Plant Health Guide: passporting and marketing requirements

Appendix M: definitions

Accreditation - See Authorisation

Authorisation - This is the process by which growers and traders are approved to issue plant passports. The terms 'registration' and 'accreditation' are also referred to in Regulations, but these all form part of the same process.

SE: Scottish Executive

SERPID: Scottish Executive Rural Payments & Inspections Directorate

EC : European Community

Plant Passport: Documentary evidence which accompanies plants to show that:

• they have been grown by an authorised producer, whose premises are regularly inspected, and who is authorised to issue plant passports

• they are, to the best of the producer's knowledge, free from all quarantine pests and diseases and, where appropriate, grown in an environment which is also free from these pests and diseases

• if imported from outside the EC, they have been landed by an authorised importer, inspected on arrival in the UK or in another member state (or at an approved destination) and found to be free from quarantine pests and diseases prior to being passported for movement within the EC

Protected Zones: Particular areas within the EC have been designated as Protected Zones against certain quarantine pests and diseases which are either widely established elsewhere in the EC or restricted to specialist crops which are of only limited economic interest to the whole Community. Particular plants sent into these zones which can be host to the relevant pest or disease must be accompanied by a plant passport which includes a special code indicated by the letters "ZP" (Zone Protected). This code indicates that plants have met EC requirements in respect of the pest or disease in question and may enter the Protected Zone (see Appendices D/ D1 and K).

The whole of the United Kingdom is a Protected Zone for tobacco whitefly (Bemisia tabaci), (Begonia, Euphorbia pulcherrima, Ficus and Hibiscus need a "ZP" code on the plant passport when moving into or within Protected Zones) and Northern Ireland is a Protected Zone for beet rhizomania (Beet necrotic yellow vein virus). Plants including seeds of Beta vulgaris, beet roots and certain beet products need a "ZP" code on the plant passport when moving into or within Northern Ireland, but not into or within Great Britain. Sugar beet and fodder beet also need a " ZP" passport, but only on movement into and within Northern Ireland, not into or within Great Britain. The United Kingdom has also been granted Protected Zone status for Colorado beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata), which is well established in certain other EC countries. In addition, there are Protected Zone rules relating to large trees of certain conifers (Abies, Larix, Picea and Pinus and to bark; please contact the Forestry Commission for further details).

Regulations: The information in this guide is based on The Plant Health (Scotland) Order 2005 (Statutory Instrument 2005 No. 613) (as amended), ("the Order"), The Marketing of Vegetable Plant Material Regulations 1995 (Statutory Instrument 1995 No. 2652), The Marketing of Fruit Plant Material Regulations 1995 (Statutory Instrument 1995 No. 2653) and The Marketing of Ornamental Plant Propagating Material Regulations 1999 (Statutory Instrument 1999 No. 1801). The Regulations are implemented by Scottish Executive in Scotland, and by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in England and Wales. Separate arrangements apply for Northern Ireland. Enquiries concerning the import of forest trees, wood and bark are dealt with by the Forestry Commission.

Registration: See authorisation

Single Market: The Single Market covers all EC member states, i.e. Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal (including Madeira and the Azores), Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain (excluding the Canary Islands), Sweden and the United Kingdom, and in addition includes the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

Supplier Document: This is similar to the plant passport (and will usually be the same document) and is issued for certain genera of propagating material and plants. It provides documentary evidence that the plant material being marketed is, to the best of the supplier's knowledge, substantially free from quality affecting pests and diseases.