1999/842/EC: Commission Decision of 30 November 1999 amending Decision 96/301/EC and authorising Member States temporarily to take emergency measures against the dissemination of Pseudomonas solanacearum (Smith) Smith as regards Egypt (notified under document number C(1999) 3980)
Date: 1999-11-30
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Egypt, health certificate, parasitology, plant disease, plant health control, potato

L 326/68

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Official Journal of the European Communities

18. 12. 1999

COMMISSION DECISION

of 30 November 1999

amending Decision 96/301/EC and authorising Member States temporarily to take emergency
measures against the dissemination of Pseudomonas solanacearum (Smith) Smith as regards Egypt

(notified under document number C(1999) 3980)

(1999/842/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 introduction into the
Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products
their spread within the Community (1), as last
and against
amended by Commission Directive 1999/53/EC (2), and in
particular Article 15(3) thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

where a Member State considers that there is an immi-
nent danger of the introduction into its territory of
Pseudomonas solanacearum (Smith) Smith, the cause of
potato brown rot, from a third country, it may tempor-
arily take any additional measures necessary to protect
itself from that danger;

in 1996, on the basis of continued interceptions of
Pseudomonas
solanacearum (Smith) Smith in potatoes
originating in Egypt, several Member States — France,
Finland, Spain and Denmark — adopted measures to
implement a ban on potatoes originating in Egypt, with
a view to ensuring more efficient protection against the
introduction of Pseudomonas solanacearum (Smith) Smith
from Egypt into their respective territories;

the Commission, by Decision 96/301/EC (3), authorised
Member States temporarily to take additional measures
against the dissemination of Pseudomonas solanacearum
(Smith) Smith as regards Egypt; whereas furthermore as
a result of considerable numbers of
interceptions of
Pseudomonas solanacearum (Smith) Smith on imports of
potatoes originating in Egypt during the import season
1996/1997, Decision 96/301/EC was amended and
further
strengthened by Commission Decision 98/
105/EC (4) and the import into the Community of pota-
toes originating in Egypt was banned unless the emer-
gency measures against
the dissemination of Pseudo-
monas solanacearum (Smith) Smith as laid down in the
Annex to the said Decision were complied with;

(4)

during the 1997/1998 import season, Finland and
Denmark, on the basis of continued interceptions of
solanacearum (Smith) Smith in potatoes
Pseudomonas

(1) OJ L 26, 31.1.1977, p. 20.
(2) OJ L 142, 5.6.1999, p. 29.
(3) OJ L 115, 9.5.1996, p. 47.
(4) OJ L 25, 31.1.1998, p. 101.

originating in Egypt adopted on 2 April 1998 and 9
May 1998 respectively measures to implement a ban on
potatoes originating in Egypt, with a view to ensuring
more efficient protection against
the introduction of
Pseudomonas solanacearum (Smith) Smith from Egypt into
Finland and Denmark;

therefore it has become apparent that the strengthened
measures laid down in Decision 98/105/EC are not suffi-
cient to prevent the entry of Pseudomonas solanacearum
(Smith) Smith or have not been complied with; whereas,
in particular, the operation of a ‘qualified area’, in which
no outbreak of Pseudomonas solanacearum (Smith) Smith
has occurred, seems to be insufficient to prevent such a
risk of entry and should be altered;

therefore the Commission, by Decision 98/503/EC (5),
authorised Member States temporarily to take emer-
gency measures against
the dissemination of Pseudo-
solanacearum (Smith) Smith as regards Egypt,
monas
based on the concept of ‘pest-free area’ in which Pseudo-
monas solanacearum (Smith) Smith is known not to occur,
as established by official surveys and monitoring proced-
ures in accordance with the ‘FAO International Standard
for Phytosanitary Measures Part 4: Pest Surveillance —
Requirements for the Establishment of Pest-Free Areas’;

during the import season 1998/1999 there have been
again a number of interceptions of Pseudomonas solana-
cearum (Smith) Smith on imports of potatoes originating
in Egypt;

as a consequence of the above interceptions, and in
accordance with the provisions of Decision 98/503/EC,
the entry into the territory of the Community of tubers
of Solanum tuberosum L. originating in Egypt has been
prohibited on 3 April 1999 and remained prohibited
during the rest of the import season 1998/1999, and an
assessment of the situation has been made;

Egypt
informed the Commission that administrative
measures had been strengthened to control the processes
of harvesting, handling and packing of potatoes by the
Egyptian central administration for plant quarantine.
Moreover Egypt confirmed that improved measures are
taken against exporters who violate Egyptian instruc-
tions on the export of potatoes destined to the EU;

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

(5) OJ L 225, 12.8.1998, p. 34.

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they will
Egypt also informed the Commission that
apply a strict control system to ensure and maintain
freedom within ‘approved pest-free areas’
from the
above pathogen;

orignate in Egypt shall be permitted from the “pest-free
areas” referred to in paragraph 2, provided that the meas-
ures applicable to tubers grown in these areas and laid
down in the Annex of this Decision, are complied with.

(10)

(11)

(12)

(13)

(14)

(15)

therefore, it should be possible for the Commisison to
re-establish ‘pest-free areas’ which have been approved
in Egypt in accordance with the said FAO International
Standard;

the Commission will ensure that Egypt makes available
all technical
information in relation to surveying and
monitoring for the approval of such ‘pest-free areas’ in
accordance with the said FAO International Standard in
order to enable the Commission to carry out the neces-
sary assessment for its aforesaid action; whereas that
technical
information shall be sufficiently detailed to
give evidence that the specific risk factors both in the
delta and in the desert region are sufficiently addressed
while establishing the approved PFAs in Egypt;

in the import

the effects of the emergency measures will be assessed
season 1999/2000, and
continually,
whereas if it is established that the conditions laid down
in this Decision have not been complied with,
the
consequences should be specified;

the official testing for latent infection with Pseudomonas
solanacearum (Smith) Smith should be carried out
in
accordance with the Community test scheme recently
laid down in Council Directive 98/57/EC (1) on the
control of Ralstonia solanacearum (Smith) Yabuuchi et al.;

it is necessary to clarify the provision of point 5 of the
Annex to the Decision in order to indicate that the
holding notice refers to the relevant ‘approved pest-free
area’;

(16)

the measures provided for in this Decision are in accord-
ance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on
plant health (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Committee’),

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

2.
The Commission establishes whether “pest-free areas”
have been approved in Egypt for the import season 1999/
2000 in accordance with the “FAO International Standard
for Phytosanitary Measures Part 4: Pest Surveillance —
Requirements for the Establishment of Pest-Free Areas”, in
particular point 2.3 thereof, and compiles a “list of
approved pest-free areas”, including identification details of
the fields located in the above “approved pest-free areas”.
The Commission shall convey such a list to the Committee
and to the Member States.’

2. In Article 1b,

‘1998/1999’

is replaced by ‘1999/2000.’

3. In Article 2, ‘30 Augustu 1999’ is replaced by ‘30 August

2000.’

4. In Article 3, ‘Article 1’ is replaced by ‘Article 1, 1a and 1b.’

5. In Article 4,

‘30 September 1999’

is replaced by ‘30

September 2000.’

6. The text in point 1(c), first indent of the Annex to the

Decision,

is replaced by the following:

‘— grown from potatoes, either directly of Community
origin or once grown from such potatoes, produced in
an approved “pest-free area” as established under
Article 1a of this Decision and which have been offi-
cially tested for latent infection, immediately prior to
planting in accordance with the Community test
scheme as laid down in Directive 98/57/EC, and found
free from Pseudomonas solanacearum (Smith) Smith in
such testing.’

7. The text in point 1(c), third indent of the Annex to the
Decision, ‘1998/1999’ is replaced by ‘1999/2000’ and ‘1
December 1998’

is replaced by ‘1 December 1999’.

Decision 96/301/EC is hereby amended as follows:

1. The text of Article 1a is replaced by the following:

‘Article 1a

1.
By way of derogation to Article 1, for the import
season 1999/2000, the entry into the territory of the
tubers of Solanum tuberosum L. which
Community of

(1) OJ L 235, 21.8.1998, p. 1.

8. The text in point 1(c), fifth indent of the Annex to the

Decision is replaced by the following:

‘— officially tested for latent infection on samples taken
from each consignment; during the export season at
least one sample per area as specified in (a) and repre-
sented in the consignment must be taken, but in any
case at least five samples must be taken and submitted
for
in accordance with the
Community test scheme as laid down in Directive
98/57/EC, and found free from Pseudomonas solana-
cearum (Smith) Smith in such testing.’

laboratory analysis

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9. In point 1(c), last indent of the Annex to the Decision, ‘1

December 1998’

is replaced by ‘1 December 1999’.

10. In point 5 of the Annex to the Decision, the second

sentence is replaced by the following:

‘The list of approved pest-free areas shall be adjusted by
the Commission according to these results and to the
findings made under 2 and 3;
in relation to a suspect
notification made under 4 the list of “approved pest-free
areas” shall be adjusted with an indication of a holding
notice on further exports from the relevant approved pest-
free area until confirmation or refutation of the suspect
finding of Pseudomonas solanacearum (Smith) Smith.’

Article 2

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 30 November 1999.

For the Commission

David BYRNE

Member of the Commission