General requirements for vehicles, machinery and packaging material
1. Vehicles, machinery and packaging material used for plants, plant products or other objects referred to in the implementing acts adopted pursuant to Article 28(1) and (2), Article 30(1) and (3), Article 40(2), Article 41(2) and (3), Article 42(3) and Article 49(1) and moving into or within the Union territory, or through the Union territory pursuant to Article 47, shall be free from Union quarantine pests and from the pests subject to measures adopted pursuant to Article 30(1).
2. Paragraph 1 shall apply to protected zones also as regards the respective protected zone quarantine pests.
Designation of quarantine stations and confinement facilities
1. For the purposes referred to in Articles 8, 48, 49 and 58, Member States shall take one or more of the following actions, taking into account the relevant pest risk:
(a)
designate in their territory quarantine stations or confinement facilities;
(b)
authorise the use of designated quarantine stations or confinement facilities in another Member State, provided that, where applicable, that other Member State has agreed to such authorisation;
(c)
designate temporarily the premises of professional operators or other persons as confinement facilities for the pests, plants, plant products or other objects and their relevant uses as set out in Articles 8, 48 and 49.
2. Member States shall, on request, communicate a list of the designated quarantine stations and confinement facilities in their territory to the Commission and the other Member States.
Requirements for quarantine stations and confinement facilities
1. Quarantine stations and confinement facilities referred to in Article 60 shall meet the following requirements to prevent the spread of Union quarantine pests:
(a)
they provide physical isolation of the pests, plants, plant products and other objects to be kept in quarantine or confinement and ensure they cannot be accessed or removed from those stations or facilities without consent of the competent authority;
(b)
they have systems, or access to systems, for sterilisation, decontamination or destruction of infested plants, plant products and other objects, waste and equipment before removal from the stations or facilities;
(c)
they have an identification and description of the tasks of those stations and facilities, the persons responsible for carrying out those tasks and the conditions under which they shall carry out those tasks;
(d)
they have a sufficient number of suitably qualified, trained and experienced personnel; and
(e)
they have a contingency plan for the purpose of effectively eliminating any unintended presence of Union quarantine pests and pests subject to measures adopted pursuant to Article 30(1) and preventing their spread.
2. The Commission may, by means of implementing acts, lay down specific rules in order to provide uniform conditions of application for the requirements set out in paragraph 1 in relation to the type of plants, plant products and other objects and the actual or potential risk, including specific requirements for official testing, scientific or educational purposes, trials, varietal selection or breeding.
Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 107(2).
Operation of quarantine stations and confinement facilities
1. The person responsible for the quarantine station or confinement facility shall monitor that station or facility and its immediate vicinity for the unintended presence of Union quarantine pests and pests subject to measures adopted pursuant to Article 30(1).
2. Where an unintended presence of a pest referred to in paragraph 1 is found or suspected, the person responsible for the quarantine station or confinement facility concerned shall take the appropriate action, based on the contingency plan referred to in point (e) of Article 61(1). The obligations set out for professional operators in Article 14 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the person responsible for the quarantine station or confinement facility.
3. The person responsible for the quarantine station or confinement facility shall keep records on the following:
(a)
the personnel employed;
(b)
the visitors accessing the station or facility;
(c)
the pests, plants, plant products and other objects entering and leaving the station or facility;
(d)
the place of origin of such plants, plant products and other objects; and
(e)
observations concerning the presence of pests on such plants, plant products and other objects inside the quarantine station or confinement facility and in its immediate vicinity.
Those records shall be kept for three years.
Supervision of quarantine stations and confinement facilities and revocation of designation
1. The competent authority shall regularly inspect the quarantine stations and confinement facilities to verify whether they meet the requirements set out in Article 61 and the operation conditions set out in Article 62.
It shall determine the frequency of those inspections according to the pest risk related to the operation of the quarantine stations or confinement facilities.
2. On the basis of the inspection referred to in paragraph 1, the competent authority may require the person responsible for the quarantine station or confinement facility to implement corrective actions to ensure compliance with Articles 61 and 62, either immediately or within a specified period of time.
Where the competent authority concludes that the quarantine station or confinement facility or the person responsible for it fails to comply with Articles 61 and 62, that authority shall without delay take the measures necessary to ensure that non-compliance with those provisions does not continue. Those measures may include the revocation or suspension of the designation referred to in Article 60(1).
3. Where the competent authority has taken measures in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article other than the revocation of the designation referred to in Article 60(1), and non-compliance with Articles 61 and 62 continues, that authority shall without delay revoke that designation.
Release of plants, plant products and other objects from quarantine stations and confinement facilities
1. Plants, plant products and other objects shall only leave the quarantine stations or confinement facilities, upon authorisation by the competent authorities, if it is confirmed that they are free from Union quarantine pests and pests subject to measures adopted pursuant to Article 30(1), or, where applicable, protected zone quarantine pests.
2. The competent authority may authorise the movement of plants, plant products or other objects infested by a Union quarantine pest or pest subject to measures adopted pursuant to Article 30(1) from a quarantine station or a confinement facility to another quarantine station or confinement facility if that movement is justified by official testing or scientific reasons and takes place under the conditions set by the competent authority.
3. The Commission may, by means of implementing acts, lay down specific rules concerning the release of plants, plant products and other objects from quarantine stations and confinement facilities, and, where appropriate, labelling requirements related to that release or to the movement referred to in paragraph 2.
Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 107(2).
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
