30 June 2026
The final report recommends a range of risk management measures combined with operational systems, and/or a period of post-entry quarantine in Australia prior to release, to ensure biosecurity standards are met.
The Xylella emergency measures will remain in place until all import conditions are finalised and published on BICON.
The final report takes into account comments received from stakeholders on the draft report.
We announced the commencement of this pest risk analysis (PRA) on 2 August 2018 (via Biosecurity Advice 2018-18) and released the draft report for public consultation on 16 December 2022 (via Biosecurity Advice 2022-P12). Comments from stakeholders on the draft report and throughout the risk analysis process were taken into consideration in preparing the final report.
Xylella is considered the number one pest threat to Australian horticultural and agricultural industries, and the environment. No Xylella species is known to occur in Australia and no confirmed Xylella vectoring insects are present in Australia.
Australia currently has emergency measures in place to reduce the risk of Xylella species entering the country.
We initiated the PRA to:
- assess the biosecurity risk of Xylella species
- evaluate the effectiveness of the current emergency measures
- recommend ongoing measures that will manage the biosecurity risks to achieve Australia’s appropriate level of protection (ALOP).
This final report presents a pest risk assessment for Xylella species arriving in Australia on nursery stock and seeds for sowing pathways.
The final report recommends a range of risk management measures combined with operational systems, and/or a period of post-entry quarantine in Australia prior to release, to ensure biosecurity standards are met. The final report confirms components of the emergency measures to remain in place. It also recommends a number of enhancements to offshore testing and production pathways to better manage risks. These include:
- confirmation of genus‑level regulation (rather than family‑level) which reduces the number of affected plant hosts
- strengthened offshore testing requirements, including a shift from mother tissue culture testing to mother plant testing
- updated diagnostic protocols and enhanced assurance activities to support confidence in offshore systems.
The emergency measures will remain in place until import conditions are implemented and published on BICON.
Implementation of the updated Xylella import conditions will occur in phases:
- From 30 June 2026, offshore testing laboratories can apply to be authorised to conduct Xylella testing of host plants exported to Australia.
- Revised import conditions will come into effect from 20 January 2027. The conditions will enhance testing and certification requirements for tissue culture imports from high-risk countries in line with PRA recommendations.
- To minimise disruption to supply chains, during a transition period from 20 January 2027 to 28 April 2028, we will accept testing of EITHER mother tissue culture OR mother plants. However, during this period all testing must comply with the updated testing protocols and certification requirements.
- From 28 April 2028, we will only accept testing of mother plants.
The final report and information about the risk analysis process are available on our Xylella bacterial pathogens page.
We invite stakeholders to contribute scientific information relevant to this risk analysis at any time by emailing plantstakeholders@aff.gov.au.
We encourage stakeholders interested in receiving information and updates on biosecurity risk analyses to subscribe via our online subscription service. By subscribing to ‘Biosecurity Risk Analysis Plant’, you will receive Biosecurity Advices and other notifications relating to plant biosecurity policy.
Dr Allison Jones
A/g First Assistant Secretary
Biosecurity Plant and Science Services Division
Telephone: 1800 900 090 (when prompted select option 1, then option 1)
Email: imports@aff.gov.au