Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2012)355 - Amendment of Council Decision 2008/971/EC as regards the inclusion of forest reproductive material of the 'qualified' category within the scope of that Decision - Main contents
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| dossier | COM(2012)355 - Amendment of Council Decision 2008/971/EC as regards the inclusion of forest reproductive material of the 'qualified' ... |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2012)355  |
| date | 02-07-2012 |
Council Directive 1999/105/EC on the marketing of forest reproductive material i regulates the internal marketing of reproductive material of the plant species as listed by that Directive. To facilitate trades and to promptly respond to the marketing request, that Directive foresees the possibility for the Council to establish rules for authorising the importation of reproductive material from third countries under an equivalence system.
Contents
Member States and stakeholders proposed to the Commission to submit this updating to facilitate trades, in particular the importation of forest reproductive material and to promptly respond to the marketing request in particular for fast growing tree plantations intended for energy/biomass production.
Council Decision 2008/971/EC i provided the list of countries to be recognised for the application of the equivalence principle for importation and determined conditions under which forest reproductive material of the source identified and selected categories produced in those countries shall be imported in the Union. Based on new information received from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) about the adoption of an updated OECD Scheme for the certification of Forest Reproductive Material Moving in International Trades also material officially certified under the category qualified by the third country authorities listed by that Decision shall be considered equivalent to seed and plant stock complying with Directive 1999/105/EC, provided that the conditions laid down in Annex II of that Decision are satisfied. It should be appropriate to add the category qualified to the source identified and selected categories.
According to information provided by the above mentioned OECD Scheme (Annex – List of National Designated Authorities in member Countries of the Scheme), the names of the authorities responsible for the approval and control of the production of Croatia (HR), Norway (NO), Serbia (SR), Turkey (TR) and USA (US), as listed in Annex I to Council Decision 2008/971/EC, have changed. In this view, Annex I of that Decision should be amended accordingly.
In Annex II an additional condition specific for the category qualified must be added to permit the harmonized implementation of Directive 2001/18/EC on the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms and repealing Council Directive 90/220/EEC[3]. This would be necessary to ensure that, as set out in Article 3 i of that Decision, the respective seed and planting stock officially certified by those authorities is considered equivalent to seed and planting stock complying with Directive 1999/105/EC.