The Act makes provision for public control of external trade of plants and planting material and with a view to controlling plant pest and diseases, and introduces measures to prevent or eradicate such pests and diseases.
The text consists of 34 sections divided into 8 Parts: Preliminary (I); Administration (II); Importation (III); Export control (IV); Containment and eradication of plant pests (V); Enforcement (VI); Offences, penalties and proceedings (VII); Miscellaneous (VIII).
The Director of the Department responsible for plant health shall administer and force provisions of the present Act pursuant to section 3. This public officer shall also be responsible for the Plant Health Service, the functions of which are outlined in section 3. Section 4 provides for a Plant Protection Board, which shall regularly review the state of plant quarantine in Malta, and formulate policies and advise the Minister in this regard (sect. 4). The Director may establish Plant Certification Schemes (sect. 2) in accordance with international standards (sect. 6). No person shall import into Malta any plant material, plant pest, beneficial organism (sect. 2), soil or packaging material except in accordance with provisions of Part III and other provisions of this Act. The Director may, by notice published in the Gazette, impose the requirement of a permit (sect. 11) or phytosanitary certificate or plant passport (sect. 12) for imports of specified classes of plant material. Section 13 grants power to the Director to prohibit or restrict importation of plant material. The Minister may make regulations for the marketing of vegetative propagation and planting material under section 14. The Director may require persons involved in the handling of plant material to register with the Plant Health Service under section 17. Plants or plant products intender for export shall be submitted to the Plant Health service for examination (sect. 19). After examination a phytosanitary certificate or plant passport may be issued by an inspector. Part V provides for declaration by the Director of notifiable plant pests (sect. 20), infested areas (sect. 21), issue of written notices (sect. 22), non-compliance with notices (sect. 23), review of quarantine (sect. 24), and compensation for destroyed plant material (sect. 25). Regulation-making powers of the Minister are defined in section 32.