ESTABLISMENT OF THE ‘PRODUCTS OF QUALITY’ NATIONAL SCHEME REGULATIONS

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 639.04

ESTABLISMENT OF THE ‘PRODUCTS OF

QUALITY’ NATIONAL SCHEME REGULATIONS

16th December, 2014

LEGAL NOTICE 467 of 2014, as amended by Legal Notice 61 of 2017.

(1) The title of these regulations is the Establishment of

the ‘Product of Quality’ National Scheme Regulations.

(2) These regulations shall apply to agricultural and agro-food

products, which fall within the definition of "product" in these

regulations.

(3) The scope of these regulations is to establish a national

scheme for the purposes of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 on

support for Rural Development by the European Agricultural Fund

for Rural Development (EAFRD) and repealing Council Regulation

(EC) No 1698/2005, which scheme shall promote, qualify and

diffuse products as defined in these regulations 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.

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires

"actor" means any natural or legal person involved in a

recognised agricultural value chain;

"agricultural value chain" means a set of activities which

collectively increase the commercial value of a basic product of the

agricultural industry. An agricultural value chain may involve

processing, packaging, storage, transport and distribution;

"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;

"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;

"Minister" means the Minister responsible for Agriculture;

"operator" means an actor belonging to a recognised agricultural

value chain and who participates in the 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;

"product" means an agricultural and agro-food product of animal

and, or plant origin, the production of which consists of production

and, or farming methods which are significantly higher than the

minimum legal requirements with regards to public, animal or plant

health, animal welfare or environmental protection and which final

characteristics are also significantly higher than the minimum legal

requirements;

" ‘Products of Quality’ National Scheme" means a quality

scheme recognised at the national level in terms of Article 16(1)(b)

of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 on support for Rural

D ev elop ment by the European Agricul tural Fund fo r Ru ral

Development (EAFRD) and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No

1698/2005;

"quality mark" means a mark which identifies the products

adhering to the ‘Products of Quality’ National Scheme;

"recognised agricultural value chain" means an agricultural value

chain which is recognised by the Minister and published in the

Gazette;

"scheme" means the ‘Products of Quality’ National Scheme;

"superior quality" means a qualitative characteristic superior to

the minimum standards established by the law in force, which can

be objectively identified;

"territory" means a territorial unit falling under the classification

of a Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics 2 (NUTS 2) as

established by Regulation (EC) 1059/2003 on the establishment of

a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS).

(1) There shall be a scheme, to be called the ‘Products of

Quality’ National Scheme.

(2) The scheme shall be open to all interested actors who form

part of a recognised agricultural value chain.

(3) The Director shall make rules for the implementation of the

scheme, which shall include but shall not be limited to provisions

on

(a) binding product and, or method specifications for each

product which identify the production and, or farming

methods and the elements that characterize the

superior quality of the product;

(b) administrative criteria required for the participation in

the scheme;

(c) a control system in order to monitor the binding

product and, or method specifications; and

(d) a compulsory traceability system which guarantees the

transparency of the scheme and assures complete

traceability of products.

(1) The Director shall be 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.

The Minister may, by notice in the Gazette recognize

agricultural value chains upon receiving advice from the Director.

(1) Product specifications established by the Director shall

be binding.

(2) Product specifications shall include, but shall not be limited

to, the following

(a) the name and the typology of the product recognised

by the scheme;

(b) the specifications and characteristics of the product

which guarantee superior quality; and

(c) the rules concerning traceability, auto-control, the

control and the labelling.

In order for an actor to be able to participate in the scheme,

the actor shall fulfil the administrative criteria established in the

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.

(1) The Minister may, upon 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.

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.

(1) An actor who wants to 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

result s th at the acto r is n ot in con form ity wi th th e 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.

The scheme shall also be open to producers of approved

traditional agro-food products in terms of the Establishment of the

Register of Traditional Agro-food Products of Malta Regulations.

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.

(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.

(1) An operator may apply to the Director to be granted

authorisation for the use of the quality 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.

(1) There shall be a register for 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.

The Director may suspend or withdraw an operator’s

participation in the scheme if it results that the operator has failed

to 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.

Any person who feels aggrieved 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.

In the event of infringements of the provisions of regulation

12(3), there shall be applied the provisions of article 32 of the

Product Safety Act.

These regulations have been notified in terms of Directive

2015/1535 EC which consolidates Directive 98/34 EC as

transposed by the Notification Procedure Regulation 2003.