licence is needed for these organisms
through the Department of the Environment;
the procedure for granting licences is still
under review. For Germany also, procedures
are under review; officially, non-indigenous
natural enemies cannot be introduced.
Denmark enforced a new Act on the
Protection of the Environment, and releases
of alien organisms (including biological con-
trol agents) are no longer permitted. Some
European countries (e.g. Belgium) do not
have any regulation to prevent the import
and release of exotic arthropods.
Harmonization within the EU is under dis-
cussion, and there are efforts to include the
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Code of Conduct for the Importation and
Release of Biological Control Agents into the
EU (Klingauf, 1995), but in our opinion the
FAO Code of Conduct and the guidelines
developed by the European Plant Protection
Organization (EPPO) based on the FAO
Code of Conduct are insufficiently specific
(FAO, 1996; EPPO, 1998, and in preparation).
In the USA, the Plant Protection and
Quarantine division of the Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service of the US
Department of Agriculture demands an envi-
ronmental assessment before a permit of
introduction is released. More than 30 of these
environmental assessments have been
designed in the past 10 years. Examples are
those for Encarsiaand Eretmocerusspp. (see
Royer, 1995). Environmental assessments
have been issued for five microorganisms and
30 macroorganisms to be used as biological
control agents for the control of nine species
of weeds and 24 species of insects. When the
release of an exotic biological control agent is
expected not to result in negative effects, a
finding of no significant impact (FONSI) is
issued, based on an extensive review of the
literature of the pest, pest-control methods
and the natural enemies and after consulta-
tion with experts. The FONSI is supported by:
(i) findings about the limited host range of the
organism to be introduced; (ii) information on
no negative effect on other natural enemies;
(iii) data on potential effects on endangered
and non-target species (although often lim-
ited); and (iv) evidence of no significant nega-
tive environmental impact.
A different procedure is followed by the
International Institute of Biological Control
(previously IIBC, currently CABI Bioscience)
in the UK and associated countries. For new
imports and releases of exotic organisms,
this institute voluntarily prepares a dossier
according to the FAO code of conduct. A
dossier contains information on the pest and
natural enemy, and an assessment of poten-
tial risks: (i) to non-target organisms; (ii) to
human and animal health; (iii) to those han-
dling the natural enemies; and (iv) of conta-
minants, and procedures for eliminating
contaminants (for an example of such a
dossier, see Cross and Noyes, 1995).
For a more detailed overview of existing
regulations, including references, we refer
the reader to OECD (2003).A General Framework for Regulation of
the Import and Release of Biological
Control Agents
Available codes of conduct and guidelines
produced by various organizations and
countries (e.g. FAO, EPPO, North American
Plant Protection Organization, CAB
International, Austria, Australia, the Czech
Republic, Japan, Hungary, Norway, Sweden,
Switzerland and New Zealand) were stud-
ied. However, most guidelines (with the
exception of those from New Zealand
(Barratt et al., 1999) and Australia (Paton,
1992)) are not very specific concerning crite-
ria and methodology, so participants in the
EU-ERBIC project decided to develop more
specific guidelines, including methodology
and criteria (van Lenteren et al., 2003).
Regulation procedures for biological control
agents will – like those for chemical pesti-
cides – be characterized by questions con-
cerning four issues:1.Characterization and identification of bio-
control agent (classical methods or molecular
techniques, voucher specimens to be
deposited, DNA fingerprinting in the case of
taxonomic problems).
2.Health risks (for arthropod natural ene-
mies these will be much easier to determine
than for chemical agents).194 J.C. van Lenteren et al.