Establishment of the ‘Products of Quality’ National Scheme

L.N. 61 of 2017

PRODUCT SAFETY ACT

(CAP. 427)

Establishment of the ‘Products of Quality’ National Scheme

(Amendment) Regulations, 2017

IN exercise of the powers conferred by article 38 of the Product

Safety Act, the Minister for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and

Civil Liberties in consultation with the Minister for Sustainable

Development, the Environment and Climate Change, has made the

following regulations:-

The title of these regulations is the Establishment of the

‘Products of Quality’ National Scheme (Amendment) Regulations,

2017, and these regulations shall be read and construed as one with

the Establishment of the ‘Products of Quality’ National Scheme

Regulations, hereinafter referred to as "the principal regulations".

In sub-regulation (3) of regulation 1 of the principal

regulations, immediately after the words "in these regulations" there

shall be added the words "and shall establish a quality mark the

primary function of which serves to indicate that the products adhere

to the quality scheme established by these regulations".

Regulation 2 of the principal regulations shall be amended

as follows

(a)

in the definition "actor" for the words "in an

agricultural value chain" there shall e substituted the words

"in a recognised agricultural value chain";

(b)

the definition "agricultural value chain" shall be

amended as follows

(i) for the words "a set of people whose activities

increases" there shall be substituted the words "a set of

activities which collectively increase";

(ii) for the words "transport and distribution:"

there shall be substituted the words "transport and

distribution;"; and

(iii) the proviso thereto shall be deleted;

(c)

immediately after the definition "agricultural value

chain" there shall be added the following new definition

"control body" means an independent inspection

body which may be a public authority, approved by the

Minister to perform controls on operators in relation to the

obligations related to the participation in the scheme;";

(d)

the definition "Director" shall be substituted by the

following new definition

"Director" means the Director responsible for

Agriculture and includes, to the extent of the authority

given, any officer authorized by him, in writing, to act in

that behalf for any of the purposes of these regulations;";

(e)

in the definition "operator", for the words

"‘Product of Quality’ National Scheme" there shall be

substituted the words "scheme and shall also mean a producer of

approved traditional agro-food products in terms of the

Establishment of the Register of Traditional Agro-food Products

of Malta Regulations who participates in the scheme";

(f)

the definition "origin label" shall be deleted;

(g)

in the definition "Products of Quality National

Scheme", for the words "Products of Quality National Scheme"

shall be substituted the words "‘Products of Quality’ National

Scheme"; and

(h)

immediately after the definition "‘Products of

Quality National Scheme’" there shall be added the following

new definition

"quality mark" means a mark which identifies the

products adhering to the ‘Products of Quality’ National

Scheme;".

Regulation 3 of the principal regulations shall be amended Amends

regulation 3 of

as follows

the principal

regulations.

(a)

paragraph (b) of sub-regulation (3) thereof shall be

substituted by the following new paragraph

"(b) administrative criteria

required

for

the

participation in the scheme;"; and

(b)

sub-regulations (4) and (5) thereof shall be deleted.

Immediately after regulation 3 of the principal regulations

there shall be added the following new regulation

" Supervision

3A. (1)

The Director shall be

of the scheme.

responsible for the supervision of the scheme.

(2) The Director shall endeavour to

consult with representatives of the recognized

agricultural value chains before making the rules

mentioned in regulation 3(3).

(3) The rules mentioned in regulation

3(3) shall be published in the Gazette and shall

be binding on all actors who form part of a

recognized agricultural value chain.".

Regulation 6 of the principal regulations shall be

substituted by the following new regulation

" Conditions

6. In order for an actor to be able to

for

participate in the scheme, the actor shall fulfil

participation in

the administrative criteria established in the

the scheme.

rules referred to in regulation 3(3) and shall

meet the following criteria

(a)

abide by all applicable EU

and national regulations in connection with

the production of agro-food products and

conditions of employment;

(b)

follow the rules for the

implementation of the scheme as

established by the Director;

(c)

abide

by

the

product

specifications relative to the product for

which participation in the scheme is being

sought;

(d)

be subject to a system of

controls in line with the guidelines

established by the Director in the Gazette;

and

(e)

adopt a traceability system in

line with the guidelines established by the

Director in the Gazette.".

Regulation 7 of the principal regulations shall be

substituted by the following new regulation

" Control

7. (1)

The Minister may, upon

bodies.

recommendation by the Director, recognise

control bodies.

(2) The Director shall make rules in

order for a body to be recognised as a control

body in terms of these regulations.

(3) Operators shall appoint a control

body as part of their control system and shall

communicate the chosen control body to the

Director.".

Immediately after regulation 7 of the principal regulations Adds new

regulation to the

there shall be added the following new regulation

principal

regulations.

" Control.

8. Operators shall be under the control

of a public authority or an independent

inspection board designated for this purpose by

the Minister in the Gazette.".

Immediately after regulation 8, as added, of the principal Adds new

regulation to the

regulations there shall be added the following new regulation

principal

regulations.

" Participation

9. (1)

An actor who wants to

in the scheme.

participate in the scheme shall submit to the

Director an application in the form established

by the Director

Provided that an actor may submit an

application on behalf of a group of actors

Provided further that the Director may, if

he deems necessary, request further information

from the actor.

(2) The Director shall on receipt of the

application, submitted in accordance with sub-

regulation (1), verify that all the requested

information and documentation has been

submitted and that the applicant fulfils the

administrative criteria established by him to

participate in the scheme. If the information is

verified to be correct and the applicant fulfils the

above-mentioned administrative criteria, the

Director shall instruct the authority or control

body established in terms of regulation 7 to

perform inspections in order to establish whether

the actor is in conformity with the criteria

established by or through these regulations.

(3) The authority or control body

referred to in sub-regulation (2) shall, following

the inspection, submit a report with the findings

to the Director.

(4) The Director shall, after evaluating

the report, decide whether to admit an actor to

participate in the scheme or otherwise

Provided that the Director shall not admit

an actor to participate in the scheme if, from the

report of the control body, it results that the actor

is not in conformity with the criteria established.

(5) On admittance into the scheme, the

Director shall issue a certificate of adherence to

the scheme and list the operator in the register

established by regulation 14.".

Immediately after regulation 9, as added, of the principal

regulations there shall be added the following new regulation

" Participation

10. The scheme shall also be open to

of approved

producers of approved traditional agro-food

traditional

products in terms of the Establishment of the

agro-food

products.

Register of Traditional Agro-food Products of

Malta Regulations.".

Immediately after regulation 10, as added, of the principal

regulations there shall be added the following new regulation

" Modifications

11. An operator shall not make any

modifications in areas that he was requested to

submit information on in his application without

the approval of the Director.".

Immediately after regulation 11, as added, of the principal

regulations there shall be added the following new regulation

" Quality mark.

12. (1)

There shall be a quality mark

which shall be published in the Gazette.

(2) The quality mark shall be the

property of the Ministry responsible for

Agriculture.

(3) No person shall make use of the

quality mark unless he has obtained a licence to

do so in terms of regulation 13.".

Immediately after regulation 12, as added, of the principal

regulations there shall be added the following new regulation

" Authorisation

13. (1)

An operator may apply to the

for the use of

Director to be granted authorisation for the use

the quality

of the quality mark.

mark.

(2) The authorisation shall be granted

until the 31st day of December of the year of

issue and thereafter may be renewed from year

to year.

(3) The Director shall make rules for the

use of the quality mark, which shall include but

shall not be limited to provisions on

(a)

the

granting

of

the

authorisation; and

(b)

the conditions for the use of

the quality mark.

(4) The Director may suspend, revoke or

refuse the authorisation or its renewal of the

permission for the use of the quality mark, if he

deems necessary.

(5) The rules referred to in sub-

regulation (3) shall be published in the Gazette

and shall be binding.".

Immediately after regulation 13, as added, of the principal Adds new

regulation to the

regulations there shall be added the following new regulation

principal

regulations.

" Register of

14. (1)

There shall be a register for

the scheme.

the scheme, which shall be kept by the Director.

(2) The register shall include

(a)

a list of all the operators;

(b)

a list of products that have

been approved for the use of the quality

mark, along with the corresponding

technical

specifications

and

the

corresponding control bodies; and

(c)

the name of the licensees with

a specific indication of the class of the

product, along with the details of the

decision to grant the use of the quality

mark.

(3) The Director shall update the register

regularly and all the information included in the

Register shall be accessible to the public.".

Immediately after regulation 14, as added, of the principal Adds new

regulation to

regulations there shall be added the following new regulation

the principal

regulations

" Suspension or

15. The Director may suspend or

withdrawal of

withdraw an operator’s participation in the

participation

scheme if it results that the operator has failed to

from the

scheme.

adhere to the conditions related to the

participation in the scheme

Provided that the Director may, if he deems

necessary, prior to suspending or withdrawing an

operator’s participation in the scheme, issue a

warning notifying the operator of the

infringement and the obligation to take remedial

action.".

Immediately after regulation 15, as added, of the principal

regulations there shall be added the following new regulation

" Right of

16. Any person who feels aggrieved

appeal.

from the decision of the Director shall have a

right of appeal to the Administrative Review

Tribunal, within twenty days from the

notification of the decision.".

Immediately after regulation 16, as added, of the principal

regulations there shall be added the following new regulation

" Infringements

17. In the event of infringements of the

and penalties.

provisions of regulation 12(3), there shall be

applied the provisions of article 32 of the

Product Safety Act.".

Immediately after regulation 17, as added, of the principal

regulations, there shall be added the following new regulation

" Official

18. These regulations have been notified

Notification to

in terms of Directive 2015/1535 EC which

the EU

consolidates Directive 98/34 EC as transposed

Commission.

by the Notification Procedure Regulation

2003.".

€0.63