Law No. LP62/2025 “On horticulture”.

This Law establishes the legal framework for regulating the horticultural sector by adopting specific rules for the establishment of horticultural plantations, production, processing and marketing of horticultural products. The purpose of this Law is to ensure a favourable regulatory framework for increasing the production and productivity of horticultural crops in order to support and stimulate the production of high-quality horticultural products, using available resources and under sustainable conditions. This Law has the following general objectives: (a) increasing the productivity of the horticultural sector by stimulating and promoting the use of advanced technologies, crop diversification and infrastructure investments; and (b) strengthening the capacities of the horticultural sector to produce safe and harmless products. For the purposes of this Law, the horticultural sector includes the subsectors of fruit, nut, essential oil plants (oleaginous plants), vegetables, mushrooms, aromatic, medicinal and seasoning plants. Horticultural area shall be intended geographical areas intended for horticultural crops, constituting distinct categories of land. The state policy in the horticultural sector is developed and promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry. State supervision and control regarding the production, processing, placing on the market, keeping and/or storage, including the transportation of horticultural products, are ensured by the National Food Safety Agency, which is responsible for: (a) the elaboration, modification and annual publication of the Catalogue of Plant Varieties, which includes varieties admitted for cultivation, production and marketing in the national territory; and (b) maintaining the Catalogue of plant varieties. The agricultural census and the cadastre of multiannual horticultural plantations are carried out on all land areas, regardless of the type of ownership, the legal form of organization and the size of the agricultural holding, according to the procedure established by the Government, once every 10 years. Favourable areas for horticultural species are established by methodological norms (zoning) that include the agroclimatic resources in the respective areas and the criteria for evaluating the favourability and productivity potential of each category. Fresh fruits, nuts, berries, vegetables, mushrooms, aromatic, medicinal and seasoning plants intended for human consumption must comply with the quality and marketing requirements for fresh fruits and vegetables, approved by the Government.