Cap. 433 Art. 2Interpretation.

(1) In this Act and in any regulations made thereunder, unless the context otherwise requires -

"Authority" means the Food Safety and Security Authority as established by article 4 of the Food Safety and Security Authority Act and shall include, to the extent of the authority given by the aforementioned Authority, any of its officers authorised in writing to act on its behalf for the purposes of this Act; "authorised officer" means an officer of the Police force, Customs Department, Postal Services or Plant Health Service or any other person authorised by the Director in writing to enforce or implement any provision of this Act;

"beneficial organism" means any organism, including fungi, bacteria, viruses, virus-like organisms, invertebrate or other animals, which is declared in writing by the Minister, after consultation with the Minister responsible for the protection of the environment, to be beneficial to Maltese flora or agricultural production; "certification scheme" means a method of growing, monitoring and testing of plants to ensure that they are free from particular pests and diseases; "Convention" means the International Plant Protection Convention, signed in Rome on the 6th December 1951 as amended or with any other convention prescribed by the Minister from time to time; "conveyance" means any vessel, aircraft, hovercraft, train, vehicle, cart, container, animal or other thing which can convey plant material, plant pests, beneficial organisms or soil from one place to another; "designated point of entry" means a port, airport, post office or other place designated by the Minister as a place where the importation of plant material is permitted, and includes a freeport as defined in the Malta Freeports Act;

"importer" includes anyone who, whether as owner, consignor, consignee, agent, broker or otherwise, is in possession of or in any way entitled to the custody of any plant material, plant pest, beneficial organism, soil or packaging landed or likely to be landed in Malta from another country; "inspector" means any inspector appointed under article 26 and any other officer of the Plant Health Service or other person designated as such in writing by the Director from time to time; ''Malta'' has the same meaning as is assigned to it by article 124 of the Constitution of Malta; "Minister" means the Minister responsible for food and includes, to the extent of the authority given, any officer authorised in writing to act on his behalf for the purposes of this Act;

"packing material" means any material used to pack, contain or keep plant material, beneficial organisms, soils or plant pests;

"phytosanitary certificate" means a certificate relating to the phytosanitary condition and origin of a consignment of plants and, or, plant products prepared and issued in accordance with the Convention; "Plant Health Service" means the office empowered to carry out plant health inspections and examinations and to implement the provisions of this Act;

"plant material" includes any plant, plant part, propagative material, or plant product which can be affected by, or harbour, a plant pest; "plant pest" means any form of plant or animal life or any pathogenic agent, other than a beneficial organism, capable of directly or indirectly injuring any plant material or beneficial organism, and includes genetically modified plant pests and weeds;

"plant product" means any unmanufactured material of plant origin and those manufactured products which, by their nature or that of their processing, may create a risk of plant pests spreading; "planting" means any operation whereby plants are placed in such a way as to ensure their growth, reproduction or propagation; "plants" means living plants and living parts thereof, including seeds, fruits and vegetables (except frozen), underground parts of plants, cut flowers, branches, trees with foliage and tissue cultures; "propagative material" means any living plant or part of a living plant, used or intended for propagation, including a seed, corm, cutting, bud, rhizome or plant tissue culture;

"quarantine station" means an official station designated by the Minister as a place where plant material may be confined for phytosanitary inspection, observation, testing or research; "soil" means any medium capable of sustaining plant life including earth, water, compost or clay but excluding any medium which is sterile or incapable of harbouring or transmitting plant pests; "treatment" means any appropriate process, including the use of chemicals, heat or low pressure, for ensuring the removal, sterilisation or killing of a plant pest.

(2) For the purposes of this Act the terms "import" and "export" shall not include the introduction of a thing into Malta or the taking out of a thing from Malta, from or to respectively, a member state of the European Union, or to such extent as may be prescribed from or to such state as the Minister may prescribed, being a state forming part of the European Economic Area or a state having similar arrangements with the European Union.