Call for data on: Pest occurrence points of Xylella fastidiosa and its subsp. multiplex, fastidiosa and pauca for climate suitability analysis

Published:
Deadline:
Ongoing

Background

EFSA is requested, pursuant to Article 29 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, to provide a scientific opinion. In particular, EFSA is requested to update the Scientific Opinion on the risks to plant health posed by Xylella fastidiosa in the EU territory published on 15 May 2019.

To address the mandate and model the climate suitability of Xylella fastidiosa and the subspecies pauca, fastidiosa, and multiplex, EFSA is reviewing the scientific literature to collect pest occurrence points (with geospatial coordinates) where X. fastidiosa was detected in a natural habitat associated to a plant and identified using either PCR, ELISA, Isolation or Genome Sequencing.

To ensure a comprehensive assessment, EFSA launches a public call for all potentially relevant available data (published, unpublished or newly generated data) from interested parties. EFSA will then consider the relevance of the information provided for the risk assessment. The submission of the requested information is without prejudice to the final opinion of the PLH Panel.

Overall Objective

EFSA is launching a call for expressions of interest to provide additional existing data, whether published or unpublished, relevant to the presence of Xylella fastidiosa, as defined in the background section.

Unpublished data are particularly sought.

Published data may also be considered where the author or data owner can supplement the information already available in the scientific literature, for example by providing subspecies identification or geospatial coordinates not reported in the original publication.

Specific Objective

EFSA is looking for studies, surveys, monitoring data, datasets or other documented records in which the presence of X. fastidiosa has been reported according to the criteria described in the background section.

EFSA is interested in plant-associated pest occurrence records under natural conditions, supported by one of the identification methods listed in the background section and accompanied by explicit geospatial coordinates.

Data should be identified at subspecies level where possible.

Data Sought and Data Submission Format

Submitted data should be relevant, well-documented and suitable for use in the assessment. Specifically:

  • Document the presence of X. fastidiosa in plant-associated records under natural conditions;
  • Include sufficient information to identify the location of occurrence, with latitude and longitude, in decimal degrees, ideally with at least 4 decimal places;
  • Provide subspecies identification where available;
  • Include information on the diagnostic method used and the data collection protocol;
  • Be traceable to a data source, study, survey, monitoring activity, dataset or publication.

EFSA kindly invites interested parties to submit supporting documentation and the corresponding results in tabular format, preferably Excel.

The table should include the following fields (fields marked as [required] are necessary):

  • Country
  • State/Region
  • Latitude, in decimal format, ideally with at least 4 decimal places [required]
  • Longitude, in decimal format, ideally with at least 4 decimal places [required]
  • Host, scientific name of the plant associated with Xylella[required]
  • Xylella fastidiosa subspecies, if available
  • Identification method (e.g., PCR, ELISA, genome sequencing or isolation) [required]
  • Acknowledgement, indicating the data source to be cited in the EFSA opinion [required]
  • In case the dataset originated from a published scientific article or output the full reference is also mandatory.

Records lacking the required information may not be usable for the assessment.

Should you require assistance when filling in the Excel file for analytical data/use levels or have specific questions on how to send the data, please contact RAL [at] efsa.europa.eu (RAL[at]efsa[dot]europa[dot]eu).

Deadline for Submission of Data

Interested parties and stakeholders should submit their data by 26 July 2026 complying with the information described in this call. 

Confidentiality

In order to comply with its requirements for proactive transparency, EFSA must, inter alia, make public the information on which its scientific outputs are based, as outlined in Article 38(1)(d) of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, the “General Food Law” (GFL) and Article 6(1)(i) of EFSA’s Practical Arrangements concerning transparency and confidentiality (“EFSA’s Practical Arrangements”). Information/data received in the context of the present call are subject to the afore-mentioned proactive transparency requirements insofar as they will constitute information on which scientific outputs, including scientific opinions, are based.

However, in accordance with Articles 39-39e of the GFL confidential status may be awarded to information the disclosure of which might potentially harm the information owner to a significant degree. Provided that the conditions set out in Articles 39-39e and further detailed in EFSA’s Practical Arrangements are satisfied, EFSA must not make public any information/data for which confidential treatment has been requested and duly justified pending its confidentiality assessment where urgent action is essential to protect human health, animal health or the environment.

1. Confidentiality Requests for Personal Data and CBI

If your submission includes Personal Data (e.g. name and surname, email address) or Confidential Business Information (CBI) (e.g. commercial links to producers, information revealing sourcing, market shares or business strategy, the manufacturing/production process), please:

  • Submit via Portalino both a confidential version (in which confidential information has been earmarked but remains visible) and a non-confidential version (in which confidential information has been irreversibly redacted) of the completed form.
  • Submit via Portalino a separate confidentiality request for each part of your data that you want to claim confidential, using applicable legal grounds listed below.

You may claim confidentiality provided that:

  • the information falls within the scope of the closed list of information items listed in the Annex to EFSA’s Practical Arrangements and
  • the confidentiality request is accompanied by a verifiable justification that demonstrates how the public disclosure of the information/data for which confidential status is requested would harm your interests to a significant degree.
  • When claiming confidentiality for some of the information/data, both a non-confidential (public dissemination) and a confidential version of the information/data must be submitted as indicated here. A separate confidentiality request must be submitted for each document and for each legal ground under which information is claimed confidential. A precise description of the information/data claimed confidential must be provided to enable a clear identification and the information/data claimed confidential must be earmarked in the confidential version and redacted in the non-confidential version.

For submissions which do not contain any confidential information, only a non-confidential (public dissemination) version has to be uploaded to Portalino. Additional information can be found in the User Guide on Confidentiality.

2. Portalino Registration Process

To submit data via Portalino, follow these steps:

  • Register in Connect.EFSA using this form
  • Create a profile in Portalino by sending an email to servicedesk [at] efsa.europa.eu (servicedesk[at]efsa[dot]europa[dot]eu) with the following info:
    • Scope: Call for data on pest occurrence points of Xylella fastidiosa EFSA-Q-2026-00038
    • full name, business/personal email
    • in the heading of the email please insert: Call for data on pest occurrence points of Xylella fastidiosa EFSA-Q-2026-00038

Note: Registration may take a few days, so we encourage you to start the process immediately to meet the deadline. When accessing Portalino, you will use the email and log-in info created by EFSA during the steps above (e.g. ending with “@net.efsa.europa.eu”).

SUBMISSION OF DATA

Interested business operators and/or parties should submit the information/data in electronic format exclusively via the tool Submission Builder “Portalino”.

Submission of data in any other form (email, third party e-submission platforms, etc) will not be accepted.

Information on how to use Portalino and submit confidentiality requests are available online here. Information on how to use Portalino and submit confidentiality requests is available here. Information regarding confidentiality can be found in the User Guide on Confidentiality.

Interested business operators and/or interested parties should submit the following information to EFSA via Portalino, clearly stating:

  • in the Subject of the submission: Call for data on pest occurrence points of Xylella fastidiosa EFSA-Q-2026-00038
  • The contact details (name of contact person, name of company/organisation, e-mail address and telephone number) of the person responsible for the data submission and, if applicable, the list of interested business operators and/or interested parties represented and their contact details.
  • Information on how to use Portalino is available here.

Please note that EFSA may, where legally possible, use or re-use relevant information or data (e.g., technical, toxicological data) for the assessment of the same or another substance/topic under the same or a different legal or regulatory framework from the one mentioned above.

Correspondence 

Please address any enquiries to RAL [at] efsa.europa.eu.

Documents

Call for data July 2026 Xylella fastidiosa Occurrences
Plant health