Unit costs for plant health surveillance activities co-funding under the Single Market Programme

As part of the surveillance measures under the Single Market Program (SMP) the EC co-finances sampling, testing and other activities related to plant health. While there is a methodology to reimburse these activities in the field of animal health, there is no standard cost calculation methodology for their plant health equivalents. A need for simplification of the plant health surveillance costs has been raised throughout the years with the need to move towards a more attractive and simplified scheme based on unit costs. This technical report describes the methodology developed by JRC to simplify the co-funding of the Plant Health Survey programmes based on unit costs for the sampling activities.JRC has compared existing data from EUROPHYT and Eurostat with those obtained from MS questionnaires to determine the best formula for the future plant health surveillance reimbursement submissions. A composite unit cost was calculated as the weighted sum of the three sampling activities unit costs (visual examination, sample taking and trapping). It is called the Field Inspection “FI” unit cost. It is a representative activity to reflect field visits with a standard duration irrespectively of the type of pest under examination.The Field Inspection unit costs have been set for the official personnel and for the cost of service contracts including a salary profit mark-up.The Field Inspection unit costs meet the requirements to simplify the procedure for EU co-funding of plant health sampling activities as they: i) are built on reliable and up to date statistical and economic data including three different sources (MS questionnaires, EUROPHYT and Eurostat); ii) are a representative measurement to harmonize/facilitate the reimbursement given the large variability of time spent by pest, host distribution and geographical locations; and iii) cover the most frequent consumable costs, but also allow trapping consumable costs which exceed a specific cost ceiling to be determined separately on a case by case basis.