Official Journal of the European Communities 93 17.4.68 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 93/15 COUNCIL DIRECTIVE “of 9 April 1968 on the marketing of material for the vegetative propagation of the vine (68/193/EEC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 43 thereof; Having regard to the proposal from the Commission; Having regard to the Opinion of the European Par- liament!;’ After consulting the Economic and Social Committee; Whereas the production of wine and table grapes occupies an important place in the agriculture of the European Economic Community; Whereas satisfactory results in vine cultivation de- pend to a large extent on the use of appropriate propagation material; whereas to this end certain Member States have for some time restricted the marketing of vine vegetative propagation material to high quality wood ‘and young plants; whereas those States have been able to take advantage of the systematic plant selection work carried out over sev- eral decades which has resulted in the development of stable and uniform vine varieties which, by reason of their characters, promise to be of great value for the purposes in view; Whereas greater productivity will be achieved in the Community vine cultivation if for the choice of the varieties permitted to be marketed the Member States apply uniform rules which are as strict as possible; Whereas it is however justifiable to restrict market- ing to certain varieties only if the vine grower can be sure of actually .obtaining propagation material of those varieties; 1 OJ No 156, 15.7.1967, p. 30. Whereas certain Member States have for this pur- pose been applying certification schemes which are intended by official control to ensure varietal iden- tty and purity, and health status, particularly as regards virus diseases; whereas these schemes may constitute one of the bases for a uniform Community certification scheme; Whereas such a scheme should apply to the market- ing both in other Member States and on domestic markets of propagation material produced within the Community; Whereas, as a general rule, propagation material in- tended for the production of grapes or for the pro- duction of propagation material should be allowed to be marketed only if it has been officially examined and certified, in accordance with the rules for certi- fication, as basic material or certified material; whereas the choice of the technical terms ‘basic ma- terial’ and ‘certified material’ is based on already existing international terminology and on the Com- munity schemes for other genera and species of plant; Whereas it would be’ desirable to restrict marketing to certified vine propagation material obtained by clonal selection; whereas, however, it is at present impossible to attain this objective since Community requirements could not be entirely covered by such material; whereas, therefore, the marketing of checked standard material which must also possess identity and varietal purity but which does not always afford the same assurances as propagation material obtained by clonal selection should be al- lowed provisionally; whereas, however, this category should gradually be eliminated; Whereas, if vines are not propagated or if propa- gation material is not marketed in a Member State, it scems justifiable to exempt that State from the ob- ligation to arrange for certification or for checking