Commission Recommendation of 11 August 2006 on containment programmes to limit the further spread of Diabrotica virgifera Le Conte in Community areas where its presence is confirmed
Date: 2006-08-11
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, maize, parasitology, plant disease, plant health control, plant health legislation, protection of plant life

L 225/30

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

17.8.2006

COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION

of 11 August 2006

on containment programmes to limit the further spread of Diabrotica virgifera Le Conte in
Community areas where its presence is confirmed

(2006/565/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty
establishing the European
Community, and in particular the second indent of Article
211 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

Commission Decision 2003/766/EC of 24 October 2003
on emergency measures to prevent the spread within the
Community of Diabrotica virgifera Le Conte (1)
(the
organism) provides for restrictions on growing maize
in areas that were previously known to be free from
the organism but where the organism has been found,
as well as in areas where the organism is already estab-
lished.

According to Article 4a(2) of Decision 2003/766/EC,
Member States can organise containment programmes
on a yearly basis
in the infested zones and their
vicinity to limit the spread of the organism from the
infested zones into areas that are free from the organism.

In order to facilitate a coordinated approach for those
containment programmes, technical guidance should be
provided.

The containment programmes should be based on sound
scientific principles, the biology of the organism, the level
of the infestation and the particular production system of
maize in the Member State concerned.

In developing the technical guidance, account has been
taken of the work and the experiences of the responsible
official bodies in the Member States as regards the
control of the organism.

The technical guidance provided for in this Recommen-
dation is in accordance with the opinion of the Standing
Committee on Plant Health,

HEREBY RECOMMENDS:

scientific principles, the biology of the organism, the level of
the infestation, and the particular production system of
maize in the Member State concerned.

The delimitation of infested zones should be reviewed when,
in at least two consecutive years, similar results as regards
the absence or presence of the organism have been obtained
in the
referred to in Article 2 of Decision
2003/766/EC.

surveys

2. For the purpose of the implementation of the containment
programmes
referred to in Article 4a(2) of Decision
2003/766/EC, Member States should take account of the
following principles:

(a) Measures to limit the spread of the organism from the
infested zones into areas that are free from the organism
(containment measures). They should be established in a
zone (containment zone) which should extend for at
least 10 km within the infested zone and at least 30
km into the non-infested zone.

In the containment zone, Member States should ensure
that in the maize fields:

— crop rotation is organised in such a way that maize is
grown not more than once during any period of two
consecutive years, or

— crop rotation takes place in such a way that maize
can be grown twice in any period of three conse-
cutive years and, linked to a local prediction system
for the development of the organism, at least one of
these maize crops is sown only after the emergence
of the larvae, or

1. The exact delimitation of infested zones referred to in Article
4a(1) of Decision 2003/766/EC should be based on sound

(1) OJ L 275, 25.10.2003, p. 49. Decision as amended by Decision

2006/564/EC (see page 28 of this Official Journal).

— crop rotation takes place in such a way that maize
can be grown twice in any period of three conse-
cutive years, each time in combination with efficient
insecticide treatments against adults or any other
measures or treatments resulting in a similar level
of control of the organism.

17.8.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 225/31

(b) Measures, based upon area-wide pest management in the
rest of the infested zone, to mitigate the possibilities for
the further spread of
the organism and to ensure a
sustainable production of maize (suppression measures).

account the local circumstances and the characteristics of
the containment zone.

Done at Brussels, 11 August 2006.

(c) The presence of the organism in the non-infested part of
the containment zone should be monitored intensively
taking into
using appropriate sex pheromone traps,

For the Commission

Markos KYPRIANOU
Member of the Commission