No L 275/40 Official Journal of the European Communities 5. 10. 90 COMMISSION DECISION of 26 September 1990 authorizing France provisionally to provide for derogations from certain provisions of Council Directive 77/93/EEC in respect of plants of Picea A. originating in the United States of America (Only the French text is authentic) (90/494/EEC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, Having fegard to Council Directive 77/93/EEC of 21 December 1976 on protective measures against the intro- duction into the Member States of organisms harmful to plants or plant products ('), as last amended by Directive 90/490/EEC (3, and in particular Article 14 (3) thereof, Having regard to the request made by France, Whereas, under the provisions of Directive 77/93/EEC, plants of Picea A, other than fruit and seeds, originating in non-European countries, may in principle not be intro- duced into the Community; Whereas, however, Article 14 (3) of the abovementioned Directive permits derogations from that rule, provided that it is established that there is no risk of spreading harmful organisms ; Whereas France wishes to import such plants in a limited quantity for trial purposes; Whereas it has appeared that at present plants of the cultivar concerned of Picea glauca (Mnch.) Voss are only available in. the United States of America; Whereas the Commission has established on the basis of information available at present that the risk of spreading harmful organisms, in particular non-European Pissodes spp. Chrysomyxa. arctostaphyli Diet, Melampsora medusae Thim, Poria weirii Murr and Arceuthobium, through the introduction on plants of Picea glauca (Mnch.) Voss originating in the United States of America for the aforementioned purpose is obviated provided that certain technical conditions are satisfied ; Whereas France should therefore be authorized to provide for derogations in respect of plants of Picea glauca (Mnch.) Voss subject to certain special conditions and only for a period necessary for the purposes of the trial ; Whereas the measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plant Health, () OJ No L 26, 31. 1. 1977, p. 20. (% OJ No L 271, 3. 10. 1990, p. 28. HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION : Article 1 1. France is hereby authorized to provide, under the conditions laid down in paragraph 2, for derogations from Article 4 (1) of Directive 77/93/EEC, with regard to Annex III (A) (1), for plants of Picea A, other.than fruit and seeds, originating in the United States of America. 2. For the purpose of paragraph 1, the following condi- tions shall be satisfied : (a) the plants shall be of the species Picea glauca and of the cultivar carrying the code ‘US 1’ ; the consignment shall not exceed the quantity of 1000 plants; (b) the plants shall have been grown in nurseries controlled by the official plant protection organization of the United States of America; {c) the plants shall : — have a maximum age of three years, — be bare-rooted without any adhering or associated growing medium ; (d) the plants shall be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued in the United States of America in accordance with Article 7 of Directive 77/93/EEC on the basis of the examination laid down in Article 6 of the said Directive relating to the conditions laid down therein, in particular freedom from Pissodes spp. (non-European) (Annex I (A) (a) (7c)), Chrysomyxa arctostaphyli Diet. (Annex I (A) (d) (4)), Melampsora medusae Thim (Annex I (A) (d) (13)), Poria weirii Murr (Annex I (A) (d) (16)) and from Arceuthobium spp. (non-European) (Annex I (A) (f)), as well as to freedom from any other harmful organism which is not known to occur in the Community, and as to freedom of these harmful organisms at the place of production or in its immediate vicinity. The certificate shall indicate under ‘Additional Declaration’, the state- ment ‘This consignment meets the conditions laid down in Decision 90/494/EEC.; (e) the plants shall form one single consignment and shall therefore be packed in. closed containers, which have been officially sealed and bear a distinguishing mark to be reproduced on the phytosanitary certifi- cate, enabling the consignment to be identified ;