Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2017/198
of 2 February 2017
as regards measures to prevent the introduction into and the spread within the Union of Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae Takikawa, Serizawa, Ichikawa, Tsuyumu & Goto
(notified under document C(2017) 460)
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
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 Community1, and in particular the third sentence of Article 16(3) thereof,
Whereas:
Commission Implementing Decision 2012/756/EU2 provided for measures to prevent the introduction into and the spread within the Union of Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae Takikawa, Serizawa, Ichikawa, Tsuyumu & Goto, hereinafter ‘the specified organism’, the causal agent of kiwi canker. That Implementing Decision expired on 31 March 2016.
Several Member States requested that the measures of Implementing Decision 2012/756/EU continue to apply, due to the ongoing phytosanitary risk posed by the specified organism. For this reason, the same measures, as the measures set out in that Implementing Decision, should be adopted concerning the introduction into the Union of plants for planting of Actinidia Lindl. (hereinafter ‘the specified plants’) from third countries, as well as their movement within the Union.
Moreover, experience gained during the application of Implementing Decision 2012/756/EU shows that, as equivalent alternatives to visual inspections, destruction of all specified plants or individual testing thereof also constitute appropriate measures to prevent the spread of the specified organism within certain zones, and that those measures provide an equally efficient response in the case of an outbreak of the specified organism, therefore those measures should also be allowed for specified plants originating in the Union or in third countries. In addition, that experience also shows that a zone of a width of 100 m, instead of 500 m, around a pest free place or pest free site of production, with a degree of isolation and protection from the outside environment that effectively excludes the specified organism, is sufficient for achieving the objectives of this Decision.
Member States should, if necessary, adapt their legislation in order to comply with this Decision.
This Decision should apply until 31 March 2020 to allow time to monitor the evolution of the situation.
The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: