The central government has assured that the Nature Protection Service unit of the Civil Guard (Seprona) has requested the phytosanitary certificate from the cement company Ceisa for the sand imported from the Sahara to the Canary Islands. The Seprona of Las Palmas has made the aforementioned request for the phytosanitary certificate, after being asked to the importing company about the treatment of sand imported from El Aaiún, that these are treated in the port of origin, documented by a phytosanitary certificate.
These data have been sent to the Government of the Canary Islands for the investigations carried out so that the competent authority can make its assessments on the adequacy of the treatment received by the sand. Likewise, the central Government refers to the Order of August 6, 2001, which establishes general and urgent measures, on a provisional basis, for the treatment of sand from the African continent, intended for use in construction, asphalting or any other, with the exception of that used for the generation of beaches by the Government of the Canary Islands.
In this standard, he states, it is stated that the sands coming from Africa destined for the Canary Islands, to be used in construction, must be subjected when they come from surface quarries to the following alternative treatments, such as integrated fumigation, screening and washing in salt water and thermal sterilization. These treatments, they clarify, must be justified by the corresponding certificate issued by approved companies, and may be avoided if it comes from the seabed.
Finally, they indicate that failure to comply with the treatment obligation would in any case be an administrative infringement of Law 42/2007, of December 13, on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity, with the Government of the Canary Islands being the competent authority that holds the sanctioning power to paralyze the activity in a precautionary or definitive manner. European Justice has overturned the controversial fishing and trade agreements signed between Morocco and the EU, which gave the green light to the plundering of resources from Western Sahara in violation of United Nations resolutions regarding the conflict between the two. North African countries.
The General Court, dependent on the Court of Justice of the European Union, has ordered the suppression of two agreements, one agricultural and the fishing agreement signed in 2019, although it gives time for its application to preserve the "legal certainty" of the parties. As the organization explains in its press release announcing the ruling, the General Court considers "that, to the extent that the disputed agreements expressly apply to Western Sahara, as well as, with regard to the second of those agreements, to the waters adjacent to it, affect the people of said territory and required that their consent be obtained. In this way, justice has ruled in favor of the Polisario Front, which has defended since the ratification of the agreements that the EU does not have the power to sign texts that affect the sovereignty of a third country.