2454 final report.pdf - Agra CEAS Consulting

Evaluation of the Community Plant Health Regime: Final Report
DG SANCO Evaluation Framework Contract Lot 3 (Food Chain)
1 Introduction
Note: Since the entry into force of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
(TFEU, or Treaty of Lisbon) on 1 December 2009, all reference to ‘Community’ has been
replaced by ‘European Union’ (‘EU’). This Report follows the old reference to ‘European
Community’ regarding the historical period to December 2009, and the new reference to
‘EU’ regarding the period from that date 8 .
1.1 Background to the evaluation
This evaluation of the Community Plant Health Regime (CPHR) 9 has been launched by DG
SANCO with the support of the Council 10 .
The current regime is the product of the past 3 decades of legislation. The basic structure of
the current CPHR was established in 1977 with Council Directive 77/93/EEC 11 . This
Directive considered that systematic eradication of harmful organisms (HOs) within MS
would have only a limited effect if protective measures against their introduction were not
applied at the same time and that national plant health provisions needed to be harmonized.
To this end, a framework was created governing import into the European Community (EC)
and intra-Community trade, building on the framework already provided in 1952 by the
International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC). With the introduction of the Community
internal market in 1993, the concept of plant passports was introduced so as to allow free
movement of plants and plant products between and within MS. Since the 2000 codification,
the basic legal framework has been known as Council Directive 2000/29/EC 12 .
Since its inception, various major changes and developments have taken place which justify a
comprehensive evaluation of the regime. These developments, which are explored further in
the relevant sections of this Report, can be briefly summarised as follows:
The introduction of the internal market concept in 1993, and its implications in terms
of reassessing the balance between intra-Community free trade and prevention of the
introduction/spread of HOs;
The successive enlargements of the European Community, in particular the addition
of 12 new MS in 2004 and 2008 with transitional arrangements applying in some
cases;
8 On 1 December 2009, when the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force, the European Community was replaced by
the European Union which succeeds it and takes over all its rights and obligations. The Treaty on European
Union keeps the same name and the Treaty establishing the European Community becomes the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union.
9 The evaluation refers to the Community Plant Health regime (CPHR), in reference to the historical analysis of
the policy since its establishment in 1977.
10 ECOFIN Council Conclusions of 21 November 2008.
11 Before 1977, plant health was largely a national responsibility. The only exception were some control
measures for potato diseases adopted in 1969 to harmonise the control of quarantine diseases in potato (Council
Directives 69/464/EEC and 69/465/EEC).
12 Hereafter referred to as Directive 2000/29 or ‗the CPHR base Directive‘.
Food Chain Evaluation Consortium 1