Key Benefits:
17. Duty to notify NPPO of quarantine pests
(1) The occupier or owner of any land or premises on which a pest listed in the First Schedule is present or is suspected to be present shall immediately notify the NPPO.
(2) Any person who contravenes the provisions of subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding P2 000, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both.
(1) If the Minister is satisfied that any pest listed in the First Schedule is present at any premises he or she may, by giving written notice to the occupier thereof, order that those premises be under quarantine, and he or she may renew the order, where necessary, for such periods as he or she may specify.
(2) An order made under subsection (1) shall remain in force until it is revoked by the Minister.
(3) Any person who contravenes any order issued under subsection (2) shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding P5000, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or to both.
(4) For the purpose of this section, "quarantine" may include-
(a) prohibiting the movement of people, conveyances, plants, plant products or other regulated articles from or to a specified location;
(b) prohibiting the planting or replanting of a specified location;
(c) ordering the owner or occupier of land, or of land in the vicinity, to take certain actions as outlined in section 19 (1);
(d) marking, tagging, pegging or otherwise identifying particular plants or areas;
(e) taking samples of plants, plant products or other regulated articles; or
(f) any other measure which the Minister on the advice of the NPPO deems necessary under the circumstances.
19. Treatment and destruction of infected plants
(1) The Head of the NPPO may, by notice in writing addressed to the owner or occupier of any premises under quarantine, order the owner or occupier-
(a) to take such steps as he or she may prescribe in the notice, for the treatment of any plant at the said premises;
(b) to destroy any plant on the premises which is-
(i) infected with any pest which treatment has failed or is unable to eradicate and which is considered by the Minister to be dangerous, or
(ii) any plant on the premises reasonably suspected of being so infected or infested.
(2) Where an order is made by the Minister under this section and the owner or occupier fails to comply therewith, the Minister shall be entitled to take such steps as may be necessary to carry out its terms and to recover from the occupier, as a civil debt, the cost of so doing.
(3) Any person who contravenes any order issued under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding P5000, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or to both.
The Head of the NPPO shall regularly review the situation in respect of any land placed under quarantine, and as soon as either-
(a) the relevant quarantine pest is considered no longer to be present; or
(b) he or she determines that it is no longer appropriate for the quarantine to be maintained in respect of some or all of the affected land,
he or she shall, by written notice served on all affected owners or occupiers of land, lift the quarantine.
21. Pest free areas and areas of low pest prevalence
(1) Where the NPPO-
(a) is satisfied that a pest is not present in an area;
(b) adopts phytosanitary measures to keep the area referred to in paragraph (a) free of the pest; and
(c) institutes a surveillance system to verify that an area remains free of the pest, the Minister may declare it a pest free area.
(2) Where the NPPO-
(a) is satisfied that a pest occurs at low levels in an area;
(b) adopts phytosanitary measures to keep the pest levels low in the area referred to in paragraph (a); and
(c) institutes a surveillance system to verify that the pest levels in the area referred to in paragraph (a) remain low,
the Minister may declare it an area of low pest prevalence.
