L 70/26 Official Journal of the European Communities 10. 3. 98 COMMISSION DECISION of 27 February 1998 authorising the Member States exceptionally to provide for derogations from certain provisions of Council Directive 77/93/EEC in respect of plants of Vitis L., other than fruits, originating in Latvia (98/187/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 Commission Directive 98/2/EC (%), and in particular Article 14(1) thereof, Having regard to the requests made by Finland and Sweden, Whereas, under the provisions of Directive 77/93/EEC, plants of Vitis L., other than fruits, originating in third countries, may in principle not be introduced into the Community; Whereas, in respect of the said imports into the Com- munity of the said plants, on the basis of the information supplied by the relevant Member State, it appears that in Latvia, plants of Vitis L. can be grown under adequate health conditions and that there are no sources for the introduction of exotic diseases affecting plants of Vitis L; Whereas, since the plants are not intended for commer- cial growing but for private gardens for ornamental use only, Council Directive 68/193/EEC (°), as last amended by the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden is not applicable; Whereas by Decision 97/111/EC(*) the Commission authorised Member States to provide for derogations in respect of plants of Vitis L., other than fruits, originating in Latvia under specified conditions in the 1997 season; Whereas the circumstances justifying a further authorisa- tion still obtain; Whereas the measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plant Health, () OJ L 26, 31. 1. 1977, p. 20. () OJ L 15, 21. 1. 1998, p. 34. () OJ L 93, 17. 4. 1968, p. 15. () OF L 40, 11. 2. 1997, p. 19. HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: Article 1 1. The Member States are hereby authorised to provide, under the conditions laid down in paragraph 2, for excep- tions from Article 4(1) of Directive 77/93/EEC, with regard to the prohibitions referred to in Part A, point 15 of Annex III thereto for plants of Vitis L., other than fruits, originating in Latvia. 2. The following specific conditions shall be satisfied; (a) the plants shall be Labrusca-hybrids of Vitis, belong- ing to one or more of the following varieties bred in Latvia: Sukribe, Supaga, Veldze and Zilga; — =z the plants shall be one year old bare-rooted cuttings, unrooted woody cuttings, or planted in pots with peat, not grafted and intended to be grown on without further multiplication for one or two years before selling, at the premises referred to in (g); (c) the plants intended for the Community shall be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued in Latvia in accordance with Article 7 of Directive 77/93/EEC, on the basis of the examination laid down in Article 6 thereof related to the conditions laid down therein, in particular freedom from the fol- lowing harmful organisms: — Daktulosphaira wvitifoliae (Fitch), — Xylophilus ampelinus (Panagopoulos) Willems et al., — Grapevine Flavescence dorée MLO. The certificate shall state under ‘Additional declara- tion’, the indication ‘this consignment meets the conditions laid down in Decision 98/187/EC’; (d) the inspections required pursuant to Article 12 of Directive 77/93/EEC shall be made by the responsible official bodies, referred to in the said Directive, of the Member States making use of this derogation, and where appropriate, in cooperation with the said bodies of the Member State in which the plants will be planted. Without prejudice to the monitoring referred to in Article 19a(3) second indent, first possibility, the Commission shall determine to which extent the