Commission Decision

of 19 September 2002

on provisional emergency phytosanitary measures to prevent the introduction into and the spread within the Community of Phytophthora ramorum Werres, De Cock & Man in 't Veld sp. nov.

(notified under document number C(2002) 3380)

(2002/757/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 2002/36/EC(2), and in particular Article 16(3), third sentence thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Where a Member State considers that there is a danger of introduction into or spread within its territory of a harmful organism not listed in Annex I or Annex II to Directive 2000/29/EC, it may temporarily take any additional measures necessary to protect itself from that danger.

(2) The United Kingdom informed the other Member States and the Commission on 29 April 2002 of outbreaks of Phytophthora ramorum Werres, De Cock & Man in 't Veld sp. nov. (hereinafter referred to as: ‘the harmful organism’) on its territory and adopted on 13 May 2002 additional measures to prevent the introduction into and the spread within the Community of the harmful organism. The Netherlands and Germany also reported on 29 April 2002 outbreaks of the organism in their respective territories.

(3) The harmful organism is currently not listed in Annex I or II to Directive 2000/29/EC. However, a preliminary pest-risk analysis based on available scientific information has demonstrated that the harmful organism and its damaging effects could be of significant plant-health concern to the Community, in particular the non-European isolates only present in the United States of America for the oak trees in the Community and the European isolates for ornamental plants such as Rhododendron spp. and Viburnum spp. The relevant services in the Member States have been asked to continue scientific work on the risk of the non-European isolates for the oak trees in the Community, the epidemiology of the harmful organism and the potential host plants.

(4) It is therefore necessary to take provisional emergency phytosanitary measures against the introduction into and spread within the Community of the harmful organism.

(5) Those measures should apply to the introduction or the spread of the harmful organism, the production and movement of known host plants of the harmful organism within the Community, the control of the harmful organism and to a more general surveillance for the presence or continued absence of the harmful organism in the Member States. However, it is not necessary to apply such measures to plants of Rhododendron simsii Planch, other than fruit and seeds, because the available information indicates that these plants are not affected by the harmful organism.

(6) The results of the above measures will be regularly assessed in 2002 and 2003, in particular on the basis of information to be provided by the Member States. Possible subsequent measures will be considered in the light of the results of that assessment, and the scientific opinion delivered by the Member States.

(7) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plant Health,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: