Plant Protection Products Act 1997.

The ultimate aim of this Act is to protect human beings and animals from the harmful effects of plant protection products. The Act contains at the outset a definition clause relating to various terms employed such as, inter alia, "plant protection products", "residues", "plants", "animals", "marketing", "environment", "integrated plant protection". Only products which are officially authorized according to this Law may be marketed. Part 2 deals with authorization procedures relating to plant protection products. Dealers intending to market for the first time a product have to apply for authorization; they must be resident within the EU. The authorization is granted by the Federal Minister of Agriculture and Forestry. Article 7 lists the conditions for a plant protection product to be admitted. Furthermore, products may be marketed only if packing and labelling complies with the requirements provided for in article 20. According to article 22, plant protection products must be entered in the Register for Plant Protection (Plant Protection Register) at the Federal Office for Agricultural Research; at the beginning of every year the said Office issues a list of them. The experiments with non-authorized products is allowed only by a permit by the Federal Office for Agricultural Research. Article 27 deals with import regulations. Finally, the Law deals with enforcement, sequestration procedures, fees, communications to the EU-Commission and member countries, penalties, entry into force and repeal of existing provisions, transitional provisions, etc. The text consists of 40 articles divided into 4 Parts.