The Plant Protection Products Regulations 1995

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

“the 1985 Act” means the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985(1);

“active substance” means any substance or micro-organism, including a virus, having general or specific action against harmful organisms or on plants, parts of plants or plant products;

“animals” means animals belonging to species normally fed and kept or consumed by man;

“approval” in relation to a plant protection product means an administrative act under these Regulations by which the Ministers, following an application submitted by an applicant, approve the placing on the market or use of that plant protection product in the whole or any part of Great Britain and “approved” shall be construed accordingly;

“the Commission” means the Commission of the European Communities;

“contravenes” includes “fails to comply with”;

“the Directive” means Council Directive 91/414/EEC concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market(2), as amended by Commission Directive 93/71/EEC(3), Commission Directive 94/37/EC(4), Commission Directive 94/79/EC(5) and Council Directive 94/43/EC(6);

“the EEA” means the European Economic Area established under the EEA Agreement;

“the EEA Agreement” means the Agreement on the EEA signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993(7);

“EEA State” means a State which is a Contracting Part to the EEA Agreement but until the EEA Agreement comes into force in relation to Liechtenstein does not include the State of Liechtenstein;

“the environment” means water, air, land, wild species of fauna and flora, and any interrelationship between them, as well as any relationship with living organisms;

“harmful organisms” means pests of plants or plant products belonging to the animal or plant kingdom, viruses, bacteria and mycoplasmas and other pathogens;

“integrated control” means the rational application of a combination of biological, biotechnological, chemical, cultural or plant-breeding measures whereby the use of chemical plant protection products is limited to the minimum strictly necessary to maintain harmful organisms below levels above which economically unacceptable damage or loss would occur;

“International Organisation for Standardisation” means the institution of that name founded in 1947 and currently having its headquarters at 1 Rue de Varembe CP 56, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland;

“International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry” means the institution of that name founded in 1919 and currently having its headquarters at Bank Court Chambers, 2-3 Pound Way, Templars Square, Cowley, Oxford OX4 3YF;

“the Ministers” means the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State acting jointly;

“new active substance” means any active substance which is not an old active substance;

“old active substance” means any active substance which was on the market—

(a)

in Austria, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and, in so far as Liechtenstein is an EEA State, Liechtenstein, on or before 1st July 1994;

(b)

in other States within the EEA, on or before 26th July 1993;

“placing on the market” means any supply, whether in return for payment or not, within Great Britain, including importation into Great Britain from outside the EEA, other than a supply for storage followed by consignment from the EEA or disposal, and “place on the market” shall be construed accordingly;

“plants” means live plants and live parts of plants including fresh fruit and seeds;

“plant products” means products derived from plants in the unprocessed state or having undergone only simple preparation such as milling, drying or pressing, but excluding plants themselves;

“plant protection product” means an active substance or a preparation containing one or more active substances, put up in the form in which it is supplied to the user, intended to—

(a)

protect plants or plant products against all harmful organisms or prevent the action of such organisms;

(b)

influence the life processes of plants, other than as a nutrient (for example, as a growth regulator);

(c)

preserve plant products, in so far as such substances or products are not subject to provisions of Community law on preservatives;

(d)

destroy undesired plants; or

(e)

destroy parts of plants or check or prevent the undesired growth of plants;

“preparation” means a mixture or solution composed of two or more substances, of which at least one is an active substance, and which is intended for use as a plant protection product;

“the relevant competent authorities” means the competent authorities of the member States(8), other than the United Kingdom, as defined in a list of addresses published by the Ministers from time to time;

“residue” in relation to a plant protection product means one or more substances present in or on plants or products of plant origin, edible animal products or elsewhere in the environment and resulting from the use of that plant protection product, including its metabolites and products resulting from its degradation or reaction;

“substance” means any chemical element and its compounds, as they occur naturally or by manufacture, including any impurity inevitably resulting from the manufactur-ing process;

“the 1986 Regulations” means the Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986(9).

(2) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

(a) any reference to a numbered regulation or Schedule shall be construed as a reference to the regulation or Schedule so numbered in these Regulations;

(b) any reference to a numbered Article shall be construed as a reference to the Article so numbered in the Directive; and

(c) any reference to a numbered Annex shall be construed as a reference to an Annex so numbered of the Directive.

(1)

1985 c. 48; sections 16, 18, 19 and 25 were amended by the Pesticides (Fees and Enforcement) Act 1989 (c. 27).

(2)

OJ No. L230, 19.8.1991, p.1 (to be read with Corrigenda published in OJ No. L170, 25.6.92, p.40).

(3)

OJ No. L221, 31.8.93, p.27.

(4)

OJ No. L194, 29.7.94, p.65.

(5)

OJ No. L354, 31.12.94, p.16.

(6)

OJ No. L227, 1.9.94, p.31.

(7)

The EEA Agreement came into force on 1st January 1994 (see Decision 94/1 ECSC, EEC; OJ No. L1, 3.1.94, p.1). Protocol 47 and certain Annexes to the EEA Agreement were amended by Decision No. 7/94 of the EEA Joint Committee, which came into force on 1st July 1994 (OJ No. L160, 28.6.94, p.1). Council Directive 91/414/EEC and Commission Directive 93/71/EEC (whose entry into force predated the entry into force of the EEA Agreement) were added to Chapter XV of Annex II to the EEA Agreement by item J in Annex 3 to that Decision (p.44), thus extending these Directives to the EEA.

(8)

By virtue of Part II of Schedule 1 to the European Communities Act 1972 “member”, in the expression “member State”, refers to membership of the European Communities.

(9)

S.I. 1986/1510.