Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the "Proposal for a Council Directive 2000/29/EC on protective measures against the introduction into the Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products and against their spread within the Community"
Date: 2001-10-17
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: crop production, import (EU), parasitology, plant disease, plant health control, plant health legislation

C 36/46

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

8.2.2002

2.4.2.4.
Although unlikely, the possible failure of another
segment to comply with the CFP objectives in the countries
affected by the agreement with Morocco should have no
impact on this specific Morocco-related measure.

2.4.2.5.
The aid for fishermen under paragraph 3 is not
granted on equal terms, when compared with the increases
planned for vessel owners.

2.4.3. A r t i c l e 5

It ought to be ensured in this article that the
2.4.3.1.
regulation governing the procedure for the payment of aid is
flexible, and that the dates are brought forward as far as
possible, since the vast majority of vessels are at present not
working and the aid they currently receive will end on
31 December 2001. Special procedures to ensure there is no
delay in payments are therefore vital.

Brussels, 18 October 2001.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Göke FRERICHS

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Council Directive
2000/29/EC on protective measures against the introduction into the Community of organisms
harmful to plants or plant products and against their spread within the Community’

(2002/C 36/09)

On 24 April 2001 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Article 37
of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned proposal.

The Section for Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment, which was responsible for
preparing the Committee’s work on the subject, adopted its opinion unanimously on 27 September
2001. The rapporteur was Mr Jaschick.

At its 385th plenary session (meeting of 17 October 2001) the Economic and Social Committee adopted
the following opinion with 78 votes in favour and three abstentions.

1.

Introduction

2. Comments

International trade in plants and plant products is on the
increase, bringing with it
the risk of spreading harmful
organisms. Hence it is particularly important to harmonise
protective measures within the EU. In particular the Com-
mission is proposing measures aimed at cooperation between
plant health bodies and customs authorities and at uniform
fees. Basically the Committee regards a revision of Directive
2000/29/EC as necessary and welcomes it, but would draw
attention to the following comments, which should help to
improve the proposed directive.

The Committee welcomes the fact that the definitions
2.1.
contained in the directive (e.g. ‘office of departure’, ‘office of
destination’, ‘transit’) have as far as possible been brought into
line with those in the customs code. Cooperation with the
customs authorities on such matters as transit consignments
or the import/export of wooden packaging (1) makes harmon-
isation absolutely essential.

The deliberate import of harmful organisms for scien-
2.2.
tific purposes — e.g. for research at universities — must be
subject to authorisation. No such system exists at present.

(1) COM(2001) 183 final, Article 1(2).

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EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 36/47

Harmful organisms
from research establishments which
should be kept in quarantine have been known in the past to
be capable of finding their way into local plant production and
hence represent a danger (1).

2.3.
The plant passport system should be obligatory for
seeds too. Inspections can only be carried out if identification
is possible through a plant passport or labelling and certifi-
cation (2).

2.4.
There should be clear rules on the whereabouts of the
original certificate after completion of the import inspection.
One possibility would be for the original to remain at the
office of entry, provided that inspection is not carried out only
in the country concerned or at the destination; another would
be to use a uniform model for the entry stamp (3).

2.5.
To help the inspectors in the entry office to make a
decision, the term ‘small quantities of plants’ should be defined

more precisely. In practice the import of small quantities of
fruit (e.g. mangoes) often raises problems at entry offices (4).

2.6. Most Member States’ plant health services keep a
register of importers. Registration is checked at border entry
offices. Registration makes no sense, however, if registration
numbers are not recognisable as such and any combination of
numbers can be passed off at the entry office as the ‘official
registration number’. A uniform code number system should
be introduced (5).

In principle the Committee supports the idea of
2.7.
introducing a uniform fees system; the details of the rates have
still to be agreed.

The Committee recommends examining to what extent
2.8.
it is necessary to extend the field of application of the directive
to the European Economic Area (EEA).

(1) Article 1(3).
(2) Article 1(5)(a).
(3) Article 1(8), new Article 13(2).

Brussels, 17 October 2001.

(4) Article 1(8), new Article 13a(2)(c).
(5) Article 1(8), new Article 13a(7).

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Göke FRERICHS