According to the EU plant health regulation, all Member States must carry out annual surveys for each priority pest. Annual surveys are also required for many emergency measure pests. However, surveys are not required for pests for which it is unequivocally concluded that they cannot become established or spread in the Member State due to unsuitable ecoclimatic conditions or the absence of host plants.

For some of the priority and emergency measures pests, the likelihood of establishment in Finland or parts of Finland is currently highly uncertain due to potentially unsuitable ecoclimatic conditions. The Risk Assessment Unit of the Finnish Food Authority was requested to assess the suitability of the present Finnish climate for the establishment of these pests.

This report presents our assessment of the suitability of the present Finnish climate for the establishment of Fusarium circinatum Nirenberg & O’Donnell, the causal agent of pine pitch canker and damping-off of pine seedlings, and which is regulated in the EU by emergency control measures