{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/plant-health-great-britain-order-1987/article-3",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/plant-health-great-britain-order-1987/article-3.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/1987/1758",
  "legislation_title": "The Plant Health (Great Britain) Order 1987",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/plant-health-great-britain-order-1987",
  "path": "article/3",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "3",
  "heading": "Interpretation",
  "text": "(1) In this Order, unless the context otherwise requires—\n“appropriate Minister” means in the application of this Order to England the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in its application to Scotland the Secretary of State for Scotland and in its application to Wales the Secretary of State for Wales;\n“approved immune variety” means a variety of potatoes approved for the time being by the appropriate Minister as being immune from wart disease of potatoes;\n“approved resistant variety” means a variety of potatoes approved for the time being by the appropriate Minister as being resistant to one or more pathotypes of potato cyst nematode;\n“authorised officer” means—\n(a) in relation to a certificate, translation or copy issued in Great Britain, an inspector or other officer of the appropriate Minister, and\n(b) in relation to a certificate, translation or copy issued in a place other than Great Britain, a representative of the Plant Protection Service of the country in which the certificate, translation or copy was issued;\n“beet cyst nematode” means the cyst forming nematodeHeterodera schachtii Schmidt;\n“Central America” means the geographical area comprising Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and the islands commonly known as the West Indies;\n“chrysanthemum” means plants (other than seeds) of those species, cultivars and hybrids of the genusDendranthema(DC.) Des Moulins commonly known as the florists' chrysanthemum;\n“Colorado Beetle” means the insectLeptinotarsa decemlineata(Say);\n“Customs Act” means the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979;\n“Directive 77/93/EEC” means Council Directive of 21st December 1976 on protective measures against the introduction into the Member States of harmful organisms of plants or plant products as amended by the instruments listed in Schedule 5;\n“the Euro-Mediterranean area” means the geographical area comprising Europe, Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey;\n“Europe” includes the Canary Islands, but does not include Cyprus, Turkey or the following regions of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, namely the Kazakh, Kirghiz, Tadzhik, Turkmen and Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republics and the following regions of the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic, namely the Buryat, Yakut and Tuva Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, the Altai, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk and Maritime Krais and the Amur, Chita, Irkutsk, Kamchatka, Kemerovo, Kurgan, Magadan, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Sakhalin, Tomsk and Tyumen Oblasts;\n“farm” means the whole of the land which is occupied as a unit for agricultural purposes;\n“genetically manipulated material” means material derived from any activity which has involved genetic manipulation and which has resulted or, in the opinion of the appropriate Minister, is likely to result in the production of a plant pest, or any activity which has involved genetic manipulation of a plant pest, and includes material which contains a plant pest which has been genetically manipulated;\n“genetic manipulation” means the formation of new combinations of heritable material by the insertion of nucleic acid molecules, produced by whatever means outside the cell, into any virus, bacterial plasmid, or other vector system so as to allow their incorporation into a host organism in which they do not naturally occur but in which they are capable of continued propagation;\n“growing medium” means material, intended to sustain the life of plants, which consists wholly or partly of soil or peat (whether used or unused) or of any other solid substance;\n“importer” in relation to any plant pest, genetically manipulated material, plant, plant product, agricultural machinery, soil or growing medium includes—\n(a) any person who, (whether as owner, consignor, consignee, agent, broker or otherwise), is in possession of or in any way entitled to the custody or control of the plant pest, genetically manipulated material, plant, plant product, agricultural machinery, soil or growing medium; and\n(b) any person by whose action the plant pest, genetically manipulated material, plant, plant product, agricultural machinery, soil or growing medium is likely to be or has been landed in Great Britain;\n“inspector” means a person appointed by the appropriate Minister to be an inspector for the purposes of this Order;\n“landed” includes imported by post and “landing” shall be construed accordingly;\n“Member State” means a Member State of the European Community other than the United Kingdom and does not include the Isle of Man or any of the Channel Islands or the French overseas departments, the Canary Islands, Ceuta or Melilla;\n“North America” means the geographical area comprising Canada, Mexico and the United States of America (except the state of Hawaii);\n“nursery” means any premises wholly or partly used for the cultivation or keeping of plants for the purpose of transplantation or removal to other premises;\n“official” in relation to any testing or any other procedure required by this Order to be carried out in respect of any plant, soil or growing medium means carried out by or under the supervision of the Plant Protection Service of the country in which the testing or other procedure is carried out and “officially” shall be construed accordingly;\n“phytosanitary certificate” means a certificate duly completed either in the form set out in Schedule 6 or the equivalent in a language other than English;\n“place of production” means any premises, normally worked as a unit, together with any contiguous uncultivated land;\n“plant” means a living plant or living part of a plant, including any tree, shrub, bush or seed and includes, where the context so admits, any growing medium, packing material and container attached thereto or associated therewith, and “living part of a plant” shall be considered to include—\n(i) raw fruit,\n(ii) raw vegetables,\n(iii) tubers, corms, bulbs or rhizomes,\n(iv) cut flowers,\n(v) branches with foliage,\n(vi) cut trees retaining foliage, and\n(vii) plants in tissue culture;\n“plant in tissue culture” means a plant growing in a clear liquid or clear solid aseptic culture medium in a closed transparent container;\n“plant pest” means a pathogen, or any living organism other than a vertebrate animal in any stage of its existence, which is injurious to any plant and includes a culture of such pathogen or organism;\n“plant product” means a product of plant origin, which is unprocessed or has undergone simple preparation insofar as it is not a plant and includes any packing material and container associated therewith;\n“potato” means any tuber or true seed or any other plant ofSolanum tuberosum L. or other tuber-forming species or hybrid of the genusSolanum L.;\n“potato cyst nematode” means cyst-forming nematodes of the genusGlobodera Skarbilovich (Behrens) that infest and multiply on potatoes and includes all strains and pathotypes thereof;\n“premises” includes any land, building, vehicle, vessel, aircraft, hovercraft or freight container;\n“progressive wilt disease” means either the disease of hop plants which is caused by strains ofVerticillium albo-atrum Reinke and Berth. and is known as progressive wilt disease of hops or progressive verticillium wilt of hops or any strain of the fungusVerticillium albo-atrum Reinke and Berth. causing that disease as the context may require;\n“raw fruit” does not include dried, dehydrated, lacquered or deep-frozen fruit, and “raw” in relation to fruit of any particular description shall be construed accordingly;\n“raw vegetables” does not include potatoes and does not include any other kind of vegetable which has been dried, dehydrated, lacquered, brined, pickled or deep-frozen and “raw” in relation to vegetables of any particular description shall be construed accordingly;\n“red core disease of strawberries” means either the disease of strawberry plants which is caused by the fungusPhytophthora fragariae Hickman and is known as red core disease of strawberries or that fungus as the context may require;\n“re-forwarding phytosanitary certificate” means a certificate duly completed either in the form set out in Schedule 7 or the equivalent written in a language other than English;\n“seed” means seed in the botanical sense, other than seed not intended for planting;\n“soil” means material wholly or partly derived from the upper layer of the earth’s crust which is capable of sustaining plant life and which contains solid organic substances such as parts of plants, humus, peat or bark, but does not include material composed entirely of unused peat;\n“South America” means the geographical area comprising Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay and Venezuela;\n“third country” means a country or territory other than a Member State, the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man or any of the Channel Islands;\n“wart disease of potatoes” means either the disease of potatoes which is caused by the fungusSynchytrium endobioticum(Schilb.) Perc. and is known as wart disease of potatoes or that fungus as the context may require.\n(2) Any reference in this Order to a particular plant pest shall be construed as a reference to that pest in any stage of its existence.\n(3) Any reference in this Order to premises declared infected with any particular plant pest shall be construed as a reference to premises declared infected with that plant pest by a notice served or having effect as if served under article 15(4) and for the time being in force.\n(4) Any reference in this Order to a Member State, third country, Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man includes reference to a state, province or region within that Member State, third country, Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.\n(5) Any reference in this Order to a numbered article or a numbered Schedule shall be construed as a reference to the article or Schedule so numbered in this Order.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "1979 c. 2."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f2",
      "text": "OJ No. L26, 31.1.77, p.20."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "amended",
      "affecting": "uksi/1991/240",
      "affecting_title": "The Plant Health (Great Britain) (Amendment) Order 1991"
    },
    {
      "type": "inserted",
      "affecting": "uksi/1991/240",
      "affecting_title": "The Plant Health (Great Britain) (Amendment) Order 1991"
    },
    {
      "type": "amended",
      "affecting": "uksi/1989/553",
      "affecting_title": "The Plant Health (Great Britain) (Amendment) Order 1989"
    },
    {
      "type": "words inserted",
      "affecting": "uksi/1990/2371",
      "affecting_title": "The Channel Tunnel (Amendment of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Import Legislation) Order 1990"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1987/1758/article/3",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T16:19:34.545107+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}