Imports of citrus fruits

5.3.2007

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1290/07
by Bernat Joan i Marí (Verts/ALE)
to the Commission

The Spanish Government informed all the EU Member States and DG Agriculture concerning the plant health checks carried out in 2003, which detected numerous infestations with harmful organisms such as ‘Guignardia citricarpa Kiely’ and ‘Xanthomonas campestres’ in citrus fruits imported from Argentina and Brazil. Directive 2000/29/EC[1] requires that, in order to protect the Community from the introduction of harmful organisms through citrus fruits originating in third countries, certain technical requirements must be complied with. That directive lays down that citrus fruits imported from third countries must be accompanied by the corresponding health certificates.

Last year Spain, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom reported that citrus fruits imported from Argentina and Brazil had not complied with the plant health requirements laid down by the Community. In 2004 and 2006, 440 000 tonnes of citrus fruits originating in third countries were imported into Spain. For Spanish citrus fruits to be exported to third countries (such as the United States, China, Japan, etc.), the protocols of the destination countries must be fully complied with and the fruit is subject to checks carried out by their inspectors.

1. Through which EU sea ports have imports of citrus fruits from third countries arrived in the past five years, and in what quantities?

2. What type of checks, carried out by EU inspectors, are capable of establishing that fruit imported into the EU meets all the requirements?

3. How many imports of citrus fruits from third countries did not meet the conditions laid down in Directive 2000/29/EC?

4. Is DG Agriculture aware that citrus fruits grown in Europe are subject to unfair competition from third countries, since the Community does not have any kind of protocol to control and regulate the entry of fruit from third countries, with all the associated risks in terms of plant diseases and consumer health?

5. Will a protocol be drafted setting out plant health requirements for imports into the EU of citrus fruits originating in third countries?

• [1] OJ L 169, 10.7.2000, p. 1.

OJ C 293, 05/12/2007