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2012/535/EU: Commission Implementing Decision of 26 September 2012 on emergency measures to prevent the spread within the Union of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner et Buhrer) Nickle et al. (the pine wood nematode) (notified under document C(2012) 6543)

2012/535/EU: Commission Implementing Decision of 26 September 2012 on emergency measures to prevent the spread within the Union of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner et Buhrer) Nickle et al. (the pine wood nematode) (notified under document C(2012) 6543)

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 Community(1), and in particular Article 16(3) fourth sentence thereof,

Whereas:

  1. Commission Decision 2006/133/EC(2) requires Member States temporarily to take additional measures against the dissemination of pine wood nematode (PWN) as regards areas in Portugal, other than those in which it is known not to occur. PWN outbreaks in Spain and repeated interceptions by other Member States of PWN-infested pine wood, wood packaging material and bark from Portugal show that the risk has increased that PWN might spread out of areas in Portugal, in which PWN is known to occur. The economic, social and environmental impact of PWN spread across the Union would be unacceptably large. It is therefore appropriate to extend the scope of the measures concerning PWN to all Member States.

  2. With a view to prevent PWN introduction and spread, Member States should carry out annual surveys for the presence of PWN in areas where it is not known to occur and adopt contingency plans to be prepared for findings of the presence of PWN.

  3. In case PWN is found to be present in an area where it was not known to occur, Member States should demarcate the areas where eradication measures are to be applied. Those measures should include precautionary felling of susceptible plants in the infested zone and in a zone with a radius of 500 m around the plants infested with PWN, together with intensified surveillance for the presence of PWN throughout the demarcated area.

  4. Where a Member State concludes that the felling of susceptible plants up to 500 m from the plants infested with PWN would be disproportionate, for example when the affected zone includes areas protected in accordance with Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora(3) and Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds(4), alternative risk management options should be available involving a reduced amount of felling of susceptible plants. In that case, alternative safeguards should be provided to ensure an equivalent level of mitigation of the risk of spread of PWN.

  5. The main objective of measures concerning PWN should be eradication, with containment being allowed only in areas where eradication is not a feasible goal. In order to ensure that eradication is achieved where possible, Member States should implement eradication measures for as a minimum of four years. However, where eradication is impossible, Member States should, in certain cases, be allowed to apply containment measures even before the expiry of the four-year period.

  6. Member States should communicate the eradication and containment measures that they have taken or have decided to take to the Commission and the other Member States.

  7. The operators concerned and the public should be informed about eradication and containment measures taken.

  8. Movements of susceptible plants and susceptible wood and bark within demarcated areas and out of those areas should be subject to certain restrictions. Member States should carry out checks on whether those prohibitions and restrictions are complied with and, where relevant, impose corrective measures.

  9. Where the restrictions concerning movement of susceptible wood and bark include requirements for treatment of such wood and bark, Member States should authorise and supervise facilities which are adequately equipped to carry out such treatment and to issue plant passports or to mark treated susceptible wood or bark. Rules should be set out for the authorisation and supervision of such facilities. Rules should also be set out for the authorisation and supervision of wood packaging material producers that apply such marking.

  10. Member States and operators should have access to information concerning those authorised facilities. The Commission should therefore set up and maintain a list of authorised treatment facilities and authorised wood packaging material producers.

  11. Decision 2006/133/EC should therefore be repealed.

  12. This Decision should be reviewed after three years to take account of the technical and scientific developments.

  13. The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plant Health,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1 Definitions

For the purposes of this Decision, the following definitions shall apply:

  1. ‘susceptible plants’ means plants (other than fruit and seeds) of Abies Mill., Cedrus Trew, Larix Mill., Picea A. Dietr., Pinus L., Pseudotsuga Carr. and Tsuga Carr.;

  2. ‘susceptible wood’ means wood of conifers (Coniferales), with the exception of sawn wood and logs of Taxus L. and Thuja L.;

  3. ‘susceptible bark’ means bark of conifers (Coniferales);

  4. ‘place of production’ means any premises operated as a single production unit. This may include production sites which are separately managed for phytosanitary purposes;

  5. ‘vector’ means beetles belonging to the genus Monochamus Megerle in Dejean, 1821;

  6. ‘flight season of the vector’ means the period from 1 April to 31 October, except where there is technical-scientific justification for a different duration of the flight season of the vector, taking into account a safety margin of four additional weeks at the beginning and at the end of the expected flight season;

  7. ‘wood packaging material’ means wood or wood products used in supporting, protecting or carrying a commodity, in the form of packing cases, boxes, crates, drums and similar packings, pallets, box pallets and other load boards, pallet collars and dunnage, whether or not actually in use in the transport of objects. Processed wood produced by glue, heat or pressure or a combination thereof and packaging material entirely composed of wood of 6 mm of thickness or less are excluded.

Article 2 Surveys in areas in which PWN is not known to occur

1.

Member States shall annually conduct surveys for Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner et Buhrer) Nickle et al. (the pine wood nematode), hereinafter ‘PWN’, on susceptible plants, susceptible wood and bark and on the vector, and determine whether there is any evidence of the presence of PWN in their territory in areas in which PWN was previously not known to occur.

Those surveys shall consist of the collection and laboratory testing of samples of susceptible plants, susceptible wood and bark and vectors. The number of samples shall be determined in accordance with sound scientific and technical principles.

2.

Member States shall communicate to the Commission a description of the surveys referred to in paragraph 1 setting out the number of survey sites, the areas to be surveyed and the number of samples to be subjected to laboratory testing each year. That description shall indicate the scientific and technical principles on which those surveys are based.

That description shall be communicated to the Commission by 1 March of the year in which the surveys are to be conducted.

3.

Each Member State shall communicate the results of the surveys referred to in paragraph 1 to the Commission and to the other Member States by 1 March of the year following the year in which the surveys were conducted.

Article 3 Laboratory testing

Laboratory testing for the presence of PWN in susceptible plants, susceptible wood and bark and vectors shall be carried out according to the diagnostic protocol for Bursaphelenchus xylophilus provided in EPPO Standard PM7/4(2)(5). The methods in that standard may be supplemented or replaced with scientifically validated molecular diagnostic methods shown to have at least a sensitivity and reliability equal to those in the EPPO standard.

Article 4 Contingency plans

1.

By 31 December 2013 each Member State shall establish a plan setting out the actions to be taken in its territory in accordance with Articles 5 to 16, in case of a confirmed presence or a suspicion of the presence of PWN, hereinafter ‘the contingency plan’.

2.

The contingency plan shall set out the following:

  1. the roles and responsibilities of the bodies involved and the single authority in those actions;

  2. rules on the communication of those actions between the bodies involved, the Single Authority, the concerned private sector and the public;

  3. rules on laboratory testing; and

  4. rules on training of personnel of the bodies involved in those actions.

3.

Member States shall provide for the evaluation and review of their contingency plans.

4.

Member States shall communicate their contingency plans to the Commission at its request.

Article 5 Demarcated areas

Article 6 Eradication

Article 7 Containment

Article 8 Information of the operators and the public

Article 9 Communication on national measures

Article 10 Movement of susceptible plants and susceptible wood and bark within the Union

Article 11 Checks concerning movements from demarcated areas to areas other than demarcated areas and from infested zones to buffer zones

Article 12 Measures in case of non-compliance with Article 10

Article 13 Authorisation of treatment facilities

Article 14 Marking authorisation

Article 15 Supervision of authorised treatment facilities and authorised wood packaging material producers

Article 16 Withdrawal of authorisations of authorised treatment facilities and authorised wood packaging material producers

Article 17 List of authorised treatment facilities and authorised wood packaging material producers

Article 18 Repeal

Article 19 Review

Article 20 Date of application

Article 21 Addressees

ANNEX I

ANNEX II

ANNEX III