2001/441/EC: Commission Decision of 29 May 2001 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 Argentina (notified under document number C(2001) 1485)
Date: 2001-05-29
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: derogation from EU law, import, plant health control, plant health legislation, seedling, soft fruit

12.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 155/15

COMMISSION DECISION

of 29 May 2001

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 Argentina

(notified under document number C(2001) 1485)

(2001/441/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 Republic of France,
the Republic of Italy and the Kingdom of Spain,

Whereas:

confirmed that administrative and technical measures
will be strengthened for all future shipments of straw-
berry plants destined to the EU; it is considered therefore
that the circumstances justifying the previous author-
isations still obtain.

A similar derogation to that granted in previous years
should therefore be provided, with similar stringent
requirements, for the import of Argentinean strawberry
plants for a limited period between 1 June 2001 and 30
September 2002.

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

(6)

(7)

(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.

The multiplication in Argentina of plants of Fragaria L.
from plants supplied by a Member State,
in order to
prolong the producing season of the plants, has become
an established practice. The plants produced are after-
wards exported to the Community to be planted for the
fruit production.

95/53/EC (3),

93/411/EEC (2),

and 1999/181/EC (6),

96/
By Decisions
403/EC (4), 97/353/EC (5)
the
Commission authorised derogations from the require-
ments of Directive 2000/29/EC and its predecessor,
Council Directive 77/93/EEC (7), subject to special tech-
nical conditions, in respect of such plants for the 1993
to 2000 seasons.

In the season 2000, Italy reported to the Commission
detection of the harmful organism Xanthomonas fragariae
Kennedy & King in plants imported pursuant to the
above derogation. The organism was detected at the
time of
the plants which were therefore
destroyed at the point of entry.

import of

From the additional information supplied by Argentina
on the above finding it was not possible to confirm the
contamination. However Argentina
source of

the

(1) OJ L 169, 10.7.2000, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 182, 24.7.1993, p. 63.
(3) OJ L 53, 9.3.1995, p. 35.
(4) OJ L 165, 4.7.1996, p. 37.
(5) OJ L 151, 10.6.1997, p. 40.
(6) OJ L 59, 6.3.1999, p. 32.
(7) OJ L 26, 31.1.1977, p. 20.

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

By derogation from Article 4(1) of Directive 2000/29/EC
1.
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 Argentina, under the
conditions laid down in paragraph 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
runner
strawberry plants grown for
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

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Official Journal of the European Communities

12.6.2001

— prior to planting but after the previous crop was
removed from the land, either officially tested by
appropriate methods or treated to ensure it is free
from soil-infesting harmful organisms;

least

(iii) officially inspected by the Plant Protection Service of
Argentina, at
three times during the growing
season and again prior to export, for the presence of
the harmful organisms listed in part A of Annexes I
and II
to Directive 2000/29/EC, and of any other
harmful organism which is not known to occur in the
Community 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 Argentina 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 rubric ‘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 2001/441/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

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
entry and the name and address of
the responsible
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:

— the names, 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
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.

two weeks before movement of

least

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

inspections

appropriate,
including testing,
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 offi-
cial bodies, referred to in the said Directive. These
inspections 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 inspection that Member State shall also inspect and,
where appropriate, test for all other harmful organisms.
Without prejudice to the monitoring referred to in
Article 21(3) second indent, first possibility of the said
Directive,
the Commission shall 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.

(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 responsible official
bodies of the Member State making use of this deroga-
tion, at the moment of receipt of the advance noti-
fication from the importer, shall inform the responsible
official bodies of the Member State in which the plants
will be planted giving the name and addresses of the
premises where the plants will be planted.

— the type of material,

— the quantity,

— the intended date of introduction and point of entry

into the Community,

(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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Official Journal of the European Communities

L 155/17

(f) In the growing period following importation, a suitable
proportion of the plants shall be visually inspected by
the 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 derogation. They shall provide
the Commission and the other Member States, before 1
November of each year, with the information on amounts
imported pursuant to this Decision and with a detailed tech-
nical 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
2002. The present Decision shall be revoked if it is established
that the conditions laid down in Article 1(2) and 1(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, 29 May 2001.

For the Commission

David BYRNE

Member of the Commission