Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2003:322
Date: 2003-06-03
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;Plant health legislation
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: United Kingdom

SUMMARY — CASE C-140/02 
Summary of the Judgment 
Approximation of laws — Protection of plant health — Directive 77/93 — Import into 
the Community of plants originating in non-member countries and subject to special 
requirements — Special requirements which cannot be fulfilled at places other than that 
of origin — Affixing of an appropriate origin mark to plant packaging — Authorities 
empowered to issue phytosanitary certificates — Authorities of the country of origin 
(Council Directive 77/93 (as amended by Directives 91/683, 92/103 and 98/2), Annex IV, 
Part A, Section 1, items 16.1 to 16.4) 
On a proper interpretation of Directive 
77/93 on protective measures against the 
introduction into the Community of organ­
isms harmful to plants or plant products 
and against their spread within the Com­
munity, as amended, inter alia, by Direc­
tives 91/683, 92/103 and 98/2, the special 
requirement that an appropriate origin 
mark be affixed to the plants' packaging, 
laid down in item 16.1 of Annex IV, Part A, 
Section I, to that directive, can be fulfilled 
only in the country of origin of the plants 
concerned. 
In so far as the affixing of an appropriate 
origin mark enables exporters to be 
exempted from the requirements for an 
official statement in the country of origin, 
laid down in items 16.2 to 16.4, it would be 
paradoxical if such a mark, which is 
intended to certify the origin of products, 
could be issued outside the country of 
origin, after the plants have been exported. 
The simple fact that item 16.1 requires the 
mark to be affixed to the packaging con­
firms that that requirement must be fulfil­
led at the time of the initial packaging of 
the products with a view to their dispatch, 
necessarily before they are transported to a 
non-member country other than the 
country of origin. 
Furthermore, the fact that the affixing of 
the mark exempts exporters from the 
requirements for an official statement laid 
down in items 16.2 to 16.4 precludes the 
mark from being affixed by the producer of 
the plants alone, without any possible 
involvement of the authorities empowered 
to make those official statements. 
This interpretation of item 16.1 is not 
called into question by the amendments 
which Directive 98/2 made to items 16.2 
and 16.3 and which were designed to 
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ANASTASIOU AND OTHERS 
render the requirements for an official 
statement mandatory in every case, includ­
ing where the non-member country of 
origin is recognised as free from the harm­
ful organisms in question. 
The phytosanitary certificate required in 
order to bring those plants into the Com­
munity must, therefore, be issued in their 
country of origin by, or under the super­
vision of, the competent authorities of that 
country. 
(see paras 60-61, 66-67, 75, 
operative part) 
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