2004/772/EC: Commission Decision of 29 October 2004 on a Community financial contribution for 2004 to cover expenditure incurred by Belgium and Portugal for the purpose of combating organisms harmful to plants or plant products (notified under document number C(2004) 4181)
Date: 2004-10-29
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Belgium, EU financing, Portugal, action programme, parasitology, plant disease, plant health control

17.11.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 341/27

COMMISSION

COMMISSION DECISION

of 29 October 2004

on a Community financial contribution for 2004 to cover expenditure incurred by Belgium and
Portugal for the purpose of combating organisms harmful to plants or plant products

(notified under document number C(2004) 4181)

(Only the French, Dutch and Portuguese texts are authentic)

(2004/772/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

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) (hereinafter
‘the Directive’), and in particular Article 23 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

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.

Belgium and Portugal have each established a programme
of actions to eradicate organisms harmful
to plants
territories. These programmes
introduced
in their
specify the objectives
the measures
to be achieved,
carried out,
their duration and their cost. They have
applied for the allocation of a Community financial
contribution to these programmes within the time limit

(1) OJ L 169, 10.7.2000, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Regulation
(EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council
(OJ L 165, 30.4.2004, p. 1).

in the Directive

set out
and in accordance with
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1040/2002 of 14
June 2002 establishing detailed rules for the implemen-
tation of the provisions relating to the allocation of a
financial contribution from the Community for plant-
health control
and repealing Regulation (EC) No
2051/97 (2) (hereinafter ‘the Regulation’).

The expenditure which Belgium and Portugal have
in this
incurred, and which is
Decision,
relates directly to the matters specified in
Article 23(2)(a) and (b) of the Directive.

taken into account

The technical information provided for by Belgium and
Portugal has enabled the Commission to analyse the
situation accurately and comprehensively;
the infor-
mation has also been considered by the Standing
Committee on Plant Health. The Commission has
the conditions for the granting of a
concluded that
financial contribution in Article 23 of
the Directive
have been met.

it is appropriate to provide a Community
Accordingly,
financial contribution to cover the expenditure on these
programmes.

The Community financial contribution may cover up to
50 % of eligible expenditure. Excluding the programme
for which degression has to be applied in accordance
with the third subparagraph of Article 23(5) of
the
Directive, the Community financial contribution for the
purposes of this Decision should be 50 %.

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(2) OJ L 157, 15.6.2002, p. 38.

L 341/28

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

17.11.2004

Article 2

The total amount of the financial contribution referred to

1.
in Article 1 is EUR 576 549.

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.

3.
The resulting maximum Community financial contri-
bution for the concerned Member States shall be as follows:

— EUR 210 485 to Belgium

— EUR 366 064 to Portugal.

Article 3

Subject to the verifications by the Commission under Article 24
of Directive 2000/29/EC, the Community financial contribution
as set out in the Annex shall be paid only when:

the measures taken has been given to the
(a) evidence of
Commission
in
accordance with the provisions laid down in the Regulation,
in particular Article 1(2) and Article 2 thereof;

documentation,

appropriate

through

(b) a request for payment of the Community financial contri-
bution has been submitted by the Member State concerned
to the Commission, in accordance with the provisions laid
down in Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1040/2002.

Article 4

This Decision is addressed to the Kingdom of Belgium and the
Portuguese Republic.

Done at Brussels, 29 October 2004.

For the Commission

David BYRNE
Member of the Commission

(7)

(8)

(9)

(10)

2002/889/EC (2)

2001/811/EC (1),

The programme notified by Portugal has already been the
subject of Community contributions under Commission
and
Decisions
2003/787/EC (3). An extension of the period in which
eradication measures have to take place, as foreseen in
the third subparagraph of Article 23(5) of the Directive,
has been granted to this existing programme, as the
examination of the situation has lead to the conclusion
that the objective of these eradication measures is likely
reasonable period. The
to be
Community financial contribution for this programme,
has been progressively reduced in accordance with the
third subparagraph of Article 23(5).

achieved within a

The contribution referred to in Article 2 of this Decision
is without prejudice to further actions taken or to be
taken and necessary
the
objective of eradication or control of
the relevant
harmful organisms.

achievement of

the

for

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

In accordance with Article 3(2) of Council Regulation
(EC) No 1258/1999 (4), veterinary and plant health
measures undertaken in accordance with Community
rules shall be financed under the Guarantee section of
the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund.
Financial control of these measures comes under Articles
8 and 9 of the above Regulation, without prejudice to
the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1040/2002 and
paragraphs 8 and 9 of Article 23 of the Directive.

(11)

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

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The allocation of a Community financial contribution for 2004
to cover expenditure incurred by Belgium and Portugal 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.

(1) OJ L 306, 23.11.2001, p. 25.
(2) OJ L 311, 14.11.2002, p. 16.
(3) OJ L 293, 11.11.2003, p. 13.
(4) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 103.

17.11.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 341/29

ANNEX

ERADICATION PROGRAMMES

SECTION I

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

e
t
a
t
S

r
e
b
m
e
M

l

u
f
m
r
a
H

s

m

s
i
n
a
g
r
o

d
e
t
a
b
m
o
c

s
t
n
a
l
p

d
e
t
c
e
f
f

A

r
a
e
Y

e
l
b
i
g
i
l

E

e
r
u
t
i
d
n
e
p
x
e

Þ
R
U
E

ð

m
u
m
i
x
a
M

y
t
i
n
u
m
m
o
C

n
o
i
t
u
b
i
r
t
n
o
c

Þ
R
U
E

ð

e
m
m
a
r
g
o
r
p

r
e
p

Belgium

Diabrotica
virgifera

Maize

2003 and 2004

420 970

210 485

Programmes whose Community financial contribution rates differ, in application of degressivity

SECTION II

e
t
a
t
S

r
e
b
m
e
M

l

u
f
m
r
a
H

s

m

s
i
n
a
g
r
o

d
e
t
a
b
m
o
c

s
t
n
a
l
p

d
e
t
c
e
f
f

A

r
a
e
Y

n
o

i
t
a
t
n
e
m
e
l
p
m

i

f
o

r
a
e
Y

e
m
m
a
r
g
o
r
p

n
o
i
t
a
c
i
d
a
r
e

e
h
t

f
o

e
r
u
t
i
d
n
e
p
x
e

e
l
b
i
g
i
l

E

Þ
R
U
E

ð

e
t
a
R

Þ
%
ð

m
u
m
i
x
a
M

y
t
i
n
u
m
m
o
C

n
o
i
t
u
b
i
r
t
n
o
c

Þ
R
U
E

ð

Portugal

Bursaphelenchus
xylophilus

Pinus trees

2003

5

1 016 847

36

366 064

Total Community contribution (EUR)

576 549