The Expert Assessment of Biological Risks (ERB) unit works with ANSES's Risk Assessment Department (DER) to oversee the expert appraisals conducted by the Expert Committee on "Biological risks for plant health". Like the other units in the DER, the ERB unit is responsible for the scientific coordination of risk assessment work based on collective expert appraisals, calling on expert committees (CESs) and other expert groups: working groups and emergency collective expert appraisal groups (GECUs) set up within the Agency. 

The task of the ERB unit is to answer questions put to ANSES by its supervisory ministries (generally the ministries in charge of agriculture, ecology or health), by authorised bodies, or by the Agency itself.

In particular, the Agency receives requests:

• when a new pest is identified (interception at the border or incursion into France, or establishment of a pest in a neighbouring country),
• to identify a new pathway of entry for a pest (via goods, for example),
• concerning revision of the regulations (with a view to updating the list of regulated pests or requesting an opinion on European implementing decisions),
• to assess the effectiveness and impact of management methods for plant diseases, pests or invasive weeds.

Expert appraisal activities

The ERB unit carries out expert appraisals in accordance with international standards, drawing on the scientific literature and available data (biological, economic, etc.) on pests and plant movements, in order to conduct pest risk analyses. 

These consist in evaluating the overall risk associated with these pests by assessing the probability of their entry, establishment and spread in the threatened area, and their potential impact (economic, environmental and social). Recommendations for management measures may then be made if the level of risk is deemed unacceptable. 

The expert appraisal results assist the national and international managing authorities in determining, among other things, whether a pest should be regulated or deregulated, and in defining the types of plant protection measures that may need to be taken.

Research activities

Between 2015 and 2016, the ERB unit developed the Biological Organisms data Retrieval and Ranking system (BiOR²) tool to rank pests according to the risk they pose for a given area. It is based on scientific data (pathosystems), economic data (imports or exports) and other types of data (agricultural – areas under cultivation, regulations, etc.), as well as software interfaces to exploit the data according to pest risk analysis principles and a multi-criteria analysis tool.

The ERB unit has also forged partnerships with national and European bodies such as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and national agencies from other European Union Member States, as part of scientific projects and training programmes. The ERB unit is currently involved in the "Horizon Scanning for Plant Health" project, whose aim is to inform the European Commission and EU Member States, via a monthly bulletin, of new emerging threats to plants within Europe. The project also aims to build a community of users (risk managers, researchers, risk assessors) around the tools developed for the project and the health monitoring results obtained.