2008/644/EC: Commission Decision of 25 July 2008 amending Decision 2003/766/EC on emergency measures to prevent the spread within the Community of Diabrotica virgifera Le Conte (notified under document number C(2008) 3813)

6.8.2008 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 209/13
COMMISSION DECISION
of 25 July 2008
amending Decision 2003/766/EC on emergency measures to prevent the spread within the Community of Diabrotica virgifera Le Conte
(notified under document number C(2008) 3813)
(2008/644/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), and in particular the fourth sentence of Article 16(3) thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Commission Decision 2003/766/EC (2) requires Member States to take emergency measures against the dissemination within the Community of Diabrotica virgifera Le Conte (hereinafter referred to as ‘the organism’).
(2) The implementation of the emergency measures was evaluated by the Standing Committee on Plant Health of 26 and 27 February 2008 on the basis of information from official surveys carried out by Member States in 2007. It was concluded that in the case of emergency measures for the eradication of the organism in areas where only a very limited number of specimens of the organism were found, measures applied during a period of two years may be sufficient to eradicate it. It should therefore be provided for that those measures may be limited to a period of two years, where appropriate.
(3) Decision 2003/766/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.
(4) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plant Health,