S.L. 433.7 Art. 7Where the presence of organism is confirmed.

(1) If official or officially supervised laboratory testing, using, for the listed plant material, the relevant method set out in

Schedule II or, in all other cases, any other officially approved method, confirms the presence of the organism in a sample taken pursuant to these regulations, the Plant Health Department, having regard to sound scientific principles, the biology of the organism and the particular production, marketing and processing systems of the host plants of the organism in Malta, shall:

(a) for the listed plant material:

(i) establish an investigation to determine the extent and primary source(s) of the contamination in accordance with the provisions of Schedule IV, with further testing in accordance with regulation 6(2), on, at least, all clonally related seed potato stocks, and

(ii) designate as contaminated the listed plant material, consignment and/or lot from which the sample was taken, and the machinery, vehicle, vessel, store, or units thereof, and any other objects including packaging material which have been in contact with the listed plant material from which the sample was taken; also designate as contaminated, where appropriate, any field, unit of protected crop production and place of production from which the listed plant material was harvested and from which the sample was taken; and for those samples taken in the growing season, designate as contaminated any field, place of production, and, where appropriate, unit of protected crop production from which the sample was taken, and

(iii) determine, in accordance with the provisions of point 1 of Schedule V, the extent of probable contamination through pre- or post-harvest contact, through production, irrigation or spraying links or through clonal relationship with the designated contamination, and

(iv) demarcate a zone on the basis of the designation of contamination under paragraph (a)(ii), the determination of the extent of probable contamination under paragraph (a)(iii), and the possible spread of the organism, in accordance with the provisions of point 2(i) of Schedule V;

(b) for crops of host plants other than those mentioned under paragraph (a) where production of the listed plant material is identified at risk,

(i) establish an investigation in accordance with paragraph (a)(i); and

(ii) designate as contaminated the host plants of the organism from which the sample was taken; and

(iii) determine the probable contamination and demarcate a zone in accordance with paragraphs (a)(iii) and (a)(iv), respectively, in relation to production of the listed plant material;

(c) for surface water (including liquid waste discharges from industrial processing or packaging premises handling listed plant material) and associated wild solanaceous host plants, where production of the listed plant material is identified at risk through irrigation, spraying, or flooding of the surface water,

(i) establish an investigation including an official survey at appropriate times on samples of surface water and if present wild solanaceous host plants to establish the extent of the contamination; and

(ii) designate as contaminated the surface water from which any sample was taken, to the extent appropriate and on the basis of the investigation under subparagraph (i); and

(iii) determine the probable contamination and demarcate a zone on the basis of the designation of contamination under subparagraph (ii), and the possible spread of the organism taking into account the provisions of points 1 and 2(ii) of Schedule V.

(2) The Plant Health Department shall immediately notify the other Member States and the Commission, in accordance with the provisions of point 3 of Schedule V, of any contamination designated under subregulation (1)(a)(ii) and (c)(ii) and the details of the zone demarcation under subregulation (1)(a)(iv) and, where applicable, under subregulation (1)(c)(iii). The Plant Health Department shall at the same time submit to the Commission the additional notification set out at point 4 of Schedule V.

(3) Where the Plant Health Department receives a notification from other Member States in terms of paragraph 2 of Article 5 of the European Council Directive 98/57, it will establish an investigation in accordance with subregulation (1)(a)(i) and, where applicable, subregulation (1)(c)(i) and take further action, as appropriate, in accordance with subregulations (1) and (2).