Control of Potato Wart Disease Regulations, 2004

Suppliment tal-Gazzetta tal-Gvern ta’ Malta, Nru. 17,551, 12 ta’ Marzu, 2004

L.N. 121 of 2004

PLANT QUARANTINE ACT, 2001

(ACT NO. XVIII OF 2001)

Control of Potato Wart Disease Regulations, 2004

IN exercise of the powers conferred by article 32 of the Plant

Quarantine Act, 2001, the Minister for Rural Affairs and the

Environment has made the following regulations>-

(1) The title of these regulations is the Control of Potato Title and

commencement.

Wart Disease Regulations, 2004.

(2)

These regulations shall come into force on the 1st

April, 2004.

These regulations concern the minimum measures to be Scope.

taken to control Potato Wart Disease and to prevent this

cryptogrammic disease from spreading.

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires> Interpretation.

“the Act” means the Plant Quarantine Act<

“the Commission” means the Commission of the European

Community<

“the Department” means the Plant Health Department<

“the Director” means the Director of the Plant Health

Department.

(1) When an occurrence of Synchytrium endobioticum Contaminated plot.

(Schilb.) Persc., the pathogenic agent of Potato Wart Disease is

recorded, the Department shall demarcate the contaminated plot and

a safety zone large enough to ensure the plot and a safety zone large

enough to ensure the protection of surrounding areas.

(2) A plot shall be regarded as being contaminated when

symptoms of Potato Wart Disease have been found on at least one

plant from that plot.

(3) Potato tubers and haulms which came from

contaminated plots shall be treated in such manner, to the satisfaction

of the Director, that the harmful organism is destroyed. If it is no

longer possible to determine the place from which contaminated

tubers and haulms came, the whole of the batch in which the

contaminated tubers or haulms have been found must be treated.

(4)

On contaminate plots>

(a)

no potatoes may be grown<

(b) no plant intended for transplanting may be grown,

stored in the ground or otherwise.

(1) Potatoes may be grown in the safety zone only if they

are of a variety which is resistant to the races of Synchytrium

endobioticum found on the contaminated plot.

(2) A potato variety shall be regarded as being resistant

to a particular race of Synchytrium endobioticum when it reacts to

contamination by the pathogenic agent of that race in such a way

that there is no danger of secondary infection.

The measures taken to control Potato Wart Disease or to

prevent it from spreading shall be revoked only if Synchytrium

endobioticum is no longer found to be present.

No person shall hold cultures of Synchytrium endobioticum.

7.

The Director shall have access to any premises where an

activity regulated by these regulations is being carried out and shall

have access to all relevant information and records. He may also

collect samples of plants, plant products and other objects and carry

out any relevant checks thereon.

The Director shall communicate to the Commission before

1st January of each year a list of all the varieties of potato accepted

to be marketed locally and which were found, by official

investigation, to be resistant to Synchytrium endobioticum. The races

to which the varieties are resistant shall also be forwarded to the

Commission.

(1) The Director may authorise exemptions from the

measures referred to in these regulations for scientific purposes, tests

and selection work provided that such derogations do not prejudice

the control of Potato Wart Disease and create no risk of the spread

of this disease, and as long as the requirements laid down under the

Act XVIII of 2001.

Act are met.

(2) Without prejudice to the provisions of these

regulations the Director may adopt such additional or stricter

provisions as may be required to control Potato Wart Disease or to

prevent it from spreading.

Mitbug[ fl-Istamperija tal-Gvern — Printed at the Government Printing Press