Plant passports replacing phytosanitary certificates
Article 94
1. By way of derogation from Article 87, where a plant, plant product or other object, introduced into the Union territory from a third country which, for movement within the Union territory, requires a plant passport pursuant to Article 79(1) and Article 80(1), the passport shall be issued if the checks by means of official controls at the border control post concerning its introduction have been completed satisfactorily and have led to the conclusion that the plant, plant product or other object concerned fulfils the substantive requirements for issuance of a plant passport according to Article 85 and, where appropriate, Article 86. The replacement of a phytosanitary certificate by a plant passport may be carried out at the place of destination of the plant, plant product or other object concerned, instead of the point of entry, where checking at the place of destination is allowed, as referred to in Union legislation on official controls. 2. By way of derogation from the first subparagraph of paragraph 1, Member States may decide to replace a phytosanitary certificate at the place of entry of the plant, plant product or other object concerned into the Union territory by a certified copy of the original phytosanitary certificate. That certified copy of the original phytosanitary certificate shall be issued by the competent authority and shall accompany the movement of the plant, plant product or other object concerned only up to the point where the plant passport is issued and only within the territory of the respective Member State. 3. The competent authority shall retain the phytosanitary certificate for at least three years. That retainment may take the form of storage of the information contained in the phytosanitary certificate in a computerised database. Where point (a) of Article 101(2) applies, that phytosanitary certificate shall be replaced by a certified copy thereof.