Coordination and collaboration between reference collections of plant pests and diseases for EU plant health policy

International trade is increasing tremendously in recent years with a lot of import and export material going in and out of the European Union. Within this context there is also the increasing risk of importing unwanted organisms via this trade. Organisms include plant pests and pathogens, some of which may be on the quarantine list of the European Union. Also climate change may increase the ability of plant pests to survive regions other than those of their origin. Within the field of Plant Health a decline in taxonomic and phytosanitary experience has become eminent in the last decade; also relevant phytosanitary collections are under pressure. This will affect all members of the EU and other nations as well. To regulate and control plant pathogens there is an increasing need for efficient and reliable identification and detection tools. For their development and validation, good and well maintained collections containing relevant species are indispensable. A significant number of plant pest collections are still present within Europe but they are dispersed, widespread and of very variable quality. NPPO’s, mandated laboratories, universities and research institutes all have their own collections related to their specific work and scope. Many of these collections are connected to a single specialist. Within Europe there is a need to improve the infrastructure supporting phytosanitary important collections so as to more efficiently use the available infrastructure and improve collaboration in the field of phytosanitary infrastructure with regard to means, knowledge, expertise on taxonomy, development of detection methods and collections of phytosanitary important organisms. The main outputs to be disseminated from the project will include an inventory on characteristics of phytosanitary important collections within Europe and guidelines to improve quality standards and access and to design and build sustainable networks of reference collections