Article 22 of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 establishes the obligations for Member States to carry out risk-based surveys for the presence of Union quarantine pests and signs and symptoms of any pest subject to the measures referred to in Article 29 or to measures adopted pursuant to Article 30(1), in areas where the pests concerned were not known to be present, and to report to the Commission and the other Member States each year the results of these surveys.

Likewise, Article 24 of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 establishes the obligation for Member States to carry out annually the surveys of priority pests as set out in Article 22(1) and 22(2).

Upon a request of the Commission, the European Food Safety Authority (‘the Authority’) has developed a toolkit for plant pest surveillance, with pest survey cards for Union quarantine pests and specific guidelines for a statistically sound and risk-based pest survey approach and specific information on surveys for specific pests. The aim of that toolkit is to assist Member States in survey designing and implementation to ensure a coherent approach across the Union territory.

To ensure a uniform presentation of Member States’ results of surveys, a standard format of the annual report should be adopted for all relevant pests, including instructions how to fill them in. That format should be based on the elements listed in Article 22(2) of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 and on the applicable survey requirements set out by the implementing acts adopted pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 for specific pests, as well as on the respective pest survey cards and, where appropriate, specific guidelines, developed by the Authority for that purpose. In order to ensure a comprehensive approach, the format should cover the surveys on Union quarantine pests and pests subject to the measures of Articles 29 and 30 of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031, in those areas where the pests are not known to be present in the Union.

However, there will be some pests for which certain implementing acts of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 will require to carry out statistically based surveys. In the case of certain pests, Member States may decide to use the statistically based approach. It is therefore appropriate to establish a specific format for the statistically based surveys, because it would suit better the presentation of the elements of such surveys.

That format of the multiannual survey programmes and the practical arrangements for the application of the elements set out in Article 23(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 to specific pest risks should be based on the experience obtained so far by the Member States with regard to the design, conduct, reporting and presentation of surveys and the Authority’s pest survey cards and, where appropriate, the guidelines for specific pests on surveillance.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee for Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,