2003/766/EC: Commission Decision of 24 October 2003 on emergency measures to prevent the spread within the Community of Diabrotica virgifera Le Conte (notified under document number C(2003) 3880)

Commission Decision
of 24 October 2003
on emergency measures to prevent the spread within the Community of Diabrotica virgifera Le Conte
(notified under document number C(2003) 3880)
(2003/766/EC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
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 Community(1), as last amended by Commission Directive 2003/47/EC(2), and in particular Article 16(3), third sentence thereof,
Whereas:
(1) France and Austria informed the other Member States and the Commission in 2002 of outbreaks of Diabrotica virgifera Le Conte (hereinafter referred to as "the organism") for the first time in their respective territories and of the measures taken to control them.
(2) In 2002, monitoring was conducted in areas in Italy already infested by the organism, in particular in areas of maize monoculture and at potential introduction places of the organism such as airports and customs stations. It appears that eradication measures taken in the Veneto region proved to be effective to contain the organism and population levels of the organism have decreased; in Lombardia and Piemonte many adults of the organism were captured in different provinces, whilst an outbreak was detected for the first time in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region.
(3) A recent Community research study on the establishment potential of the organism within the Community has demonstrated that the main factors of establishment, like trophic and climate conditions, are present in the Community.
(4) Moreover, from that study, it became apparent that the organism and its damaging effects could be of significant plant health concern to the Community maize production, because of the potential of economic loss, the potential for increased reliance on insecticides and the challenge to find an alternative crop to maize in the rotation circle.
(5) Directive 2000/29/EC prohibits the introduction into and the spread within the Community of the organism only. However no Community measures are available when new outbreaks are recorded by Member States in free areas or when the organism is detected in an early stage of development of the population. Consequently such measures should be defined, with the aim of eradication of the organism within a reasonable period of time.
(6) Those measures should include general surveying for the presence of the organism in the Member States.
(7) The measures should apply to control the spread within the Community of the organism, the delimitation of demarcated zones, the movement of host plants, soil and machinery, as well as to crop rotation in demarcated zones.
(8) It is appropriate that the results of such measures be continuously assessed, and possible subsequent measures be considered in the light of the results of that assessment.
(9) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plant Health,