Commission Directive 2008/109/EC of 28 November 2008 amending Annex IV 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
Date: 2008-11-28
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: health certificate, health risk, nuisance, plant disease, plant health control, surveillance concerning imports

L 319/68

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

29.11.2008

COMMISSION DIRECTIVE 2008/109/EC

of 28 November 2008

amending Annex IV 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

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
their spread within the Community (1), and in
and against
particular point
the second paragraph of Article 14
thereof,

(d) of

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Special requirements for wood packaging material and
wood used to wedge or
support non-wood cargo
introduced into the Community are set out in Annex
IV to Directive 2000/29/EC. They are based on the
FAO International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures
(ISPM) No 15 on ‘Guidelines
regulating wood
packaging material in international trade’ (2).

for

In addition to the requirements approved under ISPM No
15, Annex IV to Directive 2000/29/EC includes a
requirement that imported wood packaging material be
that
made from debarked wood. The application of
debarking requirement has been postponed twice.

The Community has requested that
reviewed to include
Community’s concern about
presence of bark on such wood packaging material
international trade.

ISPM No 15 be
addressing the
the risk posed by the
in

requirement

a

tionally recognised forestry experts, has now analysed the
available research data on the phytosanitary risk posed by
bark on wood packaging material. The TPFQ concluded
that there is technical justification to require that wood
packaging material in international trade should be free
from bark with a precisely defined tolerance level for the
presence of small pieces of bark ensuring that the phyto­
sanitary risk is kept to an acceptable level and that such
requirement should be included in the revised ISPM
No 15.

for

In order to protect the territory of the Community from
the introduction of harmful organisms the Community
requirements
the presence of bark on wood
packaging material and dunnage should be brought in
line with the TPFQ technical
conclusions without
waiting for the adoption of a revised ISPM No 15 by
the IPPC Commission on Phytosanitary Measures.

is

therefore appropriate to adapt

It
the debarking
requirement to that technically justified tolerance level
for the presence of bark.

(5)

(6)

(7)

Annex IV to Directive 2000/29/EC should therefore be
amended accordingly.

(8)

amending Annex

The requirement that wood packaging material be made
from debarked round wood introduced by Commission
Directive 2006/14/EC (3)
IV to
Directive 2000/29/EC will apply from 1 January 2009.
It is therefore necessary that the measures provided for in
this Directive also apply from 1 January 2009. However,
in order to allow third countries to make the necessary
adaptations it is appropriate to provide that the bark
requirement should apply as from 1 July 2009.

(4)

The Technical Panel on Forest Quarantine (TPFQ), estab­
lished under
the International Plant
Protection Convention (IPPC) and composed of interna­

the auspices of

(9)

The measures provided for
accordance with
Committee on Plant Health,

the

in this Directive are in
Standing
the

of

opinion

(1) OJ L 169, 10.7.2000, p. 1.
(2) ISPM No 15, March 2002, FAO, Rome.

(3) OJ L 34, 7.2.2006, p. 24.

29.11.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 319/69

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

Annex IV to Directive 2000/29/EC is amended in accordance
with the text in the Annex to this Directive.

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.

Article 3

Article 2

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

the latest,

1. Member States shall adopt and publish, by 31 December
2008 at
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.

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Article 4

They shall apply those provisions from 1 January 2009.

Done at Brussels, 28 November 2008.

When Member States adopt those provisions, they shall contain
a reference to this Directive or 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.

For the Commission

Androulla VASSILIOU
Member of the Commission

L 319/70

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

29.11.2008

In Annex IV, Part A, Section I to Directive 2000/29/EC is amended as follows:

ANNEX

1. point 2 is replaced by the following:

‘2. Wood packaging material,

in the form of packing cases, boxes,
crates, drums and similar packings, pallets, box pallets and other
load boards, pallet collars, actually in use in the transport of
objects of all kinds, except raw wood of 6 mm thickness or
less, and processed wood produced by glue, heat and pressure,
or a combination thereof, coming from third countries, except
Switzerland.

2. point 8 is replaced by the following:

‘8. Wood used to wedge or support non-wood cargo, including that
which has not kept its natural round surface, except raw wood of
6 mm thickness or less and processed wood produced by glue,
heat and pressure, or a combination thereof, coming from third
countries, except Switzerland.

The wood packaging material shall:

— be free from bark with the exception of any number of individual
pieces of bark if they are either less than 3 cm in width (regardless
of the length) or, if greater than 3 cm in width, of not more than 50
cm2 in area, and

— be subject to one of the approved treatments as specified in Annex I
to FAO International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures No 15 on
Guidelines for regulating wood packaging material in international trade,
and

— display a mark as specified in Annex II

to FAO International
Standard for Phytosanitary Measures No 15 on Guidelines for regu­
lating wood packaging material in international trade, indicating that the
wood packaging material has been subjected to an approved phyto­
sanitary treatment.

The first indent shall only apply from 1 July 2009.’

The wood shall:

— be free from bark with the exception of any number of individual
pieces of bark if they are either less than 3 cm in width (regardless
of the length) or, if greater than 3 cm in width, of not more than
50 cm2 in area, and

— be subject to one of the approved treatments as specified in Annex I
to FAO International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures No 15 on
Guidelines for regulating wood packaging material in international trade,
and

— display a mark as specified in Annex II

to FAO International
Standard for Phytosanitary Measures No 15 on Guidelines for regu­
lating wood packaging material in international trade, indicating that the
wood has been subjected to an approved phytosanitary treatment.

The first indent shall only apply from 1 July 2009.’