L 314/18 Official Journal of the European Communities 24.11.98 COMMISSION DECISION of 16 November 1998 amending Commission Decision 93/467/EEC authorising Member States to provide for derogations from certain provisions of Council Directive 77/93/EEC, in respect of oak (Quercus L.) logs with bark attached, originating in Canada or the United States of America (notified under document number C(1998) 3503) (98/661/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 Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxem- bourg and Portugal, Whereas, pursuant to the provisions of Directive 77/ 93/EEC, oak (Quercus L.) logs with bark attached, origin- ating in North American countries, may, in principle, not be introduced into the Community because of the risk of introducing Ceratocystis fagacearum (Bretz) Hunt., the cause of oak wilt; Whereas Commission Decision 93/467/EEC (%), as last amended by Decision 96/724/EC (‘) permits derogations for oak (Quercus L.) logs with bark attached originating in Canada and the United States of America provided that special conditions are satisfied; Whereas Decision 93/467/EEC as amended stipulated that the authorisation shall expire on 31 December 1998; Whereas, on the basis of the information available at present, the conditions for the derogation in the afore- mentioned Decision should be maintained; Whereas the circumstances justifying the authorisation still obtain; 26, 31. 1. 1977, p. 20. 15, 21. 1. 1998, p. 34. 217, 27. 8. 1993, p. 49. 329, 19. 12. 1996, p. 47. 0000 S | ol ol ol o Whereas the authorisation should therefore be extended for a further limited period; Whereas the Commission will ensure that Canada and the United States of America make all technical informa- tion available which is necessary to continue to monitor the functioning of the protective measures required under the aforementioned technical conditions; Whereas the measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plant Health, HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: Article 1 Decision 93/467/EEC is hereby amended as follows: 1. In Article 1(2)(b), ‘— Vigo’ is added after ‘— Valencia’. 2. In Article 3, ‘31 December 1998’ is replaced by ‘31 December 2000’. 3. In Annex I, part 7, ‘96/724/EC’ is replaced by ‘98/ 661/EC’. Article 2 This Decision is addressed to the Member States. Done at Brussels, 16 November 1998. For the Commission Franz FISCHLER Member of the Commission