L 298/22 Official Journal of the European Union 16.10.2014 COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DIRECTIVE 20 14/98/EU of 15 October 2014 implementing Council Directive 2008/90/EC as regards specific requirements for the genus and species of fruit plants referred to in Annex I thereto, specific requirements to be met by suppliers and detailed rules concerning official inspections THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Council Directive 2008/90/EC of 29 September 2008 on the marketing of fruit plant propagating material and fruit plants intended for fruit production (!), and in particular Article 4 and Articles 6(4), 9(1) and 13(3) thereof, Whereas: (1)  Provisions for the certification and marketing of pre-basic, basic and certified material should take into account the different production cycles of the various genera and species covered by this Directive. (2) It is necessary that pre-basic material complies with very strict requirements concerning health and quality in order to ensure health and quality of the propagating material and fruit plants derived from pre-basic material. (3)  In order to ensure the identification and quality of pre-basic material, it is appropriate to lay down rules concerning the establishment and verification of its trueness to the variety to which that material belongs. More- over, identification and quality of pre-basic material should be ensured through rules concerning its propagation, which may include renewal and multiplication. In order to ensure the health of pre-basic material, it is important to lay down rules concerning the absence of pests, inspections, sampling and testing, as appropriate for the genus and species concerned. Furthermore, the quality of that material should be ensured through the adoption of rules concerning defects. (4)  In order to ensure the identification and quality of rootstocks not belonging to a variety, those rootstocks should be true to the description of the species to which they belong. (5) It is necessary that plants from which material is intended to be taken for the production of basic material or certified material, other than fruit plants, are identified. Those plants are referred to as ‘mother plants’. Mother plants for the production of pre-basic material (pre-basic mother plants) should fulfil the same requirements as pre-basic material. Pre-basic mother plants and pre-basic material should be identified throughout the production process. The responsible official body should establish the trueness of the pre-basic mother plant to the descrip- tion of its variety by the observation of the expression of the characteristics of the variety. Furthermore, the true- ness to the description of the variety of the pre-basic mother plant and of the derived pre-basic material should be verified regularly. (6)  In the case of material intended for certification, the trueness to the description of a variety should be established on the basis of an official description of that variety, which ensures that the variety is distinct, uniform and stable, the description accompanying an application for registration or for a plant variety right or an officially recognised description. In case of a variety with an officially recognised description, it is appropriate to require that the variety has been registered in a national register in order to ensure that that description is appropriate for the material under certification. (7)  In the case of pre-basic and basic material, the establishment of trueness to the description of the variety should also be possible on the basis of a description accompanying the application for registration of a variety in a () OJL267,8.10.2008, p. 8.