2001/811/EC: Commission Decision of 21 November 2001 on a Community financial contribution to cover expenditure incurred by Austria, Portugal and Finland for the purpose of combating organisms harmful to plants or plant products (notified under document number C(2001) 3684)
Date: 2001-11-21
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Austria, EU aid, Finland, Portugal, financial aid, parasitology

23.11.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 306/25

II

(Acts whose publication is not obligatory)

COMMISSION

COMMISSION DECISION

of 21 November 2001

on a Community financial contribution to cover expenditure incurred by Austria, Portugal and
Finland for the purpose of combating organisms harmful to plants or plant products

(notified under document number C(2001) 3684)

(Only the German, Portuguese, Finnish and Swedish texts are authentic)

(2001/811/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(4)

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Directive 2000/29/EC of 8 May
2000 (1) on protective measures against the introduction into
the Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant prod-
ucts and against
their spread within the Community ('the
Directive'), as amended by Commission Directive 2001/33/
EC (2) and in particular Article 23 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Pursuant to the Directive, a financial contribution from
the Community may be granted to Member States to
cover expenditure relating directly to the necessary
measures which have been taken or are planned to be
taken for the purpose of combating harmful organisms
introduced from third countries or from other areas in
the Community, in order to eradicate or, if that is not
possible, to contain them.

Austria, Portugal and Finland have applied for the alloca-
tion of such a Community financial contribution within
the time limit set out in the Directive.

Austria, Portugal and Finland have each established a
programme of actions to eradicate organisms harmful to
plants introduced in their territories. These programmes
the measures
specify the objectives to be achieved,
carried out, their duration and their cost so that the
Community may contribute to financing it.

(1) OJ L 169, 10.7.2000, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 127, 9.5.2001, p. 42.

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

In derogation to the common practice of submitting
eradication programmes dealing with actions
taken
during one or more years, for technical reasons, Portugal
has submitted the programme Bursaphelenchus xylophilus
related to actions implemented in the first 18 months of
the eradication programme.

eligible

The Community financial contribution may cover up to
50 % of
those
expenditure.
programmes for which degression has to be applied, the
Community financial contribution for the purposes of
this Decision is set in general to 50 %, noting that the
programmes received have been treated in equal way.

Excluding

An extension, of one, two or three years of the period in
which eradication measures have to take place, as fore-
seen in Article 23(5),
the
Directive, has been granted to certain programmes as the
examination of the situation has lead to the conclusion
that the objective of the above eradication measures is
likely to be achieved within that extended period.

third subparagraph of

financial

contribution

The Community
the
programmes, running for more than two years and
covered by this Decision, has been degressive in partic-
ular for the yearly average in the 4th, 5th and 6th year
for Ralstonia and in the 3rd, 4th and 5th year for TSWV-
in Portugal.
TYLCV respectively,

for

The expenditure which Austria, Portugal and Finland
have incurred, and taken into account in this Decision,
relates directly to the matters specified in Article 23(2)(a)
and Article 23(2)(b) of the Directive.

L 306/26

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Official Journal of the European Communities

23.11.2001

(9)

(10)

(11)

information provided for by Austria,
The technical
Portugal and Finland has enabled the Commission to
analyse the situation accurately and comprehensively;
the information has also been considered in detail by the
Standing Committee on Plant Health.

The contribution referred to in Article 2 is without
prejudice to further actions taken or to be taken and
necessary for the achievement of the objective of erad-
ication or control of the relevant harmful organisms.

The present Decision is without prejudice to the
outcome of the verification by the Commission under
Article 24 of the Directive on whether the introduction
of the relevant harmful organism has been caused by
the
inadequate
consequences of such verification.

examinations or

inspections

and

(12)

The measures provided in this Decision are in accord-
ance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on
Plant Health,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The allocation of a Community financial contribution to cover
expenditure incurred by Austria, Portugal and Finland relating
directly to necessary measures as specified in Article 23(2) of
Directive 2000/29/EC and taken for the purpose of combating
the organisms concerned by the eradication programmes listed
in the Annex to this Decision,

is hereby approved.

Article 2

The total amount of the financial contribution referred to

1.
in Article 1 is EUR 860 422.

The maximum amounts of

2.
the Community financial
contribution for each eradication programme and for each year
of implementation of the eradication programme shall be as
indicated in the Annex to this Decision.

The resulting maximum Community financial contribu-

3.
tion for the concerned Member States shall be as follows:
— EUR 71 375 to Austria,
— EUR 732 624 to Portugal,
— EUR 56 423 to Finland.

Article 3

1.
Subject to the verifications by the Commission under
Article 24 of Directive 2000/29/EC, the Community financial
contribution shall be paid only when evidence of the measures

taken has been given to the Commission through documenta-
tion related to the occurrence and the eradication of the rele-
vant harmful organisms.

The documentation referred to in paragraph 1 shall be

2.
included in an application including:

(a) general

information on the appearance of

the relevant
harmful organism, including details as to the date on which
its presence was suspected or confirmed, and the presumed
cause of the appearance;

(b) the description of the eradication programme,

including
the measures taken or planned and the expected duration
and, when available, a monitoring programme; except in
duly justified cases, the duration shall be no more than two
years;

(c) the inspections, testing and other actions undertaken to
determine the nature and extent of the appearance of the
relevant harmful organism;

(d) list of holdings on which plants and plant products were

indicating:

destroyed,
— the location and address of the holding,
— the quantity of plants and plant products destroyed;

(e) list of beneficiaries and their addresses, and the amounts
excluding VAT and taxes, paid or to be paid for carrying
out the necessary measures;

(f) a copy of the notification of interception, in accordance

with Article 16(1) or (2) of Directive 2000/29/EC;

(g) a summary table of inspections and analyses indicating,
inter alia, their dates, the method and the Unit costs;

(h) the official notification requiring the destruction and offi-
cial certification, including the description of the methods
of destruction and/or disinfection;

(i) proof or evidence of the above payments.

Article 4

This Decision is addressed to the Austrian Republic, the Portu-
guese Republic and the Finnish Republic.

Done at Brussels, 21 November 2001.

For the Commission

David BYRNE

Member of the Commission

23.11.2001

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Official Journal of the European Communities

L 306/27

ANNEX

ERADICATION PROGRAMMES

Section I: Programmes whose Community financial contribution corresponds to 50 % of eligible expenditure

Member State

Harmful organisms
combated

Affected plants

Year

Eligible expenditure
(in EUR)

Maximum Community
contribution
(in EUR)
(Per programme)

Austria

Erwinia amylovora

Apple, pear, other
Rosaceae

1999

142 750

71 375

Portugal

Finland

Finland

Bursaphelenchus
xylophilus

Pinus trees

1999-2000

850 248

425 124

Liriomyza trifolii

Gerbera

Tomato Spotted
Wilt Virus

Gerbera, Amaryllis,
Chrysanthemum

1999

1999

33 212

79 634

16 606

39 817

Secction II: Programmes whose Community financial contribution rates differ, in application of degressivity.

Member Sate

Harmful organisms
combated

Affected plants

Year

Portugal

Ralstonia
solanacearum

Potato,
tomato,
pepper

Portugal

Tomato Spotted Tomato
Wilt Virus

Tomato Yellow
Leaf Curl Virus

1998

1999

2000

1998

1999

2000

a

4

5

6

3

4

5

Total Community contribution (in euro)

Legend:
a: Year of implementation of the eradication programme

Eligible expenditure
(in EUR)

Rate

Maximum Community
contribution
(in EUR)
(Per year/programme)

240 657

87 154

65 807

125 085

253 254

240 497

27

45

45

48

23

23

65 000

39 000

29 500

60 000

58 000

56 000

860 422