L 225/34 Official Journal of the European Communities 12.8.98 COMMISSION DECISION of 11 August 1998 amending Decision 96/301/EC and authorising Member States temporarily to take emergency measures against the dissemination of Pseudomonas solana- cearum (Smith) Smith as regards Egypt (notified under document number C(1998) 2480) (98/503/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Directive 77/93/EEC of 21 December 1976 on protective measures against the intro- duction into the Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products and against their spread within the Community ('), as last amended by Directive 98/2/ EC (3, and in particular Article 15(3) thereof, Whereas, where a Member State considers that there is an imminent danger of the introduction into its territory of Pseudomonas solanacearum (Smith) Smith, the cause of potato brown rot, from a third country, it may temporarily take any additional measures necessary to protect itself from that danger; Whereas in 1996, on the basis of continued interceptions of Pseudomonas solanacearum (Smith) Smith in potatoes originating in Egypt, several Member States — France, Finland, Spain and Denmark — adopted measures to implement a ban on potatoes originating in Egypt, with a view to ensuring more efficient protection against the introduction of Pseudomonas solanacearum from Egypt into their respective territories; Whereas the Commission, by Decision 96/301/EC (3, authorised Member States temporarily to take additional measures against the dissemination of Pseudomonas sola- nacearum (Smith) Smith as regards Egypt; whereas furthermore as a result of considerable numbers of inter- ceptions of Pseudomonas solanacearum (Smith) Smith on imports of potatoes originating in Egypt during the import season 1996/97, Decision 96/301/EC was amended and further strengthened by Decision 98/105/ EC(* and the import into the Community of potatoes originating in Egypt was banned unless the emergency measures against the dissemination of Pseudomonas sola- nacearum (Smith) Smith as laid down in the Annex to the said Decision were complied with; () OJ L 26, 31. 1. 1977, p. 20. () OJ L 15, 21. 1. 1998, p. 34. () OJ L 115, 9. 5. 1996, p. 47. () OJ L 25, 31. 1. 1998, p. 101. Whereas during the 1997/98 import season, Finland, on the basis of continued interceptions of Pseudomonas solanacearum in potatoes originating in Egypt adopted on 2 April 1998 measures to implement a ban on pota- toes originating in Egypt, with a view to ensuring more efficient protection against the introduction of Pseudo- monas solanacearum from Egypt into Finland; Whereas Denmark adopted on 9 May 1998 similar meas- ures against the introduction of that organism into Denmark; Whereas, therefore it has become apparent that the strengthened measures laid down in Decision 98/105/EC are not sufficient to prevent the entry of Pseudomonas solanacearum (Smith) Smith or have not been complied with; whereas, in particular, the operation of a ‘qualified area’, in which no outbreak of Pseudomonas solana- cearum (Smith) Smith has occurred, seems to be insuffi- cient to prevent such a risk of entry and should be altered to operate on the basis of ‘pest-free area’ in which Pseudo- monas solanacearum (Smith) Smith is known not to occur, as established by official surveys and monitoring procedures in accordance with the ‘FAO International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures Part 4: Pest Surveil- lance — Requirements for the Establishment of Pest-free Areas’; Whereas in such a situation the import into the Community of potatoes originating in Egypt should be prohibited until the Commission establishes that such ‘pest-free areas’ have been approved in Egypt in accord- ance with the said FAO International Standard; Whereas the Commission will ensure that Egypt makes available all technical information in relation to surveying and monitoring for the approval of such ‘pest-free areas’ in accordance with the said FAO International Standard in order to enable the Commission to carry out the neces- sary assessment for its aforesaid action; Whereas the effects of the emergency measures will be assessed continually, in the import season 1998/99, and whereas if it is established that the conditions laid down in this Decision have not been complied with, the consequences should be specified;