L 18/30 Official Journal of the European Communities 23. 1. 98 COMMISSION DECISION of 12 January 1998 authorising certain Member States to provide for derogations from certain provisions of Council Directive 77/93/EEC in respect of seed potatoes originating in Canada (Only the Spanish, Greek, Italian and Portuguese texts are authentic) (98/92/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 97/14/EC (3), and in particular Article 14(1) thereof, Having regard to the request made by Italy and Portugal, Whereas, pursuant to the provisions of Directive 77/93/EEC, seed potato tubers originating in the American continent may not, in principle, be introduced into the Community; Whereas, however, Directive 77/93/EEC permits deroga- tions from that rule, provided that it is established that there is no risk of spreading harmful organisms; Whereas in Italy and Portugal the planting and growing of seed potatoes of certain North American varieties for ware potato production has been an established practice; whereas part of the supply of seed potatoes of these vari- eties has been ensured by imports from Canada; Whereas, by Decisions 96/6/EC (°) and 97/89/EC (*), the Commission approved derogations based on the concept of ‘area freedom’, subject to certain technical conditions to prevent the risk of harmful organisms spreading; whereas that approval expired on 31 March 1997; whereas the Commission also provided that those derogations would provide for the opportunity to seek confirmation of the proper functioning of the concept of ‘area freedom’; Whereas it is known that Canada is still not completely free from potato spindle tuber viroid or from Clavibacter 6, 31. 1. 1977, p. 20. 7, 2. 4. 1997, p. 17. . 4. 1. 1996, p. 24. 7, 30. 1. 1997, p. 45. michiganensis (Smith) Davis er al ssp. sepedonicus (Spieckermann et Kotthoff) Davis er al; Whereas information supplied by Canada has shown that Canada has further developed its programme to eradicate these harmful organisms in the provinces of New Bruns- wick and Prince Edward Island; whereas there are good reasons to believe that the programme to eradicate potato spindle tuber viroid has become fully effective in those provinces, and that the programme to eradicate Clavi- bacter michiganensis ssp. sepedonicus has become largely effective in certain areas of Prince Edward Island; whereas there had been no confirmed findings of the disease on samples drawn from seed potatoes originating in Prince Edward Island and introduced pursuant to Decision 97/89/EC; whereas therefore it has not been established that there are sufficient elements which would militate against the proper functioning of the aforementioned concept of ‘area freedom’ in Prince Edward Island and therefore against the recognition of the provisions imple- mented there as equivalent to the Community provisions on combating Clavibacter michiganensis spp. sepedo- nicus, Whereas, however, Italy informed the Commission on 14 March 1996 that a sample drawn from seed potatoes imported pursuant to Decision 96/6/EC and originating in New Brunswick was identified as infected by Clavi- bacter michiganensis ssp. sepedonicus; whereas, as the source of infection could not be identified, and as a precaution, the recognition of the ‘area freedom’ concept in the province of New Brunswick was temporarily suspended, resulting in a temporary prohibition of the import of seed potatoes from this province, in order to enable the Canadian authorities to complete their invest- igation in respect of the source of the said infection; Whereas, the Canadian authorities officially informed the Commission that Clavibacter michiganensis ssp. sepedo- nicus had not been found in potatoes in an extensive traceback and testing procedure linked to the farm which had been placed under suspicion as a result of the finding of Clavibacter michiganensis ssp. sepedonicus in the said