The Plant Health (Great Britain) Order 1993, as amended, implements the EC plant health regime. This includes Commission Directive 95/44/EC, which lays down rules for the import of material, for trial or scientific purposes and for work on varietal selections, which would otherwise be banned. This Directive has now been amended by Commission Directive 97/46/EC to incorporate provisions on potato breeding material which were previously included in a separate, temporary, Commission Decision. The effect of the change is to convert the temporary arrangements into a permanent part of the regime.

This Order, which comes into force on 1st January 1998, implements Commission Directive 97/46/EC by amending the Plant Health (Great Britain) Order 1993 (article 2(2)).

This Order also up-dates Schedule 16 to the 1993 Order (Instruments amending and supplementing Council Directive 77/93/EEC) (article 2(3)).