Law No. 5/21 approving the Plant Health Act and repealing Legislative Decree No. 3001/59 of 12 August.

This Law approves the Plant Health Act. This Law, consisting of 30 articles divided into four Chapters, establishes the norms that aim to guarantee the phytosanitary protection of agricultural and forestry production and exploitation, as well as the transit, trade, import and export of plants, parts of plants intended for commercialization and consumption. This Law applies to vegetables, products of plant origin, and forestry articles. This Law also applies to natural and legal persons, public and private, engaged in agricultural and forestry activities, scientific studies, handling, production, transport, marketing, import and export of vegetables, storage, plant packaging, forestry and other products.
The Act establishes the following objectives: a) protect the national territory against the introduction, establishment and dissemination of pests, diseases, weeds, pathogens and other enemies of plants, parts of plants, etc.; b) ensure the plant health and their products, throughout the entire production process, including import control and export certification; e) protect society from socio-economic, and environmental damage caused by pests and diseases of plants and their derivatives; d) contribute to food and nutritional security, by increasing production and productivity and the quality of vegetables and their products; e) carry out inspection and control services with the necessary means to ensure the control and phytosanitary surveillance of the interprovincial trade of imports and exports of plants and their products; f) guarantee the control of the use of plant heritage, preserving public health and the environment, in reducing the risks of pests, diseases, weeds and parasites in plant health of economic interest; g) guide integrated conservation, preservation, plant production practices of public interest, of commercial, scientific or environmental quality; h) monitor production, circulation, trade and propagation of vegetative material from products of plant origin, including seeds intended for cultivation; i) harmonize and guarantee phytosanitary inspection, control rules and procedures; j) inspect, supervise and take action against offenders.