2000/246/EC: Commission Decision of 15 March 2000 authorising Member States temporarily to provide for derogations from certain provisions of Council Directive 77/93/EEC in respect of potatoes, other than potatoes intended for planting, originating in Cuba (notified under document number C(2000) 692)
Date: 2000-03-15
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Cuba, import, originating product, plant health control, potato, protection of plant life

L 77/20

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Official Journal of the European Communities

28.3.2000

COMMISSION DECISION

of 15 March 2000

authorising Member States temporarily to provide for derogations from certain provisions of
Council Directive 77/93/EEC in respect of potatoes, other than potatoes intended for planting,
originating in Cuba

(notified under document number C(2000) 692)

(2000/246/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(5)

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
and against
their spread within the Community (1), as last
amended by Directive 1999/53/EC (2), and in particular Article
14(1) thereof,

Having regard to the requests made by the Netherlands

(6)

(7)

Information supplied by Cuba and collected in that
country during a mission carried out in July 1999 by the
Food and Veterinary Office, has shown that the pota-
toes, other
intended for planting,
produced in the province Pinar del Río fulfilled the
provisions established in Decision 1999/222/EC.

than potatoes

The circumstances
obtain.

justifying the authorisation still

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

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Under the provisions of Directive 77/93/EEC, potato
tubers other than those officially certified as seed pota-
toes pursuant to other Community provisions, origin-
ating in Cuba may in principle not be introduced into
the Community because of the risk of introducing exotic
potato harmful organisms which would present a plant
health risk to the Community.

The early growing in Cuba of potatoes, other than pota-
toes intended for planting, from seed potatoes supplied
by Member States has become an established practice.
Part of the early supply of potatoes in the Community
has been ensured by imports of such material from
Cuba.

By Decisions 87/306/EEC (3), 88/223/EEC (4), 89/
152/EEC (5), 91/593/EEC (6), 93/36/EEC (7), 95/96/EC (8)
and 96/157/EC (9), the Commission authorised deroga-
tions under special technical conditions in respect of
potatoes for human consumption originating in Cuba, in
the 1987−1996 seasons, and by Decision 97/186/EC (10)
and 1999/222/EC (11) in respect of potatoes other than
potatoes intended for planting originating in Cuba in the
1997-1999 season.

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

1.
The Member States are hereby authorised to provide,
under the conditions laid down in paragraph 2, for exceptions
to Article 4(1) with regard to the prohibitions referred to in
Part A, point 12 of Annex III to Directive 77/93/EEC, for
potatoes other than potatoes intended for planting, originating
in Cuba.

In addition to the requirements laid down in Annexes I, II
2.
and IV to Directive 77/93/EEC in relation to potatoes, the
following specific conditions shall be satisfied:

(a) the potatoes shall be other than potatoes intended for

planting;

(4)

There have never been confirmed findings of harmful
organisms on samples drawn from imports pursuant to
the said Decisions.

(b) they shall either be immature potatoes,

i.e. unsuberised
potatoes with loose skin, or they shall have been treated
for the suppression of their faculty of germination;

(1) OJ L 26, 31.1.1977, p. 20.
(2) OJ L 142, 5.6.1999, p. 29.
(3) OJ L 153, 13.6.1987, p. 41.
(4) OJ L 100, 19.4.1988, p. 44.
(5) OJ L 59, 2.3.1989, p. 29.
(6) OJ L 316, 16.11.1991, p. 47.
(7) OJ L 16, 25.1.1993, p. 40.
(8) OJ L 75, 4.4.1995, p. 22.
(9) OJ L 36, 14.2.1996, p. 38.
(10) OJ L 77, 19.3.1997, p. 32.
(11) OJ L 82, 26.3.1999, p. 47.

(c) they shall have been grown in the province ‘Pinar del Río’
in areas where Ralstonia solanacearum (Smith) Yabuuchi et
al.

is known not to occur;

(d) they shall belong to varieties the seed potatoes of which
were imported into Cuba only from Member States or
from any other country for which the entry into the
Community of potatoes intended for planting is not
prohibited pursuant to Annex III of Directive 77/93/EEC;

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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(e) they shall have been grown in Cuba directly from seed
potatoes certified in one of the Member States or, from
seed potatoes certified in any other country for which the
intended for
entry into the Community of potatoes
planting is not prohibited pursuant
to
Directive 77/93/EEC; or from the progeny of such seed
potatoes, officially certified in the year before the previous
one, if this progeny was produced in the province Pinar
del Río and qualified as seed potatoes in accordance with
the current rules applicable in Cuba;

to Annex III

(f) they shall have been grown either on farms which have
not grown potatoes of varieties other than those specified
in (d) over the previous five years, or, in the case of State
farms, on land sections which are kept separate from other
land where potatoes of varieties other than those specified
in (d) have been grown over the last five years;

(g) they shall have been handled by machinery which is
reserved for them or which has been disinfected in an
appropriate manner after each use for other purposes;

(h) they shall not have been in store−houses where potatoes
of varieties other than those specified in (d) have been
stored;

(i) they shall be packed either in new bags or in containers
which have been disinfected in an appropriate manner;
and an official
label shall be applied to each bag or
container, bearing the information specified in the Annex;

(j) prior to export, the potatoes shall have been cleaned free
leaves and other plant debris;

from soil,

(k) the potatoes intended for the Community shall be accom-
panied by a phytosanitary certificate issued in Cuba in
accordance with Articles 7 and 12 of Directive 77/93/EEC,
on the basis of the examination laid down therein,
in
particular certifying freedom from the harmful organism
mentioned in (c).

The certificate shall state:

— under ‘Additional declaration’:

— the indication ‘this consignment meets the condi-
tions laid down in Decision 2000/246/EC’,

— name of variety,

— identification number or name of the farm where
the potatoes have been grown and its location,

— reference allowing the identification of seed lot

used in accordance with (e),

— under ‘Disinfestation and/or disinfection treatment’, all
information related to the possible treatments referred
to in (b) second option and/or (i);

(l) the potatoes shall be introduced through points of entry
situated within the territory of a Member State and desig-
nated for the purpose of this derogation by that Member
State; these points of entry and the name and address of
the responsible official body referred to in Directive 77/
93/EEC in charge of each point shall be notified suffi-
ciently in advance by the Member States to the Commis-

to other
sion and shall be held available on request
Member States. In those cases where the introduction into
the Community takes place in a Member State other than
the Member State making use of this derogation, the said
responsible official bodies of the Member State of intro-
duction shall inform and cooperate with the said respon-
sible official bodies of the Member States making use of
this derogation to ensure that
this
Decision are complied with;

the provisions of

(m) prior to introduction into the Community, the importer
shall be officially informed of the conditions laid down in
(a) to (p); the said importer shall notify details of each
introduction sufficiently in advance to the responsible offi-
cial bodies in the Member State of introduction and that
Member State, without delay, shall convey the details of
the notification to the Commission,

indicating:

— the type of material,

— the quantity,

— the declared date of introduction and confirmation of

the point of entry,

— the premises referred to in (o).

The importer shall provide details of any changes to the
aforementioned advance notification to the responsible
official bodies of their own Member State, preferably as
soon as they are known and in any case prior to the time
of import, and that Member State, without delay, shall
convey the details of the changes to the Commission;

(n) the inspections including testing, as appropriate, required
pursuant to Article 12 of Directive 77/93/EEC and in
accordance with provisions laid down in the present
Decision shall be made by the responsible official bodies,
referred to in the said Directive; of these inspections, the
plant health checks shall be carried out by the Member
State making use of this derogation. Furthermore during
the said plant health check that Member State(s) shall also
inspect for all other harmful organisms. Without prejudice
to the monitoring referred to in Article 19a(3) second
indent, first possibility of the said Directive, the Commis-
sion shall determine to which extent
the inspections
referred to in Article 19a(3) second indent, second poss-
ibility of the said Directive shall be integrated into the
inspection programme
in accordance with Article
19a(5)(c) of that Directive;

(o) the potatoes shall be packed and repacked only at prem-
ises which have been authorised and registered by the said
responsible official bodies;

(p) the potatoes

shall be packed or

repacked in closed
packages that are ready for direct delivery to retailers or to
final consumers, and that do not exceed a weight common
in the Member State of introduction for that purpose, up
to a maximum of 25 kg; the packaging shall bear the
number of the registered premises referred to in (o), as
well as the Cuban origin;

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least

(q) Member States making use of this derogation shall, where
in cooperation with the Member State of
appropriate,
introduction ensure that at
two samples of 200
tubers shall be drawn from each consignment of 50
tonnes or part thereof, of imported potatoes pursuant to
for official examination in respect of
this Decision,
Ralstonia solanacearum and Clavibacter michiganensis ssp.
sepedonicus in accordance with the Community established
methods for the detection and diagnosis of Ralstonia sola-
nacearum (1) and Clavibacter Michiganensis ssp. Sepedonicus
the
and in the case of potato spindle tuber viroid:
reverse−page method, or c−DNA hybridisation procedure;
in the case of suspicion the lots shall remain separate
under official control and may not be marketed or used
until it has been established that the presence of Clavibacter
michiganensis ssp.
sepedonicus, Ralstonia solanacearum or
potato spindle tuber viroid was not detected in those
examinations.

Article 2
Member States shall inform the other Member States and the
Commission by means of the notification referred to in Article
1(2)(m) first sentence of any use made of the authorisation.
They shall provide the Commission and the other Member
States, before 1 September 2000, with the information on

to this Decision and with a
amounts imported pursuant
detailed technical report of the official examination referred to
in Article 1(2)(q); copies of each phytosanitary certificate shall
be transmitted to the Commission.

Article 3

Article 1 shall apply in the period between 1 and 30

1.
April 2000.

The present Decision shall be revoked if it is established
2.
that the conditions laid down in Article 1(2) have been insuffi-
cient to prevent the introduction of harmful organisms or have
not been complied with.

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Article 4

Done at Brussels, 15 March 2000.

For the Commission

David BYRNE

Member of the Commission

ANNEX

Information required on the label

(referred to in Article 1(2)(i))

1. Name of the authority issuing the label.

2. Name of the exporters' organisation,

if available.

3. Indication ‘potatoes other than potatoes intended for planting of Cuban origin’.

4. Variety.

5. Province of production.

6. Size.

7. Declared net weight.

8. Indication ‘In accordance with EC requirements laid down in Decision 2000/246/EC’.

9. A mark printed or stamped on behalf of the Cuban plant protection administration.

(1) OJ L 273, 6.10.1997, p. 1.