Proposal for a Council Directive amending Annex IV to 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: 2005-02-07
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: international standard, packaging product, plant disease, plant health control, plant health legislation, plant health treatment, protection of plant life, wood product

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 07.02.2005 
COM(2005) 38 final 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 

amending Annex IV to 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 

(presented by the Commission) 

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

Council  Directive  2000/29/EC,  as  amended  in  particular  by  Commission  Directive 
2004/102/EC, contains new requirements for the import of wood products into the EU from 1 
March 2005 onwards. 

The  measures  related  to  packing  material  and  dunnage  align  Community  measures  with  the 
FAO  International  Standard  for  Phytosanitary  Measures  (ISPM)  No  15  on  “Guidelines  for 
regulating wood packaging material in international trade” which was adopted in March 2002. 
This Standard provides for the wood packing material to be heat treated or fumigated and to 
be marked. The Standard also mentions that countries can require that the material be made 
from debarked round wood, if there is technical justification for this. 

As  Member  States  experts  have  estimated  that  this  justification  is  available,  this  optional 
requirement is now included in Directive 2000/29/EC (via amendment Dir. 2004/102/EC). 

In  the  meantime,  a  number  of  third  countries,  in  particular  the  US,  have  approached  the 
Commission  services,  questioning  the  technical  justification.  The  Commission  considers  it 
appropriate to postpone the measures related to debarking for 12 months to allow for further 
discussion and specific research. 

A draft Commission Directive which would amend Directive 2000/29/EC and, in particular, 
would postpone the implementation of the measures for packing material and dunnage from 1 
March  2005  to  1  March  2006,  received  no  opinion  from  the  Standing  Committee  on  Plant 
Health  on  21  January  2005:  94  votes  for  (BE,  EE,  EL,  CY,  LT,  LU,  NL,  PL,  SI,  FI),  215 
against  (  DK,  DE,  ES,  FR,  IE,  IT,  LV,  HU, MT,  AT,  PT,  SK,  SE,  UK)  and  12  abstentions 
(CZ).  All  MS  voting  against  explained  that  sufficient  technical  justification  is  available  to 
maintain the existing provisions. CZ abstained for legal reasons as it would be impossible for 
CZ to implement a postponement in time. 

Following  the  procedure  set  out  in  Article  18  of  Dir.  2000/29/EC,  the  Commission  submits 
the  attached  Proposal  for  a  Council  Directive  immediately  to  the  Council  and  informs  the 
European Parliament. 

The proposal for a Council Directive has no financial implications for the Community budget. 

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Proposal for a 

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 

amending Annex IV to 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 

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, 

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  Community1,  and  in  particular  point  (d)  of  the  second 
paragraph of Article 14 thereof,  

Having regard to the proposal of the Commission,2 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

1 

2 

Directive  2004/102/EC  amends  Annexes  II,  III,  IV  and  V  to  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, and is to be implemented by the Member States by 1 March 2005. 

Directive  2004/102/EC  contains  provisions  related  to  wood  and  wood  products.  The 
measures  related  to  pallets,  boxes  and  dunnage  align  Community  measures  with  the 
FAO International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) No 15 on “Guidelines 
for regulating wood packaging material in international trade” which was adopted in 
March 2002 by the Fourth Interim Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (ICPM). 

Standard  No  15  describes  that  wood  packaging  (including  dunnage)  made  of 
coniferous  and  non-coniferous  raw  wood,  should  be  subjected  to  approved  measures 
such  as  heat  treatment  (56°  C  for  a  minimum  of  30  minutes)  or  fumigation  with 
Methyl  Bromide.  Moreover  the  wood  should  display  a  specified  mark  to  certify  that 
the wood has been subjected to an approved measure. 

The Standard also provides that countries may require that imported wood packaging 
material subjected to an approved measure be made from debarked wood and display a 
mark subject to “technical justification”.  

OJ L 169, 10.7.2000, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Commission Directive 2004/102/EC (OJ L 309, 
6.10.2004, p. 9). 
OJ C […] […], p. […9 

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(5) 

Third  countries  have  requested  that  the  Community  consider  alternative  methods  of 
achieving  the  same  goal.  To  this  end,  research  is  under  way  on  technical  aspects  of 
debarking  wood,  in  particular  the  efficiency  of  “pest  risk  reduction”  of  debarking  in 
addition to treatment measures. 

(6)  While awaiting the results of that research, it is appropriate to postpone for debarked 

wood, the application of the requirement to be used. 

(7) 

Directive 2000/29/EC should therefore be amended accordingly. 

(8) 

The Standing Committee on Plant Health has not delivered an opinion within the time 
limit set by its Chairman,  

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: 

Directive 2000/29/EC is amended as follows: 

Article 1 

1. 

2. 

1 

In Annex IV, Part A, section I, point 2, the following paragraph is added at the end of 
the right hand column: 

“The  first  indent,  requiring  wood  packaging  material  to  be  made  from  debarked 
round wood, shall only apply from 1 March 2006.” 

In Annex IV, Part A, section I, point 8, the following paragraph is added at the end of 
the right hand column: 

“The  first  line  of  point  (a),  requiring  wood  packaging  material  to  be  made  from 
debarked round wood, shall only apply from 1 March 2006.” 

Article 2 

Member States shall adopt and publish, by 28 February 2005 at the latest, the laws, 
regulations  and  administrative  provisions  necessary  to  comply  with  this  Directive. 
They  shall  forthwith  communicate  to  the  Commission  the  text  of  those  provisions 
and a correlation table between those provisions and this Directive. 

They shall apply those provisions from 1 March 2005. 

When  Member  States  adopt  those  provisions,  they  shall  contain  a  reference  to  this 
Directive  or  shall  be  accompanied  by  such  a  reference  on  the  occasion  of  their 
official  publication.  Member  States  shall  determine  how  such  a  reference  is  to  be 
made. 

2. 

Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main provisions 
of national law which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive. 

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This Directive shall enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the 
Official Journal of the European Union. 

Article 3 

Article 4 

This Directive is addressed to the Member States. 

Done at Brussels,  

For the Council 
The President 

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