The Import and Export (Plant Health Fees) (England and Wales) Order 1988

Title, extent and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Import and Export (Plant Health Fees) (England and Wales) Order 1988, shall apply to England and Wales and shall come into force on 1st September 1988.

Revocation

2.  The Import and Export (Plant Health Fees) (England and Wales) Order 1987(1) is hereby revoked.

Interpretation

3.—(1) In this Order, unless the context otherwise requires –

“alternative fee” means a fee prescribed in column 4 of Schedule 1;

“the appropriate Minister” means, in relation to England, the Minister and, in relation to Wales, the Secretary of State for Wales;

“basic fee” means a fee prescribed in column 3 of Schedule 1;

“certificate” means a phytosanitary certificate or a re-forwarding phytosanitary certificate;

“district” means, in Wales, a community and, in England, a parish or where there is no parish a district ward;

“financial year” means the twelve months ending with 31st March;

“import licence” means a licence issued by the appropriate Minister under article 42 of the Plant Health (Great Britain) Order 1987(2) authorising the landing in Great Britain of anything the landing of which is otherwise prohibited by that Order;

“micro-plant” means a micro-propagated plant in vitro or a plant which is –

(i)

produced by micro-propagation,

(ii)

weaned, and

(iii)

not more than 5 centimetres in height;

“the Minister” means the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food;

“national list” means a list of plant varieties prepared and published in a Member State which corresponds to that prepared and published under regulation 4 of the Seeds (National List of Varieties) Regulations 1982(3);

“phytosanitary certificate” means a phytosanitary certificate issued by an inspector or other officer of the appropriate Minister under article 12 of the Plant Health (Great Britain) Order 1987 and “re-forwarding phytosanitary certificate” means a re-forwarding phytosanitary certificate issued by such an inspector or officer under that article;

“premises” includes any land, building, vessel, vehicle, aircraft, hovercraft or freight container;

“reduced fee” means a fee equal to one-half of a basic fee or an alternative fee;

“small consignment” means a consignment –

(i)

of the following articles not more than 100 that is to say plants, fruits, bulbs, corms, rhizomes, tubers, bud sticks or cut flowers, or

(ii)

of the following articles not more than 1,000 that is to say rooted seedlings, or rooted or unrooted cuttings, not more than 15 centimetres in height or micro-plants, or

(iii)

whose gross value, to the satisfaction of the appropriate Minister, is less than £100;

“soil” includes any growing medium;

“stock” means the whole or part of a single crop of a single cultivar from a single field.

(2) Where a fee prescribed by this Order is prescribed in relation to an inspection, examination or test as well as the issue of a certificate, the refusal to issue a certificate by reason of the results of the inspection, examination or test being unsatisfactory shall not affect the amount of the fee otherwise payable.

(3) Any reference in this Order to a numbered article or Schedule shall be construed as a reference to the article or Schedule bearing that number in this Order.

Fees for export certification services

4.  Subject to the following provisions of this Order, there shall be paid to the Minister in respect of any service described in column 2 of Schedule 1 the basic fee prescribed opposite the reference to that service.

Alternative fees for export certification services

5.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this Order where –

(a) opposite the reference to any service described in column 2 of Schedule 1 there is also prescribed an alternative fee, and

(b) the applicant applies for the performance of more than one such service, or more than one performance of any such service, under a single application, and

(c) two or more such services are performed consecutively

there shall be paid to the Minister, in place of the basic fee, the alternative fee so prescribed.

(2) Paragraph (1) above shall not apply to –

(a) the first, fifteenth and twenty-ninth service nor to any other service which follows this sequence (that is to say every 14th service), other than a service described in column 2 of Schedule 1 opposite item number 9, or

(b) the first service, being a service described opposite the said item 9.

(3) Where the applicant applies, under a single application –

(a) for the performance of more than one of the services described in column 2 of Schedule 1 opposite item numbers 1, 2 and 3, or more than one performance of any of those services, or

(b) for more than one performance of the service described in column 2 of Schedule 1 opposite item number 5

the services shall, for the purposes of paragraphs (1) and (2) above, be treated as performed consecutively whether or not they are so performed.

(4) No application shall be treated as an application made for the purposes of this article unless the services are to be performed on premises farmed, worked, occupied or administered as a single unit within the same district or any district adjoining it.

(5) For the purposes of this article services shall be treated as performed consecutively if –

(a) they are performed in immediate succession, or

(b) notwithstanding that they are not so performed, the articles in respect of which the services are performed were so presented by the applicant as to have enabled the services to be performed in immediate succession.

Further provisions for the payment of alternative fees

6.—(1) Where an inspector is on any premises for the purpose of performing any service for which a fee is payable to the Minister otherwise than under this Order as well as any service for which a fee is prescribed in Schedule 1, there shall be paid to the Minister, in place of the basic fee, the alternative fee prescribed opposite the reference to the appropriate service.

(2) Without prejudice to article 8, where an inspector is on any premises for the purpose of performing any service for which a fee is prescribed in Schedule 2 as well as a service for which a fee is prescribed in Schedule 1, there shall be paid to the Minister, in place of the basic fee, the alternative fee prescribed opposite the reference to the appropriate service.

Reduced fees for export certification services

7.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2) below, there shall be paid to the Minister, in place of any basic fee or alternative fee, a reduced fee where the appropriate Minister is satisfied that –

(a) the applicant is not a taxable person for the purposes of the Value Added Tax Act 1983(4) or if he is a taxable person, he makes no taxable supplies of plants, plant products, soil or agricultural machinery for the purposes of that Act, or

(b) the gross value of the articles exported, or sold for export, by the applicant from Great Britain and accompanied by a certificate in the previous financial year was less than £5,000.

(2) Paragraph (1) above shall not apply in respect of services performed in any financial year the reduced fees for which would cause the total amount of the reduced fees, otherwise payable by the applicant under that paragraph, to exceed £250 in that financial year.

Fees for import licensing services

8.  There shall be paid to the Minister in respect of any service described in column 2 of Schedule 2 the fee prescribed in column 3 of Schedule 2 opposite the reference to that service.

In Witness whereof the Official Seal of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is hereunto affixed on 29th July 1988.

L.S.

John MacGregor

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Peter Walker

Secretary of State for Wales

4th August 1988

We consent,

David Lightbown

Michael Neubert

Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury

27th July 1988