Introductory text

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^f1, and in particular the fourth sentence of Article 16(3) thereof,

Whereas:

Since the adoption of Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/789^f2, and until February 2016, several outbreaks of Xylella fastidiosa (Wells et al.) (hereinafter ‘the specified organism’) in different parts of the area surrounding the province of Lecce have been notified by Italy to the Commission. Those outbreaks have taken place in many different municipalities located in the provinces of Taranto and Brindisi. Furthermore, the last audit carried out by the Commission in November 2015 confirmed that the survey activities required by Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/789 were conducted only to a very limited extent in the area surrounding the province of Lecce (Apulia region, Italy). That audit also confirmed that the current programme of surveys still does not ensure the timely detection of new outbreaks or the accurate determination of the true extent of the spread of the specified organism in the area.

The last audit confirmed the risk of a rapid spread of the specified organism in the rest of the area concerned. For this reason, and given the size of that area, it is appropriate to expand the infected zone where containment measures may apply beyond the borders of the province of Lecce, and allow the move of specified plants out of that area only under very strict conditions. Such expansion should take place without delay taking into account that the risk of further spreading of the specified organism in the rest of the Union territory increases with the start of the flight season of the insect vectors in early spring. The infected zone should therefore be extended to cover those municipalities, or parts of certain municipalities, of the provinces of Brindisi and Taranto where outbreaks of the specified organism have taken place or where it is likely that that organism is already spread and established. That infected zone, however, should not include the area that has been declared by Italy as free from the specified organism before the adoption of this Decision.

For purposes of legal certainty, the wording of point (c) of Article 7(2) should be amended to make clear that the measures to be taken in accordance with that Article apply in the infected zone and not outside of it.

In order to ensure effective protection of the rest of the Union territory from the specified organism, and in view of the enlargement of the containment area, it is appropriate to replace the surveillance zone with new requirements for surveys in that containment area. Those requirements should apply to an area of a width of 20 km from the borders of the buffer zone and extending into that containment area, and within the surrounding buffer zone of 10 km.

Since the adoption of Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/789, experience has shown that it is disproportionate to apply the same requirements for the movement of specified plants within the infected zones as for their movement out of the infected zones into the buffer zones, because the specified organism is already established in those infected zones.

Since the adoption of Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/789, experience has confirmed that specified plants which are grown for their entire production cycle in vitro, in a sterile medium, do not pose a risk of spreading of the specified organism, because that mode of growth eliminates the risk of infection by precluding the possibility of contact with the vectors of the specified organism. It is therefore appropriate to allow the movement within and the introduction into the Union of those specified plants under certain conditions.

Since the adoption of Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/789, experience with official checks has shown that specified plants originating in areas which are free from the specified organism, should be subject to the same requirements as the specified plants originating in third countries where the specified organism is not present, as regards official checks at introduction into the Union.

Annex I should be amended to include all plant species which, since the adoption of Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/2417^f3 have been identified by the Commission as specified plants.

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: