Commission Decision

of 21 January 2005

authorising Member States temporarily to provide for derogations from certain provisions of Council Directive 2000/29/EC in respect of the importation of soil contaminated by pesticides or persistent organic pollutants for decontamination purposes

(notified under document number C(2005) 92)

(2005/51/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Directive 2000/29/EC of 8 May 2000 on protective measures against the introduction into the Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products and against their spread within the Community [1], and in particular Article 15(1) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Under Directive 2000/29/EC, soil originating in certain third countries may not, in principle, be introduced into the Community.

(2) The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) manages a programme on prevention and disposal of obsolete and unwanted pesticides to assist developing countries in identifying and eliminating obsolete pesticide stockpiles and soil contaminated by these products due to leakage. Moreover, two international legally binding instruments address the production, use and releases of persistent organic pollutants and the safe management of waste containing these substances, with the aim of protecting human health and the environment from these substances. Because developing countries and countries with economies in transition do not always have adequate facilities for the safe destruction or reprocessing of these stockpiles and contaminated soil, international agreements and programmes foresee shipment of such soil to a treatment facility for processing or destruction.

(3) Under the aforementioned programme, soil should be packaged and labelled in compliance with the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code (IMDG Code), using only United Nations approved containers. Shipment should comply with the IMDG Code and Council Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 [2] on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community.

(4) The Commission considers that there is no risk of spreading organisms harmful to plants or plant products when the soil is treated in dedicated hazardous waste incinerators, which comply with Directive 2000/76/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council [3] on the incineration of waste, in such a way as to ensure that the pesticide or persistent organic pollutant content is destroyed or irreversibly transformed.

(5) Member States should therefore be authorised to provide for derogations, for a limited period and subject to specific conditions, to allow the import of such contaminated soil.

(6) The authorisation to provide for derogations should be terminated if it is established that the specific conditions laid down in this Decision are not sufficient to prevent the introduction of harmful organisms into the Community or have not been complied with.

(7) 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

Member States are hereby authorised to provide for derogations from Article 4(1) of Directive 2000/29/EC, with regard to the prohibitions referred to in point 14 of Annex III(A) to that Directive, and from Article 5(1) of Directive 2000/29/EC with regard to the special requirements referred to in point 34 of Annex IV(A)(I) to that Directive for soil originating in certain third countries.

The authorisation to provide for derogations, as mentioned in paragraph 1 shall be subject to the specific conditions provided for in the Annex, and shall only apply to soil that is introduced into the Community between 1 March 2005 and 28 February 2007 and destined for treatment in dedicated hazardous waste incinerators.

The authorisation is without prejudice to any further authorisation or procedures which may be required under other legislation.

Article 2

Member States shall provide the Commission and the other Member States, before 31 December of each year of importation, with the information as required in point 7 of the Annex for each consignment of soil imported prior to that date pursuant to this Decision.

Article 3

Member States shall immediately notify the Commission and the other Member States of all consignments introduced into their territory pursuant to this Decision which were subsequently found not to comply with this Decision.

Article 4

This Decision may be revoked if the conditions set out in the Annex are shown to be insufficient to prevent the introduction into the Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products.

Article 5

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 21 January 2005.

For the Commission

Markos Kyprianou

Member of the Commission

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[1] OJ L 169, 10.7.2000, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Commission Directive 2004/102/EC (OJ L 309, 6.10.2004, p. 9).

[2] OJ L 30, 6.2.1993, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2557/2001 (OJ L 349, 31.12.2001, p. 1).

[3] OJ L 332, 28.12.2000, p. 91.

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