Scottish Statutory Instruments

2010 No. 206

Plant Health

The Plant Health (Scotland) Amendment Order 2010 (revoked)F1

Made

19th May 2010

Laid before the Scottish Parliament

21st May 2010

Coming into force

1st July 2010

F1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F1EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends the Plant Health (Scotland) Order 2005 (“the principal Order”) so as to implement Council Directive 2007/33/EC of 11th June 2007 on the control of potato cyst nematodes and repealing Directive 69/465/EEC (O.J. L 156, 16.6.2007, p.12).

Article 7 makes various amendments to article 39 of the principal Order so as to prevent the planting of seed potatoes and the plants listed in the new Schedule 15A, unless an official soil test has found that the area in which they were grown was not infested with Potato Cyst Nematode.

The official soil test is to be carried out in accordance with the procedures that are now set out in Schedule 15 (articles 7 and 10 and Schedule 1) and must be carried out either—

F1(a). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F1(b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Article 7 also amends article 39 of the principal Order to set out 5 categories which are to be exempt from the soil test requirement. The exemptions apply to—

F1(a). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F1(b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F1(c). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Article 8 adds article 39(8) to the offence provision in article 45(1) of the principal Order.

Article 9 makes a minor correction to Part B of Schedule 2.

Schedule 15 of the principal Order is replaced to set out the sampling and testing requirements and to introduce new measures for the control of Potato Cyst Nematode (article 10 and Schedule 1). This Schedule also provides that, in infested areas, the planting of potatoes, not intended for the production of seed potatoes, may be authorised in accordance with the official control programme for the suppression of Potato Cyst Nematode (paragraphs 9 and 10 of Schedule 15 as substituted by Schedule 1). Copies of the official control programme and full details of parish boundaries can be obtained from Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate (SGRPID) Area Offices and from www.scotland.gov.uk/potatocystnematode.

A new Schedule 15A is inserted which lists the species to which the new controls apply (article 11 and Schedule 2).

Licences served under article 40 of the principal Order in accordance with Schedule 15, in the form as it was prior to amendment by this Order, permitting the growing of potatoes not intended for the production of seed potatoes will remain in force through the 2010 growing season (article 12).

A Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared for this instrument. Copies are available from Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA), Roddinglaw Road, Edinburgh, EH12 9FJ and at www.scotland.gov.uk/potatocystnematode.