Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 14th March, 2017.

I, Michael Creed, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 (No.27 of 1972), for the purpose of giving full effect to Commission Implementing Decision 2012/270/EU of 16 May 2012¹ as amended by Commission Implementing Decision 2014/679/EU of 25 September 2014² and Commission Implementing Decision 2016/1359/EU of 8 August 2016³ , hereby make the following regulations:

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Control of Organisms Harmful to Plants and Plant Products) (Amendment) Regulations 2017.

2. The European Communities (Control of Organisms Harmful to Plants and Plant Products) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2012 ( S.I. No. 297 of 2012 ) are amended by substituting in Regulation 4 and 5 reference to “Commission Implementing Decision 2012/270/EU of 16 May 2012” in each place it occurs for the following—

“Commission Implementing Decision 2012/270/EU of 16 May 2012 as amended by Commission Implementing Decision 2014/679/EU of 25 September 2014 and Commission Implementing Decision 2016/1359/EU of 8 August 2016”.

Given under my Official Seal,

9 March 2017.

MICHAEL CREED,

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation)

These Regulations update measures intended to prevent the introduction into and spread with the European Union of the harmful organism Epitrix which affects potatoes.

1 OJ L 132, 23.5.2012, p. 18

2 OJ L 283, 27.9.2014, p. 61

3 OJ L 215, 10.8.2016, p. 29