S.L. 433.10 Art. 3Interpretation.

For the purpose of these regulations, the following definitions shall apply:

"the Act" means the Plant Quarantine Act;

"autochthonous" and "indigenous" refer to either of the following:

(a) "autochthonous stand" or "seed source" which refers to one that normally has been continuously regenerated by natural regeneration. The stand or seed source may be regenerated artificially from reproductive material collected in the same stand or seed source or, autochthonous stands or seed sources within close proximity; and "basic material" refers to any of the following:

(a) "clone" being a group of individuals (ramets) derived originally from a single individual (ortet) by vegetative propagation, for example by cuttings, micropropagation, grafts, layers or divisions;

(b) "clonal mixture" being a mixture of identified clones in defined proportions;

(c) "parents of a family" which are trees used to obtain progeny by controlled or open-pollination of one identified parent used as a female, with the pollen of one parent (fullsibling) or a number of identified or unidentified parents (halfsibling);

(d) "seed orchard" being a plantation of selected clones or families which is isolated or managed so as to avoid or reduce pollination from outside sources, and managed to produce frequent, abundant and easily harvested crops of seed;

(e) "seed source" consisting of trees within an area from which seeds are collected;

(f) "stand" being a delineated population of trees possessing sufficient uniformity in composition;

"the Director" means the Director responsible for the Directorate and includes to the extent of the authority given, any officer authorised by him, in writing, to act in that behalf for any of the purposes of the Act; "the Directorate" means the Directorate responsible for plant health; "forest reproductive material" is reproductive material of those tree species and artificial hybrids thereof which are important for forestry purposes in all or part of Malta and in particular those that are listed in Schedule I in such manner that categories of forest reproductive material may be:

(a) "qualified" referring to reproductive material derived from basic material that can be seed orchards, parents of families, clones or clonal mixtures, the components of which have been phenotypically selected at individual level and which meets the requirements set out in Schedule V. Testing need not necessarily have been undertaken or completed;

(b) "selected" referring to reproductive material derived from basic material which shall be a stand located within a single region of provenance, which has been phenotypically selected at the population level and which meets the requirements set out in Schedule IV;

(c) "source-identified" referring to reproductive material

(d) "tested" referring to reproductive material derived from basic material that shall consist of stands, seed orchards, parents of families, clones or clonal mixtures. The superiority of the reproductive material must have been demonstrated by comparative testing or an estimate of the superiority of the reproductive material calculated from the genetic evaluation of the components of the basic material. The material shall meet the requirements set out in Schedule VI; "marketing" refers to a display with a view to sale, offering for sale, sale or delivery to another person including delivery under a service contract;

"official body" means the Directorate; "origin" in respect of an autochthonous stand or seed source, the origin is the place where the trees are growing. For a non-autochthonous stand or seed source, the origin is the place where the seeds or plants were originally introduced. The origin of a stand or seed source may be unknown; "production" includes all stages in the generation of the seed unit, the conversion from seed unit to seed and the raising of planting stock from seeds and parts of plants;

"provenance" refers to the place where any stand of trees is growing;

"region of provenance" in respect of a species or sub-species, the region of provenance is the area or group of areas subject to sufficiently uniform ecological conditions in which stands or seed sources showing similar phenotypic or genetic characters are found, taking into account altitudinal boundaries where appropriate; "reproductive material" refers to any of the following:

(a) seed unit which consists of cones, infructescenses, fruits and seeds intended for the production of planting stock;

(b) parts of plants consisting of stem cuttings, leaf cuttings and root cuttings, explants or embryos for micropropagation, buds, layers, roots, scions, sets and any parts of a plant intended for the production of planting stock;

(c) planting stock being plants raised from seed units, from parts of plants, or from plants from natural regeneration; "supplier" is any natural or legal person engaged professionally in the marketing or importation of forest reproductive material; "third countries" means countries referred to in Council Decision 2008/971/EC and Commission Decision 2008/989/EC.