COMMISSION DIRECTIVE 2004/102/EC
of 5 October 2004
amending Annexes II, III, IV and V to Council Directive 2000/29/EC on protective measures against the introduction into the Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products and against their spread within the Community
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Directive 2000/29/EC of 8 May 2000 on protective measures against the introduction into the Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products and against their spread within the Community (1), and in particular points (c) and (d) of the second paragraph of Article 14 thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
Directive 2000/29/EC stipulates that wood of conifers (Coniferales), except that of Thuja L., in the form of packing cases, crates, drums, pallets, box pallets or other load boards, dunnage, spacers and bearers including that which has not kept its natural round surface, originating in Canada, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the USA shall be stripped of its bark, and shall be free from grub holes larger than 3 mm across, and shall have a moisture content expressed as a percentage of dry matter, of less than 20 %, achieved at the time of manufacture.
(2)
The FAO International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures No 15 on Guidelines for regulating wood packaging material in international trade (2) contains phytosanitary measures in respect of movement of wood packaging material in the form of packing cases, crates, drums, pallets, load boards, pallet collars and dunnage, aiming at reducing the risk of introduction and/or spread of quarantine pests associated with wood packaging material, made of coniferous and non-coniferous raw wood, in use in international trade. The relevant provisions of Directive 2000/29/EC on wood packaging material should be brought in line with the provisions of the said Guidelines.
(3)
The provisions for wood originating in countries where Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner et Bührer) Nickle et al. is known to occur should be modified as new technical treatments against this pathogen became available.
(4)
The provisions for wood originating in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkey and other third countries should be improved and adjusted to better protect the Community against the introduction of wood affecting harmful organisms and to take into account new technical treatments, which recently became available against wood affecting harmful organisms.
(5)
These improved measures should include the use of a ‘phytosanitary certificate’ for wood products originating in third countries.
(6)
The provisions as regards Cryphonectria parasitica (Murrill.) Barr. should be modified to take into account the updated information on its presence in the Community and its risk of introduction into and spread within the Community with wood and isolated bark of Castanea Mill., by restricting them to protected zones in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom where it has been determined that this organism is not present.
(7)
The provisions as regards wood products which must be subjected to a plant health inspection in the country of origin or the consignor country, if originating outside the Community, before being permitted to enter the Community or moved within the Community, should be modified in the light of the changes made to the technical requirements on such wood and changes in the tariff and statistical nomenclature and the Common Customs Tariff.
(8)
The provisions as regards the risk of introduction of harmful organisms with isolated bark of conifers (Coniferales) originating in certain third countries should be modified, as new information became available on treatment of such isolated bark, obviating the above risk.
(9)
The harmful organism Ceratocystis virescens (Davidson) Moreau is likely to become the generally accepted name for the organism Ceratocystis coerulescens (Münch) Bakshi.
(10)
The relevant annexes to Directive 2000/29/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.
(11)
The measures provided for in this Directive are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plant Health,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
Article 1
Annexes II, III, IV and V to Directive 2000/29/EC are amended in accordance with the Annex to this Directive.
Article 2
1. Member States shall adopt and publish by 28 February 2005 at the latest, the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive. They shall forthwith communicate to the Commission the text of those provisions and a correlation table between those provisions and this Directive.
They shall apply those provisions from 1 March 2005.
When Member States adopt those provisions, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such a reference on the occasion of their official publication. Member States shall determine how such reference is to be made.
2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main provisions of national law, which they adopt in the field governed by this Directive.
Article 3
This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Article 4
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
Done at Brussels, 5 October 2004.