scope:

This document defines: - the general principles for deployment and validation of the analyses cited; - guidelines to the minimum requirements and performance criteria for the methods used, designed to assure that different laboratories yield reliable, comparable and reproducible results. This document specifies and illustrates the criteria governing deployment of the methods for conducting tests for the detection and identification of pathogenic and destructive organisms in plants, including regulated or quarantine pests (for example, bacteria, viruses, fungi, insects, nematodes, etc.). The methods described are methods used in molecular biology, in particular PCR and its variants. This document applies to various different matrices, seeds, plants, plants parts, derived products and industrial foodstuffs, fertilizer materials, substrates, sewage sludge, and pathogenic and destructive organisms in plants themselves. When evaluating the entire agricultural products to be tested, statistically appropriate sampling method should be applied.