No L 27/26 Official Journal of the European Communities 3.2 96 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 22 January 1996 authorizing the Member States to provide for derogations from certain provisions of Council Directive 77/93/EEC in respect of potatoes for human consumption originating in South Africa (96/112/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 95/66/EC (9, and in particular Article 14 (1) thereof, Having regard to the request made by Germany and the United Kingdom, Whereas, pursuant to the provisions of Directive 77/93/EEC, potatoe tubers for human consumption origi- nating in South Africa may in principle not be introduced into the Community because of the risk of introducing exotic potato diseases unknown in the Community; Whereas by Decisions 93/159/EEC (*) and 95/95/EC () the Commission authorized certain Member States to provide for derogations in respect of potatoes for human consumption originating in South Africa, under specified conditions in the 1993 and 1995 seasons respectively; Whereas there were no confirmed findings of diseases and pests on samples drawn from potatoes imported pursuant () OJ No L 26, 31. 1. 1977, p. 20. () O] No L 308, 21. 12. 1995, p. 77. () O] No L 67, 19. 3. 1993, p. 24. () O] No L 75, 4. 4. 1995, p. 19. to Decision 93/159/EEC; whereas due to technical reasons there were no imports made pursuant to Decision 95/95/EC; Whereas the circumstances justifying the authorization still obtain ; 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 1.  The Member States are hereby authorized 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 12 of Annex III thereto for potatoes for human consumption originating in South Africa. 2. The following specific conditions shall be satisfied : (a) the potatoes shall be potatoes for human consump- tion ; (b) they shall have been grown from seed potatoes certi- fied in the South African seed potato certification scheme or from seed potatoes certified in one of the Member States ; (c) they shall have been grown in defined areas where Pseudomonas solanacearum (Smith) is not known to occur ;