Introduction
Within SEERAD's overall strategy of helping to promote a sustainable future for agriculture and horticulture in Scotland, the primary objective in the area of plant health is to maintain Scotland's high health status. Such a key objective can only be aided by having processes in place which enable the relevant authorities to respond quickly to situations which threaten to undermine this status.
An integral part of the overall strategy is the development of contingency plans, generic and specific, to help combat outbreaks of quarantine and non-indigenous plant pests. To this end, a Generic Contingency Plan has been prepared by SEERAD to provide a framework for managing serious plant health incidents that may occur in Scotland, including the identification, control and eradication of quarantine and non-indigenous pests which may enter this country and pose a plant health risk on agro-economic or environmental grounds.