F1EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of these Regulations)

These Regulations continue to implement Council Directive 92/34/EEC on the marketing of fruit plant propagating material and fruit plants intended for fruit production (OJ No L 157, 10.6.1992, p. 10). They also implement Council Directive 2008/90/EC on the marketing of fruit plant propagating material and fruit plants intended for fruit production (OJ No L 267, 8.10.2008, p 8).

Part 2 provides for the accreditation of producers and registration of suppliers and varieties of fruit plant. Regulation 6 prohibits a producer from marketing fruit plants and propagating material without being accredited by the appropriate authority. Regulation 7 provides for the registration of all persons involved professionally in the marketing, production, reproduction or importation of fruit plant material and prohibits, from 30 September 2012, the marketing of such material without being registered. Schedule 2 makes provision for the registration of varieties of fruit plant that are distinct, uniform and stable and which conform to international standards for the variety. Schedule 2 also makes provision for the registration of other varieties that are marketed in the United Kingdom before 30th September 2012 and provides additional criteria for the registration of genetically modified varieties.

Part 3 sets out the requirements for marketing fruit plants and propagating material. Regulation 11, which applies from 30th September 2012, specifies the varieties that may be marketed from that date. Regulation 12 sets out the quality requirements for fruit plant material, including that it must be substantially free on visual inspection from the specified organisms and diseases and defects likely to impair its usefulness and it must have adequate identity and purity relative to its genus, species or variety. Regulation 14 sets out the information that must accompany fruit plants and propagating material when it is marketed. Regulation 15 sets out additional quality requirements for the marketing of Citrus.

Part 4 imposes additional requirements on suppliers including requirements on producers to treat fruit plant material showing signs of any of the specified organism or diseases (regulation 16) and to monitor the production process in accordance with regulation 17. Regulation 18 requires suppliers to keep records.

Part 5 deals with the enforcement of these Regulations. Regulation 19 provides for the appointment of inspectors. Schedule 4 sets out inspectors’ powers, including a power to serve a notice on any person to require that person to provide information and a power to prohibit the movement of plant material that is not substantially free from the diseases and organisms referred to in regulation 12(a). An inspector also has a power to serve a notice on any person acting in contravention of these Regulations to require that person to comply with the Regulations or to prohibit that person from acting in breach of them. Under regulation 20(1) a person who fails to comply with any such notice is guilty of an offence. Under regulation 20(2) a person guilty of an offence under the Regulations is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

A transposition note and an impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available from the Food and Environment Research Agency, Whitehouse Lane, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, CB3 OLF and is annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside the instrument on the OPSI website.