The Panel on Plant Health performed a pest categorisation of Strawberry latent C virus (SLCV) for the European Union (EU) territory. SLCV is defined only by symptoms in strawberry indicators. It has not been characterised, is not recognised as a valid species, and reliable detection assays are unavailable. SLCV is transmitted by vegetative multiplication of infected hosts and by Chaetosiphon aphid vectors. SLCV has been reported only from USA, Canada and Japan. It is listed in Annex IAI of Directive 2000/29/EC. It infects cultivated and wild strawberries, and there is no other information on its host range. SLCV is not expected to be affected by ecoclimatic conditions wherever its hosts are present, and has the potential to establish in large parts of the EU territory. SLCV can spread through the action of its widely distributed C. fragaefolii vector and through the movement of strawberry plants for planting. However, the existence of efficient and widely adopted certification systems for strawberry constitutes a very strong limitation to SLCV spread. Although latent in many strawberry varieties, SLCV can cause significant damage, in particular when in co-infection with other strawberry viruses. However, the importance and impact of SLCV have both essentially disappeared in North America, most probably as a result of modern practices including the systematic use of certified planting materials and the use of short crop cycles. Such practices are also widely used in the EU and have broadly reduced the impact of strawberry viruses. Overall, SLCV does not have the potential to be a quarantine pest or a regulated non-quarantine pest, because it does not fulfil the following pest categorisation criteria of the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) No 11/21: clear identity of the pest (ISPM 11/21), presence in the PRA area (ISPM 21) and having a severe impact (ISPM 11)
