45The applicant submits that, in the absence of general rules within the meaning of Article 55(4) of Regulation No 2100/94, when the application concerning the Gala Schnitzer variety was filed, the CPVO’s letter of 26 January 1999 was to be regarded as a request in an individual case, within the meaning of that provision. Since the information contained in that letter, concerning the phytosanitary requirements in force applicable to the material for submission, was insufficient, the applicant had no alternative but to interpret those requirements itself, that is to say, the requirements resulting from Council Directive 77/93/EEC of 21 December 1976 on protective measures against the introduction into the Member States of harmful organisms of plants or plant products (OJ 1976 L 26, p. 20), as amended. In that connection, the applicant submits that it was not for it to assume that the CPVO’s phytosanitary requirements were more onerous than those under the provisions of that directive.