No L 2/24 Official Journal of the European Communities 4. 1. 96 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 14 December 1995 authorizing 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 versions are authentic) (96/6/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 95/41/EC (%), and in particular Article 14 (1) thereof, Having regard to the requests made by Greece, 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 Greece, Italy and Portugal the planting and growing of seed potatoes of certain North American varie- ties for ware potato production has been an established o L 26, 31. 1. 1977, p. 20. o L 182, 2. 8. 1995, p. 17. ZZ practice ; whereas part of the supply of seed potatoes of these varieties has been ensured by imports from Canada ; Whereas, by Commission Decision 93/680/EC (%), as last amended by Decision 95/14/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 30 April 1995; 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 michiganensis ssp. sepedonicus Whereas information supplied by Canada and collected in that country during missions carried out in 1994 and 1995, has shown that Canada has further developed its programme to eradicate these harmful organisms in the provinces of New Brunswick 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 Clavibacter michiganensis ssp. sepedonicus has become largely effective in certain areas of these provinces; whereas there have been no confirmed findings of the disease on samples drawn from seed potatoes introduced pursuant to Decisions () OJ No L 317, 18. 12. 1993, p. 75. () O] No L 21, 28. 1. 1995, p. 18.