In November 2021 the EU commission was notified of an outbreak of the soft scale insect Toumeyella parvicornis attacking Pinus pinea on the Saint-Tropez peninsula in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of south-eastern France (Outbreak Number. 1640). This was only the second recorded outbreak of the pest in the EU to date. The previous known outbreak of this pest in Europe was in Italy in 2014 where it has since established and eradication programs by the NPPO are still ongoing, though the pest appears to be spreading. A presentation made by the Fr representatives in the November scoPAFF meeting indicated that the pest was causing significant damage to Pinus pinea. No formal PRAs for T. parvicornis have been produced to date although the UK produced a factsheet in 2016 (Malumphy and Anderson, 2016). The pest was shortlisted for a pest categorisation by EFSA for 2022.
Following a discussion of the Fr outbreak in the DAFM Emerging Plant Pest Review Working Group in December 2021 (DEPPR – WG) a rapid PRA was requested by the Forestry representatives along with a pest factsheet for possible circulation with the intention for raising awareness of the pest.