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ISBN 0 7559 1107 5 (Web only publication)

This document is also available in pdf format (327k)

Dear Sir/Madam

EUROPEAN COMMISSION PROPOSAL TO REPLACE THE CURRENT POTATO CYST NEMATODES ( PCN) CONTROL DIRECTIVE (69/465/ EEC)

I am writing to consult you about a Commission Proposal to replace the current PCN Control Directive (69/465). This letter and associated documents are also available on our website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations.

This Proposal ( Annex A) is due to be discussed for the first time at a Council Working Group on 24 May 2005 and will then feature in the UK Presidency Programme, with a first meeting scheduled for 19 September. Therefore, any initial reactions before 24 May would be welcome, but detailed comments should be submitted by 31 August 2005.

You may recall that an earlier version of the Commission's draft Proposal was the subject of a consultation exercise in 2002 (our letter of 19 July 2002 refers; this may be viewed electronically at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/agriculture/pcnconsletter.pdf). At that time there were a number of options being considered, but the Commission has decided to pursue the introduction of an updated Control Directive. The result of that consultation exercise helped to establish an initial UK position on the draft Proposal, and a summary of comments received, and the extent to which they are reflected by the Proposal, is at Annex B.

An updated partial Regulatory Impact Assessment ( RIA) is at Annex C, which provides further information about the potential costs and benefits associated with the Proposal. You should note that the published estimates of exports of seed potatoes from the UK to both the EU and non- EU countries (section 3 - paragraph headed "Option 1: continue to apply the current provisions, etc") are recognised as being understated. The quantity of Scottish seed potato exports to third ( ie non- EU) countries alone in 2003/04 amounted to slightly less than 60,000 tonnes. We estimate that an additional ca 200,000 tonnes went to the "home market", ie other EU Member States (including the rest of the UK). On this basis, using the guide price of £100 per tonne, the value of these exports for Scotland would be of the order of £26 m.

A comprehensive Cost Benefit Analysis ( CBA) is also under preparation and will be available shortly. If you would like to receive a copy of the CBA, please contact me.

Annex D is a list of questions you may wish to refer to in preparing your response. You may also wish to refer to our recent consultation on the proposed consolidation of existing UK plant health legislation ( http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/agriculture/cphli-00.asp) which, among other things, raises issues for consideration in relation to the requirement that potatoes for planting must have originated from a field know to be free from PCN. The testing for such is an EU obligation and moreover, scientific advice is that farm saved seed now represents the main cause of spread of PCN in Scotland. However, at the present time, due to a lack of information regarding potatoes planted for ware production, SEERAD has been unable to enforce this requirement.

This exercise relates to Scotland only, but similar exercises are being carried out by Defra in England and Wales, and by the devolved administration in Northern Ireland.

We are consulting as widely as possible relevant business interests including trade organisations and other groups we know to have an interest in PCN as it affects the Scottish potato industry. The consultation aims to give interested parties an opportunity to comment on the issues raised and to make us aware of particular circumstances that may need further consideration. We will carefully evaluate all information received in this connection to help us arrive at our conclusions on the best way forward.

Please see the Appendix to this letter which gives further information on this consultation and includes a Respondee Information Form which should be completed and submitted with your comments.

Yours faithfully

Bob King
Plants, Horticulture and Potatoes

EUROPEAN COMMISSION PROPOSAL TO REPLACE THE CURRENT POTATO CYST NEMATODES ( PCN) CONTROL DIRECTIVE (69/465/ EEC)

Responding to this consultation paper

We are inviting written responses to this consultation paper by 31 August 2005.

Please send your response to:

E-mail: bob.king@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Fax: 0131 244 6509/6539

If you have any queries please contact Bob King on 0131 244 4895

We would be grateful if you could clearly indicate in your response which questions or parts of the consultation paper you are responding to (using the consultation questionnaire if appropriate) as this will aid our analysis of the responses received.

This consultation, and all other SE consultation exercises, can be viewed online at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest public internet access point is.

The Scottish Executive now has an email alert system for SE consultations ( SEconsult). This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new SE consultations (including web links). SEconsult complements, but in no way replaces SE distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all SE consultations activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We would encourage you to register.

Access to consultation responses

We will make all responses available to the public in the Scottish Executive Library within 4 weeks of the consultation ending and on the Scottish Executive consultation web pages one week after depositing responses with the Library, unless confidentiality is requested. All responses not marked confidential will be checked for any potentially defamatory material before being logged in the library or placed on the website.

THE SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE CONSULTATION PROCESS

Consultation is an essential and important aspect of Scottish Executive working methods. Given the wide-ranging areas of work of the Scottish Executive, there are many varied types of consultation. However, in general Scottish Executive consultation exercises aim to provide opportunities for all those who wish to express their opinions on a proposed area of work to do so in ways which will inform and enhance that work.

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body. Consultation exercises may involve seeking views in a number of different ways, such as public meetings, focus groups or questionnaire exercises.

Typically, Scottish Executive consultations involve a written paper inviting answers to specific questions or more general views about the material presented. Written papers are distributed to organisations and individuals with an interest in the area of consultation, and they are also placed on the Scottish Executive web site enabling a wider audience to access the paper and submit their responses Copies of all the responses received to consultation exercises (except those where the individual or organisation requested confidentiality) are placed in the Scottish Executive library at Saughton House, Edinburgh (K Spur, Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD, telephone 0131 244 4552).

The views and suggestions detailed in consultation responses are analysed and used as part of the decision making process. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

• indicate the need for policy development or review
• inform the development of a particular policy
• help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals
• be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented

If you have any comment about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them in the first instance to:

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