98/738/EC: Commission Decision of 9 December 1998 amending Decision 95/506/EC authorising Member States temporarily to take additional measures against the dissemination of Pseudomonas solanacearum (Smith) Smith as regards the Kingdom of the Netherlands (notified under document number C(1998) 3944)
Date: 1998-12-09
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Netherlands, disease prevention, plant disease, plant health control, plant health legislation, potato

L 354/62

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

30. 12. 98

II

(Acts whose publication is not obligatory)

COMMISSION

COMMISSION DECISION

of 9 December 1998

amending Decision 95/506/EC authorising Member States temporarily to take
additional measures against the dissemination of Pseudomonas solanacearum
(Smith) Smith as regards the Kingdom of the Netherlands

(notified under document number C(1998) 3944)

(98/738/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Directive 77/93/EEC of 21
December 1976 on protective measures against the intro-
duction into the Community of organisms harmful to
plants or plant products and against their spread within
the Community (1), as last amended by Directive 98/2/
EC (2), and in particular Article 15(3) thereof,

Whereas the harmful organism Pseudomonas solana-
cearum (Smith) Smith is now known as Ralstonia sola-
nacearum (Smith) Yabuuchi et al.; however Pseudomonas
solanacearum (Smith) Smith is a synonym of Ralstonia
solanacearum (Smith) Yabuuchi et al. and both names are
used in scientific literature and in current Community
legislation;

Whereas, where a Member State considers that there is an
imminent danger of the introduction into its territory of
Pseudomonas solanacearum (Smith) Smith, the cause of
potato brown rot, from another Member State, it may
temporarily take any additional measures which it deems
necessary, as long as the Commission has not adopted
such measures;

Whereas the Kingdom of the Netherlands informed the
other Member States and the Commission on 3 October
1995 that some samples of potatoes originating in that

(1) OJ L 26, 31. 1. 1977, p. 20.
(2) OJ L 15, 21. 1. 1998, p. 34.

country were identified as infected by Pseudomonas sola-
nacearum; whereas complementary reports supplied by
the Netherlands indicated that more samples of the 1995
potato production including seed potatoes, showed a
confirmed infection by Pseudomonas
solanacearum;
whereas therefore the Commission adopted Decision 95/
506/EC of 24 November 1995 authorising Member States
the
temporarily to take additional measures against
dissemination of Pseudomonas
solanacearum (Smith)
Smith as regards the Kingdom of the Netherlands (3);
whereas Decison 95/506/EC was amended by Decisions
96/599/EC (4) and 97/649/EC (5) and extended by a
limited period;

Whereas the Kingdom of the Netherlands informed the
other Member States and the Commission on 28 August
1998 that in the summer of 1998, samples of potatoes
destined for starch production originating in that country
solana-
were identified as infected by Pseudomonas
cearum; whereas however, it was not possible to defin-
itively identify the source of contamination and whereas
also the Community control regime on Pseudomonas
solanacearum established by Council Directive 98/57/
it is
is not yet effective in the Member States,
EC (6)
justified to further maintain additional measures with
regard to this situation; whereas accordingly Decision 95/
506/EC should be extended for a further limited period;

(3) OJ L 291, 6. 12. 1995, p. 48.
(4) OJ L 265, 18. 10. 1996, p. 18.
(5) OJ L 274, 7. 10. 1997, p. 14.
(6) OJ L 235, 21. 8. 1998, p. 1.

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L 354/63

Whereas the measures provided for in this Decision are in
accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee
on Plant Health,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

2. in Article 3(1), last subparagraph, the reference to ‘1

May 1998' shall be replaced by ‘1 May 1999';

3. in Article 3(3), the references to ‘15 December 1997'
and ‘1997' shall be replaced by ‘15 December 1998'
and ‘1998' respectively.

Article 2

Article 1

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Decision 95/506/EC is hereby amended as follows:

1. in Article 1(1), the words ‘potatoes of the 1997 crop,
until 30 June 1998 for seed potatoes and until 30
September 1998 for other potatoes' shall be replaced
by the words ‘potatoes of the 1998 crop, until 20
August 1999';

Done at Brussels, 9 December 1998.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission