The Plant Health (Amendment No. 3) Order (Northern Ireland) 1998

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order.)

This Order which comes into operation on 7th October 1998 further amends the Plant Health Order (Northern Ireland) 1993. The Order implements as respects Northern Ireland Commission Directives 98/1/EC (O.J. No. L.15, 21.1.98, p. 26) and 98/2/EC (O.J. No. L.15, 21.1.98, p. 34) which amend certain Annexes to Council Directive 77/93/EEC on protective measures against the introduction into the Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products and against their spread within the Community.

Commission Directive 98/1/EC is implemented by Article 2(2) to (5), (6)(a) and (c) to (f) and (7) to (11). Commission Directive 98/2/EC is implemented by Article 2(6)(b).

The Order makes substantial changes to requirements for import of citrus fruit (Article 2(6)(b)) and bonsai plants (Article 2(6)(d)). It adds to the list of quarantine pests Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (Article 2(4)(b)) and two species of Meloidogyne nematodes (Article 2(2)(c)), and introduces safeguards against their spread on tomato plants (Article 2(6)(e) and Article 2(7)(b)) and seed potatoes (Article 2(6)(c) and Article 2(7)(a)) respectively. The Order amends the range of hosts on which Enarmonia prunivora (plum moth) is recognised as a quarantine pest (Article 2(3)), and adds to the quarantine lists Rhizoecus hibisci (a root mealybug) (Article 2(2)(b)), and some species of Diabrotica (corn rootworms) (Article 2(2)(a)) and Hirschmaniella nematodes (Article 2(2)(b)).

The Order extends to aquarium plants the general requirement that imported plants for planting should be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate (Article 2(11)(a)(i)). It also extends to all tubers of Solanum species the import prohibitions which currently apply only to Solanum tuberosum (Article 2(5)(b)). It removes the prohibition on imports of Photinia with leaves from certain third countries (Article 2(5)(a)) and removes the plant passporting requirement for plants of Prunus laurocerasus and Prunus lusitanica intended for retail sale (Article 2(9)). The Order also makes a number of other minor amendments.

The Order also makes a minor consequential amendment to the Plant Health Order (Northern Ireland) 1993 (Article 2(12)).