2000/700/EC: Commission Decision of 30 October 2000 authorising Member States to provide for derogations from certain provisions of Council Directive 2000/29/EC in respect of plants of strawberry (Fragaria L.), intended for planting, other than seeds, originating in the Republic of Chile (notified under document number C(2000) 3141)
Date: 2000-10-30
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Chile, derogation from EU law, import, protection of plant life, seedling, soft fruit

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Official Journal of the European Communities

L 287/65

COMMISSION DECISION

of 30 October 2000

authorising Member States to provide for derogations from certain provisions of Council Directive
2000/29/EC in respect of plants of strawberry (Fragaria L.), intended for planting, other than seeds,
originating in the Republic of Chile

(notified under document number C(2000) 3141)

(2000/700/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Directive 2000/29/EC of 8 May 2000
the introduction into the
on protective measures against
Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products
and against their spread within the Community (1), and in
particular Article 15(1) thereof,

Having regard to the request made by the French Republic,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Under the provisions of Directive 2000/29/EC, plants of
strawberry (Fragaria L.), intended for planting, other than
seeds, originating in non-European countries, other than
Mediterranean
countries, Australia, New Zealand,
Canada and the continental states of the USA, may in
principle not be introduced into the Community.

There is interest in the multiplication, in the Republic of
Chile, of plants of Fragaria L.,
intended for planting,
other than seeds, from plants supplied by a Member
State, in order to prolong the producing season of the
plants. The plants produced are afterwards exported to
the Community to be planted for the fruit production.

On the basis of the information supplied by France in
it appears that
support of
strawberry plants can be grown under adequate health
conditions in the Republic of Chile.

its request and by Chile,

In the light of this information, there appears to be no
risk of strawberry plants imported from Chile spreading
harmful organisms, affecting plants of Fragaria L.,
provided that certain special technical conditions are
satisfied.

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

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

1.
By derogation from Article 4(1) of Directive 2000/29/EC
with regard to the requirements referred to in Annex III(A)(18),
Member States may permit the introduction into their territory

of plants of strawberry (Fragaria L.),
intended for planting,
other than seeds, originating in the Republic of Chile, under the
conditions laid down in paragraphs 2 and 3.

2.
Plants of strawberries introduced pursuant to paragraph 1
shall satisfy the following specific conditions, in addition to the
requirements laid down in part A of the Annexes I, II and IV to
Directive 2000/29/EC:

(a) the plants shall be intended for fruit production within the

Community and shall have been:

(i) produced exclusively from mother plants, certified
under an approved certification scheme of a Member
State, which were imported from a Member State,

(ii) grown on land which is:

— situated in an area isolated from commercial straw-

berry production,

— situated at least 1 km from the nearest crop of
strawberry plants grown for
runner
production which do not satisfy the conditions of
this Decision,

fruit or

— situated at least 200 m from any other plants of
the genus Fragaria which do not satisfy the condi-
tions of this Decision, and

— prior to planting but after the previous crop was
removed from the land, either officially tested by
appropriate methods and shown to be free from
harmful soil infesting organisms including Globo-
dera pallida (Stone) Behrens and Globodera rosto-
chiensis (Wollenweber) Behrens, or treated to ensure
it was free from those organisms;

(iii) officially inspected by the Plant Protection Service of
the Republic of Chile, at least three times during the
growing season and prior to export for the presence of
the harmful organisms listed in part A of Annexes I
and II to Directive 2000/29/EC,

in particular,

— arabis mosaic virus

— Colletotrichum acutatum Simmonds

— Globodera pallida (Stone) Behrens

— Globodera rostochiensis (Wollenweber) Behrens

— Phytophthora fragariae Hickmann var. fragariae

(1) OJ L 169, 10.7.2000, p. 1.

— strawberry crinkle virus

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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— strawberry mild yellow edge virus

— the type of material,

— strawberry vein banding virus

— the quantity,

— Xiphinema americanum Cobb sensu lato (non-Euro-

pean populations),

and of the following harmful organisms,

— Aegorhinus phaleratus Erichson

— Aegorhinus superciliosus germari (Gay Solier)

— Chaetosiphon thomasi Hille Risambers

— Naupactus leucoloma (Boheman)

— Pseudoleucania bilitura Guenée

— Fusarium oxysporum fsp. fragariae

— Fragaria Chiloensis ilar virus

and on each occasion found to be free from all such
organisms

(iv) prior to export:

— shaken free from soil or other growing medium,

— cleaned (i.e. free from plant debris) and free from

flowers and fruits;

(b) they shall be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate
issued in the Republic of Chile in accordance with Articles
7 and 13 of Directive 2000/29/EC, on the basis of the
examination laid down therein.

The certificate shall state:

— under the column ‘Disinfestation and/or disinfection
treatment(s)

the specification of

the last

treatment’,
applied prior to export,

— under

‘Additional declaration’,

the indication ‘This
consignment meets
laid down in
Decision 2000/700/EC’, as well as the name of the
variety and the Member State certification scheme
under which the mother plants had been certified:

conditions

the

— the intended date of introduction and point of entry

into the Community,

— the name, addresses and the locations where the
plants will be stored under official control pending
the results of the inspections and tests referred to in
(c); at least two weeks before movement of the
plants from the premises where they are stored the
importer shall notify the responsible official body of
the premises referred to in point
(d) where the
plants will be planted.

The importer shall inform the official bodies concerned
of any changes to the above details as soon as they are
known.

The Member State concerned shall inform the Commis-
sion of the above details, and details of any changes to
them without delay;

(c) the

as

testing,

inspections

including
appropriate,
required pursuant
to Article 13 of Directive 2000/
29/EC 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 and
where appropriate, in cooperation with the said bodies
of the Member State in which the plants will be planted.
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 21(3) second indent, first pos-
the Commission shall
sibility of
determine to which extent the inspections referred to in
Article 21(3) second indent, second possibility of the
said Directive shall be integrated into the inspection
programme in accordance with Article 21(5)(third
subparagraph) of that Directive;

the said Directive,

3.

(a) The plants shall be introduced through points of entry
designated for the purpose of this derogation by the
Member State in which they are situated; these points of
the responsible
entry and the name and address of
official body referred to in Directive 2000/29/EC in
charge of each point shall be notified sufficiently in
advance by the Member States to the Commission and
shall be made available on request to other 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
responsible official bodies of the Member State of intro-
duction shall inform and cooperate with the responsible
official bodies of the Member States making use of this
derogation to ensure that the provisions of this Decision
are complied with.

(b) prior to introduction into the Community, the importer
shall be officially informed of the conditions laid down
in paragraphs 2(a), 2(b), 3(a), 3(b), 3(c) and 3(d); the said
importer shall notify details of each introduction suffi-
ciently in advance to the responsible official bodies of
the Member State of introduction indicating:

(d) the plants shall be planted only at premises officially
registered and approved for the purposes of this deroga-
tion and of which the name of the owner and address
of the site have been notified in advance by the person
who intends to plant the plants to the responsible offi-
cial bodies of the Member State in which the premises
are situated; in those cases where the place of planting
is situated in a Member State other than the Member
State making use of this derogation, the said responsible
official bodies of the Member State making use of this
derogation, at the moment of receipt of the aforemen-
tioned advance notification from the importer, shall
the
inform the said responsible official bodies of
Member State in which the plants will be planted giving
the name and addresses of
the premises where the
plants will be planted;

(e) the responsible official bodies shall ensure that any
plant not planted in accordance with (d) is destroyed
under their control. Records shall be kept and made
available to the Commission on request of the numbers
of plants destroyed;

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(f) in the growing period following importation, a suitable
proportion of the plants shall be visually inspected by
the said responsible official bodies of the Member State
in which the plants are planted, at appropriate times, at
the premises referred to in (d), for the presence of any
harmful organism or for signs or symptoms caused by
any harmful organism; as a result of such visual inspec-
tion any harmful organism having caused signs or
symptoms shall be identified by an appropriate testing
procedure. Any plant which has not been found free
during the said inspections or testing, from the harmful
organisms mentioned in paragraph (2)(a)(iii) shall be
immediately destroyed under the control of the respon-
sible bodies.

Article 2

Member States shall inform the other Member States and the
Commission by means of the notification referred to in Article
1(3)(b) of any use made of
the authorisation. They shall
provide the Commission and the other Member States, before 1
November 2001, with the information on amounts imported
pursuant to this Decision and with a detailed technical report
of
the official examination referred to in Article 1(3)(c).
Furthermore all Member States in which the plants are planted

shall also provide the Commission and the other Member
States, before 1 March after the year of importation, with a
detailed technical report of the official examination referred to
in Article 1(3)(f).

Article 3

Article 1 shall apply to plants introduced into the Community
during the period between 1 June 2001 and 30 September
2001. The present Decision shall be revoked if it is established
that the conditions laid down in Article 1(2) and (3) are not
sufficient 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, 30 October 2000.

For the Commission

David BYRNE

Member of the Commission