Ministerial Decree implementing Directives No. 93/48/EEC of 23 June 1993, No. 93/64/EEC of 5 July 1993 and No. 93/79/EEC of 21 September 1993 of the Commission, on technical rules for the trade of fruit-trees propagating material and of fruit-trees destined to the production of fruit.

The Decree applies to the trade of ornamental plants and ornamental plant propagating material belonging to the families, species or hybrids listed in Annex I. It establishes trading, phytosanitary, quality requisites and other requisites relevant to the identification of the variety to which the material belongs. Further provisions concern the obligations of the supplier. The latter include, among other matters, (a) periodical inspections; (b) control of the so called "critical points", i.e. the quality of the product and of the propagating material; (c) verification of the compliance with the provisions of Directive No. 77/93/CEE (as regards the cultivation methods, the propagation and harvesting operations, the treatments, the packaging, storage, transport of the material and the administration measures); (d) the keeping of registers and generally any kind of collaboration with the official competent authority. Article 11 establishes the obligations of the competent authority in matter of evaluation of the above-mentioned critical points and the sampling methods to be applied. The trade of the material is subject to the issuance of a "trade document" containing all the information established in Annex X, or, as an alternative, to the possession of the plant passport. In case of retail supply to the final consumer, the Decree establishes the obligation to provide information regarding the name of the supplier, the botanical name and variety of the plant. According to the provisions of article 18, the suppliers already in possession of the authorization have the obligation to comply with the provisions of the present Decree within 180 days of the date of its publication.
The Decree is completed by ten Annexes: Plant species (I); Harmful organisms and relevant plant diseases (II); Characteristics of the plant varieties (III); Application form for the registration of a plant variety in the national register (IV); Application form for the recognition of the supplier (V); Requisites for the recognition of the supplier (VI); Technical protocol for the identification of the critical points (VII); Equipment and structures for the recognition of the laboratories (VIII); Application form for the recognition of the laboratories (IX); Specimen of the trade paper (X).