Member States shall carry out systematic official checks on specified plants being moved out of a demarcated area, or from an infected zone to a buffer zone.

Such checks shall be performed at least in the locations, including roads, airports and ports, where the host plants are moved from infected zones into buffer zones or other parts of the Union territory.

Those checks shall include a documentary check, and an identity check of the specified plants.

Those checks shall be carried out irrespective of the declared origin of the specified plants, ownership or the person or entity responsible for them.

Where those checks show that the conditions laid down in Articles 19 to 23 are not satisfied, the Member State which carried them out shall immediately destroy the non-compliant plant in situ or in a nearby location. That action shall be carried out taking all necessary precautions to avoid spreading of the specified pest, and any vectors carried by that plant, during and after removal.

Ιn case of host plants originating in areas where the specified pest is known to occur, the competent authority shall carry out an inspection, consisting of sampling and testing of the lot of the specified plants to confirm the absence of the specified pest, using a sampling scheme able to identify with at least 80 % confidence, a level of infected plants of 1 %, taking account of ISPM No 31.

Paragraph 2 shall not apply to host plants which have been grown for the entire production cycle in vitro and are transported in transparent containers under sterile conditions.