The draft Plant Health Act establishes the rules aimed at ensuring the plant health protection of agricultural and forestry production, as well as the transit, trade, import and export of plants, parts of plants and regulatory objects intended for consumption and agricultural and forestry exploitation.
According to the applicant, the draft law updates the legal framework applicable to plant health, which is governed by Legislative Decree No. 3001/59 of 12 August, a plant health regulation inherited from the colonial period, with the aim of adjusting it to the new administrative, economic and social political reality in force in the country, as well as to international conventions and regional agreements on plant health protection.
The legislative proposal aims, among other things, to pursue the objectives of protecting the country against the introduction, establishment and spread of pests, weed diseases, pathogens and other plant enemies.
Ensuring the health of plants and their products throughout the production process, including control, import and certification for export, protecting society from economic, social and environmental damage that can be caused by pests and diseases of plants and their derivatives are also objectives of the proposed law, as well as contributing to food safety.
When the law is passed, it is also expected to increase Angola's capacity to implement plant health rules and principles, as well as to comply with phytosanitary norms and standards, which include surveillance, monitoring and inspection, and pest risk analyses.
