2000/568/EC: Commission Decision of 8 September 2000 amending Decision 96/301/EC authorising Member States temporarily to take emergency measures against the dissemination of Pseudomonas solanacearum (Smith) Smith as regards Egypt (notified under document number C(2000) 2531)
Date: 2000-09-08
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Egypt, health certificate, parasitology, plant disease, plant health control, potato

22.9.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 238/59

COMMISSION DECISION

of 8 September 2000

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

(notified under document number C(2000) 2531)

(2000/568/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

tary Measures Part 4: Pest Surveillance — Requirements
of the Establishment of Pest-Free Areas.

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

(4)

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 Article 16(3) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) 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.

(2)

(3)

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 (2), required
Member States temporarily to take additional measures
against the dissemination of Pseudomonas solanacearum
(Smith) Smith as regards Egypt. Furthermore as a result
of unacceptable numbers of
interceptions of Pseudo-
monas solanacearum (Smith) Smith on imports of pota-
toes originating in Egypt during the import season
1996/97 and 1997/98, Decision 96/301/EC was
amended and further strengthened by Decision 98/105/
EC (3) and again by Decision 98/503/EC (4), with the
result that the import into the Community of potatoes
originating in Egypt was banned except where the pota-
toes originated in pest free areas established in accord-
ance with the FAO International Standard for Phytosani-

(1) OJ L 169, 10.7.2000, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 115, 9.5.1996, p. 47.
(3) OJ L 25, 31.1.1998, p. 101.
(4) OJ L 225, 12.8.1998, p. 34.

solanacearum (Smith)

Cases of Pseudomonas
Smith
continued to be found in imports of potatoes originating
in Egypt during 1998/99, and as a consequence the
import into the territory of the Community of tubers of
Solanum tuberosum L. originating in Egypt was prohibited
between 3 April 1999 and the beginning of the 1999/
2000 import season.

The situation was then reassessed: 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 were taken
against exporters who violate Egyptian instructions on
the export of potatoes destined to the EU.

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

In the light of the Egyptian assurances, the Commission
considered it appropriate, by Decision 1999/842/EC (5),
to remove the prohibition on the import of potatoes
from officially approved ‘pest-free areas’ for the 1999/
2000 import season.

During the 1999/2000 season, the situation improved
significantly and only 1 interception of Pseudomonas sola-
nacearum (Smith) Smith on imports of potatoes origin-
ating in Egypt was recorded. Thus it appears that
restricting imports to potatoes originating in ‘pest-free
areas’
is effective to prevent the introduction of this
pathogen.

Therefore it should be possible to permit for the import
season 2000/2001 the entry into the territory of the
Community of Solanum tuberosum L. which originate in
Egypt from pest-free areas which have been approved in
Egypt in accordance with the said FAO International
Standard.

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

(5) OJ L 326, 18.12.1999, p. 68.

L 238/60

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

22.9.2000

(10)

(11)

(12)

The Commission will ensure that Egypt makes available
all technical
information in relation to surveying and
monitoring necessary 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 necessary assessment for its aforesaid action. Such
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
continually,
season 2000/2001, and
whereas possible consequences will be considered if it is
established that
laid down in this
Decision have not been complied with.

the conditions

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

referred to as

The Commission shall establish whether “pest-free
2.
areas” have been approved in Egypt for the import season
2000/2001 in accordance with the “FAO International
Standard for Phytosanitary Measures Part 4: Pest Surveil-
lance — Requirements for the Establishment of Pest-Free
Areas”, in particular point 2.3 thereof, and shall compile 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 this
to the
Committee and to the Member States.’

list

2. In Article 1b,

‘1999/2000’

is replaced by ‘2000/2001’.

3. In Article 2,

‘30 August 2000’ is replaced by ‘30 August

2001’.

4. In Article 4,

‘30 September 2000’

is replaced by ‘30

September 2001’.

5. The text in point 1(c), third indent, of the Annex to the
is replaced by ‘2000/2001’ and ‘1

‘1999/2000’

is replaced by ‘1 December 2000’.

Decision,
December 1999’

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

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

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

the entry into the territory of

By way of derogation to Article 1, for the import
‘1.
season 2000/2001,
the
Community of tubers of Solanum tuberosum L. which origi-
nate in Egypt shall be permitted from the “pest-free areas”
the measures
referred to in paragraph 2, provided that
applicable to tubers grown in these areas and laid down in
the Annex of this Decision, are complied with.

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

December 1999’

is replaced by ‘1 December 2000’.

Article 2

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 8 September 2000.

For the Commission

David BYRNE

Member of the Commission