and look in it for the letter and the subpoint that concern you. If they are not on the list, the requirement applies from 5 May 2026, and a consignment that crossed the border in August without the document required is not covered by the 15 October deadline.
- If you import oak or chestnut wood from Canada, Türkiye or the United States, ask the exporter in writing, before the contract, which option it will use. The four alternatives in point 116 of Annex VII do not cost the same: a pest free area requires nothing extra in production, debarking with 2.5 cm of sapwood changes the yield of the material, and heat treatment at 56 °C and irradiation at 1 kGy both call for an approved facility. Heat treatment has to be indicated on the phytosanitary certificate.
- If you bring in oak staves or coopers' products, ask for the evidence of heat treatment at 176 °C for 20 minutes and keep it on file. That is what decides whether the goods fall within the exemption in point 116 of Annex VII. On the certificate side, until the European Commission clarifies matters, take the prudent route and ask for a phytosanitary certificate, for the reasons set out in the section on errors.
- If you sell or move ginger and turmeric within the Union, find out whether the source lies inside a demarcated area. The plant passport under the new entry in Annex XIII is required only for rhizomes coming from the infested zone of a demarcated area established under Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031. The list of demarcated areas is kept by the competent authority of the Member State where the outbreak was confirmed, so the information is to be asked for at source, not assumed.
- If you are not yet entered in the register of professional operators, do it before the first consignment that requires a passport. Article 65 of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 obliges the competent authority to keep the register, and Article 84(1) provides that plant passports are issued by authorised operators under the supervision of the authority. Authorisation is obtained separately, under the conditions of Article 89, and calls both for the knowledge needed for the examinations provided for in Article 87 and for traceability systems. In Romania the register and the authorisation sit with the National Phytosanitary Authority (ANF), subordinated to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the application is filed with the phytosanitary office of the county where you operate: the county offices and the border control posts are the structures through which the authority carries out checks on import and inland, under Article 7(4) of Government Decision no. 1.636/2024.
- If you bring in second-hand agricultural or forestry machinery, check the exact CN code, not the category. The new entry in Annex XI, Part A works by codes, and the pedestrian-controlled tractor, the track-laying tractor and some of the harvesting machinery only came in on 15 October 2026. The country of dispatch matters: the exemption remains only for Switzerland.
- If you export walnut, blueberry or kiwifruit plants, the new requirement does not concern you, but its mirror image may. Point 42.1 of Annex VII applies to introduction into the Union from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. A Romanian nursery that buys planting material from a supplier who brings it in from there does enter the chain, and has to ask for the document further down the line.
Frequently asked questions
Was the Regulation published on 15 October 2026?
What does Romania have to do for the act to take effect?
Does ginger from the shop need a plant passport from 15 October 2026?
Has Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum been taken off the list?
Do the three new pests have anything to do with Romania?
Is there any priority pest or regulated non-quarantine pest among the changes?
What happens to a consignment already in transit on 15 October 2026?
Errors and inconsistencies in the published text
- The Annex, point 8(g)(iv)(B), set against the Quercus L. entry already present in point 12 of Annex XI, Part A and against the new point 116 of Annex VII. The new entry is headed „Quercus and Castanea, including wood which has not kept its natural round surface”, with no exception in the heading, and lists among its codes „ex 4416 00 00”, that is, casks, vats, tubs, other coopers' products and staves. The entry already in place for Quercus L., which the act does not amend, covers the same codes for Canada, the United States of America and Vietnam, but „with the exception of wood which corresponds to the description of CN code 4416 00 00 and where there is documented evidence that the wood has been produced or manufactured using heat treatment to achieve a minimum temperature of 176 °C for 20 minutes”. The same exemption is kept, with the same parameters, in the new point 116 of Annex VII, which expressly leaves coopers' products and stave wood so heat treated outside its requirements. The result: for oak staves from Canada or the United States, heat treated at 176 °C for 20 minutes, one and the same point 12 of Annex XI, Part A holds an entry that exempts them from a phytosanitary certificate and an entry that requires one, while Annex VII leaves them with no substantive requirement. The importer cannot establish from the text whether a certificate is needed, and the exemption stays in force for Vietnam, where there is no new entry. If the intention was for the exemption to apply to wood covered by Agrilus bilineatus as well, it has to be reproduced in the heading of the new entry; if the intention was the opposite, the exemption in the old entry has to be removed for Canada and the United States.
Editorial analysis
On substance this is a well-built act. For Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum it closes, in a single move, all four doors through which a bacterium arrives and spreads: the list in Annex II, the entry requirements in Annex VII, the movement requirements in Annex VIII and the plant passport in Annex XIII. For Agrilus bilineatus it does the same across three distinct materials, the plant, the wood and the bark, and it leaves the operator four technical alternatives instead of imposing one. What is harder to see, and matters more to the Romanian reader, is that the six-month breathing space was neither granted evenly nor explained in full.
The arithmetic shows the asymmetry. From publication, 15 April 2026, to the application of the deferred points, 15 October 2026, there are 183 days, and from entry into force, 5 May 2026, there are 163. Recital (19) justifies the breathing space for four categories: the listing of the new quarantine pests, the special requirements attached to them, the amendment of the CN codes in Annex XI, Part A and the revisions related to Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum. Article 2, however, also defers the addition of Kazakhstan to the country lists, in point 8(c), (f)(i) and (g)(ii), as well as in point 4(e) and (f). That is a measure which recital (11) grounds in „recent” outbreaks of Agrilus planipennis near the border of Kazakhstan with Russia, that is, in urgency. The urgency has in fact been granted 183 days of postponement, without any recital explaining why.
The second observation calls for a comparison with the earlier form of the regulation being amended. Point 4(p) and (q) rewrite, for Bactrocera and for Apriona, lists of more than forty countries each. Recitals (9) and (10) announce two additions, Israel and Taiwan, on the ground of erroneous omission. The new lists also contain Saudi Arabia, and a check against the consolidated text of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 shows that this state appeared in no list of origin in the regulation. Extending an obligation geographically is not a drafting matter: it changes the regime for consignments of peppers, aubergines, guavas and timber. When such an extension is tucked into the replacement of a long list and is not announced in the recitals, the operator has no signal that it needs to read again.
The third observation has to do with how the act reads in practice. The second paragraph of Article 2 splits point 8(f)(ii) between the two entries it adds: (A), bark of Juglans and Pterocarya from the United States, applies from 5 May 2026, while (B), bark of Quercus suber from Türkiye, applies from 15 October 2026. The same cut runs through letter (g)(iv). For someone opening Annex XI to see what is needed at customs, the two entries sit side by side, identical in form, with no mark of the different dates. The consolidated version will tell them apart through its amendment notes, but the act itself does not.
What should be changed
- The exemption for heat-treated coopers' products should be reproduced in the new entry in point 12 of Annex XI, Part A. Without it, a cooperage bringing in American oak staves with evidence of treatment at 176 °C has, within the same point of the same annex, an entry that exempts it and an entry that requires a certificate, while the substantive requirement in Annex VII does not apply to it. A corrigendum of two lines would settle the matter for the whole stave timber trade.
- Saudi Arabia should either get a recital of its own or be taken out of the lists in point 4(p) and (q). If the addition is intended, the reason should be written down, so that any operator learns from the act why the regime for a consignment from that country has changed. If it is not intended, a corrigendum would bring the lists back to their earlier forty-three entries, plus the Israel and Taiwan announced in the recitals.
- The breathing space for the addition of Kazakhstan should be explained, or the addition should apply immediately. A measure justified by recent outbreaks near a border does not sit naturally with a postponement of 183 days. Either recital (19) should be widened to cover this category as well, or those points should be left to apply from 5 May 2026, like the rest of the act. The practical difference is a whole import season of ash from Kazakhstan.
- The different dates should be marked in the body of the entries added, not only in Article 2. When a single subpoint adds two entries with different dates of application, a parenthetical note in the heading of the entry, of the kind already used for cross-references, would spare operators and control authorities a reading of the final article for every new entry.
- The numbering in point 11 and the cross-reference in point 4(p) should be aligned, in the Romanian version of the regulation, with the convention of the act being amended. The new entry in Annex XIII appears there as „2,1.” and the cross-reference as „punctele 72,1, 72,2 și 72,3”, although Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 uses the full stop as its separator in every entry of its annexes, and the English text writes both with a full stop. A provision cited in a control is cited by its exact number.
- The Romanian official title should be corrected. In the Romanian version the title of the act reads „circulația pe teritoriului Uniunii”, with a mistaken case ending, whereas recital (2) and every other occurrence in the same text read „circulația pe teritoriul Uniunii”. The title is the form that every later reference copies, control files included, so it is worth putting right even though it changes nothing in the meaning of the rule.
Original text of the legal act
The text below is reproduced in Romanian, the official form of publication.
The full text, as published in the Official Gazette of Romania
Official Journal of the European Union, L series, of 15 April 2026 28 pages PDF, 813 KB
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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations, consult a licensed attorney or tax advisor.