CHAPTER
250
PLANTS PROTECTION |
ARRANGEMENT OF
SECTIONS |
SECTION |
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Appointment of inspectors. |
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Power to search for plants illegally imported. |
Power to enter upon land and search for causes
of disease. |
Owner to pay expenses except in cases of
poverty. |
Officers to assist in carrying out rules. |
Notices to be given by owner or occupier. |
Offences and recovery of penalties. |
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CHAPTER 250 |
PLANTS PROTECTION |
An Act
relating to the diseases of plants. | 9 of 1916
15 of 1951
G.N. 7(23)/1964
18 of 1965
E.L.A.O., 1974
5 of 1987 |
[Commencement 1st
August, 1916] |
1. This Act may be cited as the Plants Protection Act. | Short title. |
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires- | Interpretation. |
"Comptroller"
includes every officer of the Customs Department and, for the purpose of
dealing with the importation of plants and packages through the post office,
includes the postmaster and any official of the post office acting on his
behalf by his direction or that of the Minister; |
"disinfection"
includes fumigation; |
"imported"
means brought into The Bahamas by any channel whatsoever; |
"importer"
includes the owner and consignee and their agents and servants; |
"inspector"
means an inspector appointed under this Act; |
"inspector's
certificate" means the certificate of an inspector prescribed by the
rules; |
"Minister"
means the Minister responsible for Plant Protection; |
"packages"
includes boxes, coverings, wrappers, earth, soil or anything whatsoever in
which plants are imported; |
"plant"
includes tree, shrub, herb or vegetable; and cuttings, bulbs, seeds, berries,
buds and grafts; and the fruit or product of any plant; and the root, trunk,
stem, branch or leaf of any plant; and the whole or any part of any growing,
dying or dead plant including emptied pods, husks or skins; |
"plant
disease" means any deterioration or destruction of any plant or parts of
any plant which is capable of being communicated to any other plant or parts of
a plant, whether such deterioration or destruction is due to disease, insects,
blight, fungus or any other cause; |
"plant
affected with insect pest or disease" means any plants, or the packages or
wrappings that contain or have contained the same, in or on which any insect
pest or disease is or has been present in any form or stage of development, or
with which any plant, package or wrapping has come in contact; |
"rules"
means rules made under this Act. |
3. It shall be lawful for the Governor-General, acting
in accordance with the advice of the Public Service Commission, to appoint, for
the purposes of this Act, one or more inspectors. | Appointment of inspectors. |
4. No plants whatsoever, nor the packages thereof,
shall be imported into The Bahamas except under and subject to the rules. | Importation of plants. |
5. (1) The Minister may by Order- | Powers of Minister. |
(a) absolutely
or conditionally prohibit the importation directly or indirectly from any
country or
place named in the Order of any plants, or any article packed therewith, or any
package which in the opinion of the Minister are or are likely to be a means of
introducing any plant disease into The Bahamas. |
(b) from time
to time, when deemed necessary, declare any district or area within The Bahamas
or any place within any such area, to be a place infected or suspected of being
infected with a plant disease; |
(c) from time
to time declare, subject to such conditions as he may think fit, any district,
area or place within any area, as being no longer suspected of being infected
with a plant disease; |
(d) prohibit
for such time as may be named in the Order the importation of any plants or the
packages thereof specified in the Order at any ports of The Bahamas therein
named. |
(2) Any such Order
shall remain in force for such time as may be mentioned therein or in any
subsequent Order made hereunder. |
6. The Minister may make rules in respect of all or any
of the following matters: | Rules. |
(a) the
importation, detention, examination, removal and treatment, before, at or after
importation or landing, of any plants or any articles packed therewith, or any
packages to which this Act applies; |
(b) the
cleansing, disinfection, purification and treatment of the same; |
(c) the
destruction of the same before, at or after the landing of the same if such
destruction be necessary in the opinion of the Minister; |
(d) the provision
of suitable apparatus for the cleansing, disinfection, purification and
treatment of the same, and also of growing or other trees or plants in The
Bahamas, and regulating the user thereof; |
(e) for
preventing the outbreak or dissemination of diseases of trees or plants within
The Bahamas; |
(f) for
prescribing and regulating the destruction, removal, uprooting, disposal or
treatment of plants and products infected with a plant disease within any
district, area or place in The Bahamas declared to be an infected district,
area or place, under the provisions of this Act; |
(g) for
prescribing and regulating the cleansing and disinfecting of infected
districts, areas or places or parts thereof; |
(h) for
prescribing the period within which it shall not be lawful to plant or replant
with any plant whatsoever, or with any particular kind of plant, the whole or
any portion of an infected district, area or place; |
(i) for
prohibiting or regulating the movement of persons, animals, earth, soil, dung,
vegetables, products or other things into or out of a district, area or place,
declared to be an infected district, area or place, or being suspected of being
infected with a plant disease; |
(j) for the
spraying or other treatment of growing or other trees or plants; |
(k) generally
for carrying into effect the provisions of this Act. |
7. It shall be the duty of every importer of plants or
any earth or soil or any article packed therewith, or any package or other
articles or things to which this Act applies to carry into effect at his own
expense, obey and observe the rules of the Minister for the importation,
detention, cleansing, disinfection, purification and treatment of the same, and
to inform the Minister as to the disposal of the same, after the cleansing,
disinfection, purification and treatment thereof in order that the Minister or
any of his officers may visit and examine them at any time if the Minister
deems it necessary to do so. | Duty of importers. |
8. All plants or packages imported into The Bahamas in
contravention of this Act may be seized and forfeited, and may be destroyed or
otherwise dealt with as the Minister may direct. | Seizure of plants. |
9. It shall be lawful for the Comptroller or for any
person acting under his authority, if he shall suspect that any plants or
packages have been imported in contravention of this Act, to enter any
building, place or premises and to search for any such plants or packages and
for the purposes of such search to break open, if necessary, any exterior or
interior door, or any chest, box or other receptacle and to seize such plants
or packages and to remove or secure the same in such way or place, and in such
manner as he deems advisable. | Power to search for plants illegally imported. |
10. An inspector may, with or without any animals or
beasts of burthen, carts, tools, implements or other things, enter upon any
land and there examine any plants or products of a vegetable nature and dig up
the ground and do all such other acts and things as may be expedient in order
the more effectually to search for the existence of, and the causes of any
plant disease, and to secure such treatment, removal or destruction under the
rules as may be deemed necessary. | Power to enter upon land and search for causes of
disease. |
11. (1) The expenses incidental to the treatment,
removal or destruction of plants affected with insect pest or disease, or
products of a vegetable nature, to which this Act applies, shall be borne by
the owner of such plants or products: | Owner to pay expenses except in cases of poverty. |
Provided that the
Minister may, in any case where he is satisfied that an owner is unable, through
poverty, to pay such expenses, cause the same, to be paid out of any funds
granted to him under this Act or any other Act. |
(2) If the owner
of the land on which such plants or products are grown is absent from The
Bahamas, or is not known or cannot be found, the Minister shall have power to
do the following things to enable him to recover expenses incurred in carrying
out the provisions of this section- |
(a) after the
expiration of three months after the treatment, removal or destruction of such
plants or products to cause the land to be sold at auction after due
advertisement of such intended sale in the Gazette, and a notice of the
same posted on the premises; |
(b) to receive
the proceeds of any such sale and after deducting the expenses incurred as authorised
under this Act and of the deed conveying the same to pay the residue thereof
(if any) into the Post Office Savings Bank at Nassau to the credit of the
Minister there to remain without interest until paid out under the provisions
of paragraph (c) of this subsection; |
(c) to withdraw
from the savings bank such residue and pay the same to any person whom the
Attorney-General shall certify to be entitled thereto. Any payment made by the
Minister under such certificate shall absolve the Minister from any further
liability for the sum so paid but shall not prejudice the right of any person
who shall prove his right or title thereto in a court of competent jurisdiction
to recover the same from the person to whom such payment was made or from his
legal representative; |
(d) to execute
a deed transferring the said land to the purchaser thereof, which deed shall be
under the Seal of the Minister, and shall absolutely vest the said land in the
purchaser. |
12. It shall be the duty of the Comptroller and all
revenue officers and peace officers to carry into effect, and, as far as
practicable, enforce the provisions of this Act, and the rules, and to afford
to the Minister and his officers or servants every reasonable facility for
carrying the same into effect. | Officers to assist in carrying out rules. |
13. An owner or occupier of any land on which there
may be any plant that may be reasonably suspected of being affected by plant
disease, or any person having the charge or management of any such plants,
shall, with all practicable speed, give notice of the fact of the plants being
so affected, to the Minister, if the plants be in New Providence, or to the
commissioner of the district wherein the plants so affected are situate, and it
shall be the duty of the commissioner immediately to notify the Minister. | Notice to be given by owner or occupier. |
14. (1) Any person who- | Offences and recovery of penalties. |
(a) does or
omits to do anything which is by this Act or by the rules, or by any Order
made hereunder, forbidden or required to be done; or |
(b) assaults,
resists, hinders, prevents or obstructs any person acting under or by authority
of this Act or the rules, or of any Order made hereunder, |
shall
be guilty of an offence against this Act, and shall be liable on summary
conviction to a penalty of eighty dollars. |
(2) All such
penalties shall be sued for and recovered with costs of prosecution by the Minister
or any person authorised by him to prosecute for the same in a summary manner
before a magistrate having jurisdiction in the place where the offence is
committed in the manner prescribed by law in this behalf. The onus of proving a
lawful excuse for an omission to do anything required by the Act or the rules
shall be on the defendant. |
15. All expenses other than such as are payable by
importers, incurred in carrying out the provisions of this Act, shall be paid by
the Minister out of any moneys appropriated to him by Parliament, and for this
purpose there shall be paid to the Minister annually a sum not
exceeding one thousand dollars. | Expenses. |