Public-Private Cooperation in Plant Health Inspections

In 2008 an evaluation of the (EU) Community Plant Health Regime (CPHR) was launched by DG SANCO with the support of the Council. Since its inception in 1977, various developments justify a comprehensive evaluation of the CPHR - largely laid down in Directive 2001/29/EC - such as the introduction of the internal market, EU enlargements, the rise in international trade; changed expectations from society and decreasing resources for public services. The evaluation of the CPHR aims a) to analyse the results of the regime; and b) to clarify which aspects of the current regime need improvement (FCEC 2010, III). On the basis of the evaluation a new proposal  is foreseen at the end of 2012.

This window of opportunity was seized by Dutch government to relax the administrative burden for the private and public sector by making use of knowledge and efforts of the private sector in plant health inspection activities and sharing responsibilities between public and private sector (Ministry of EL&I 2010).

The Dutch position on this issue followed from difficulties of applying Directive 2001/29/EC (phytosanitary directive) in the context of a delegation operation of phytosanitary inspection activities in the Netherland (see Zwaan 2012 on this Struggle with Europe). After trying to gain some room for maneuver in the implementation stage (by influencing,  and pacifying the EC) national actors decided to refocus on the EU decision making stage. This paper analyses the tactics that were pursued by Dutch government to relax the administrative burden for the private and public sector.