Seeds of Agricultural Plants and Vegetables

Suppliment tal-Gazzetta tal-Gvern ta’ Malta Nru. 20,118, 15 ta’ Jannar, 2019 B 19

L.N. 5 of 2019

PLANT QUARANTINE ACT

(CAP. 433)

Seeds of Agricultural Plants and Vegetables

(Amendment) Regulations, 2019

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

Quarantine Act, the Minister for the Environment, Sustainable

Development and Climate Change has made the following

regulations:-

(1) The title of these regulations is the Seeds of Citation and

Agricultural Plants and Vegetables (Amendment) Regulations, 2019 scope.

and these regulations shall be read and construed as one with the Seeds S.L. 433.30.

of Agricultural Plants and Vegetables Regulations, hereinafter referred

to as "the principal regulations".

(2) The scope of these regulations is to transpose Commission

Implementing Directive (EU) 2018/1027 amending Council Directive

66/402/EEC as regards isolation distances for Sorghum spp. and to

update the method of notification of entry of seeds of agricultural

plants and vegetables in Malta.

Regulation 3 of the principal regulations shall be amended Amends

regulation 3 of

as follows

the principal

regulations.

(a) immediately after the definition "micro-propagation", there

shall be added the following new definition

" "non-professional final user" means any person that

introduces or imports seeds of the genera and species and their

hybrids listed in Schedule I to these regulations, for their own

use;";

(b) immediately after the definition "official measures", there

shall be added the following new definition

" "professional operator" means any person involved

professionally in one or more of the following activities

concerning seeds of the genera and species and their hybrids

listed in Schedule I of these regulations

(a)

production including multiplying;

(b) introduction into and movement within the

Union territory;

making available on the market;".

(c)

Regulation 4 of the principal regulations shall be

substituted by the following

"4. (1) Professional operators introducing seeds from

another EU Member State shall declare the introduction of seeds

forty-eight (48) hours prior to their arrival in Malta, through the

Supplementary Declaration System of Malta (Intrastat), of each

lot received by them.

(2) The non-professional final users being supplied with

seeds from another EU Member State shall also inform the

Directorate by means of the EU Plant Notification Form (For

General Public) available on the Directorate’s website, forty-

eight (48) hours prior to the arrival of the seeds in Malta of each

lot received by them.

(3) The professional operators and the non-professional

final users being supplied with seeds shall also inform the

Directorate by means of the Third Countries Notification Form

available on the Directorate’s website forty eight hours (48) prior

to the arrival, of the plant material in Malta of each lot received

by them.".

Item 2 entitled "2. Isolation distances" in Schedule II to the

principal regulations shall be substituted by the following

"2.

Isolation distances

The crop shall conform to the following standards as regards

distances from neighbouring sources of pollen which may result

in undesirable foreign pollination

Table 1.6

Minimum

Crop

distance

Phalaris canariensis, and Secale cereale other than

hybrids

-

for the production of basic seed

300m

-

for the production of certified seed

250m

Sorghum spp.

-

for the production of basic seed (*)

400m

for the production of certified seed (*)

200m

x Triticosecale, self-pollinating varieties

for the production of basic seed

50m

for the production of certified seed

20m

200m

Zea mays

(*) In the areas where the presence of S. halepense or S. sudanense is a

particular cross-pollination issue, the following shall apply

(a)

crops to produce basic seed of Sorghum bicolor or its

hybrids must be isolated not less than 800m from any

source of such contaminating pollen;

(b)

crops to produce certified seed of Sorghum bicolor or its

hybrids must be isolated not less than 400m from any

source of such contaminating pollen.

The minimum distances listed in the table above may be

disregarded if there is sufficient protection from any

undesirable foreign pollination.".

€0.18