On May 2, 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) of Japan released a revision for the Plant Protection Act, which aims to prevent pests from adhering to imported plants and invading Japan. The implementation date will be officially announced within one year after May 2, 2022, the announcement date.
In recent years, the risk of spread and infestation of harmful animals and plants is increasing against the background of global warming and the increasing movement of people and goods. In addition, developing pesticide resistance in harmful plants and animals as well as decreasing the environmental load from the use of chemical pesticides is an international agenda. There is an urgent need to build a comprehensive control system that does not only rely on pesticides but also on the prevention during other links in the production process.
Revision points
Implement detection survey projects and expedite emergency pest control
According to the revision, preventing the uncontrolled reproduction of harmful plants and animals is added as one of the purposes of the Plant Protection Act. Besides, a detection survey project will be established to investigate the invasion status of harmful plants and animals whose existence has not been confirmed in Japan. People who find a harmful plant or animal subjected to the project has been introduced into the country has an obligation to report it.
In addition, if the MAFF prepares the standards in advance for the pest control of harmful animals and plants subject to emergency control, the advance notice period for the emergency control will be shortened from the current 30 days to 10 days.
Expand the targets of and authority related to inspections
Agricultural machinery will be added to the targets of on-site inspections, import/export quarantine and Japanese domestic quarantine implemented by plant protection officers. Secondhand agricultural machinery, which has a high risk of adhering soil, is also subject to border inspection.
Additionally, as revealed by Article 6, a phytosanitary certificate, or its copy, issued by the exporting country's governmental organization, is necessary for quarantinable items to which harmful animals and plants may adhere.
Currently, the targets of imported plant quarantine include:
Cultivation of plants, such as seedlings, scions, bulbs, seeds, etc.;
Consumable plants, such as vegetables, fruits, cut flowers, wood, grains, legumes, etc.;
Living insects and microorganisms that are harmful to plants;
Quarantine pests that may adhere to the above-mentioned raw materials after primary processing；
Notably, highly processed plants (eg. sawn timber, tea), insects and microorganisms that are not pests of plants, dead insect specimens, etc., are not subject to imported plant quarantine.
Strengthen the penalties
According to the provisions of Article 43 of the draft, for violations of import and export quarantine stipulated in Articles 39 and 40, the offenders will be punished with up to three years of penal servitude or a fine of up to three million yen. The penalty for the relevant legal person will be increased to 50 million yen, comparing to the previous "no more than 3 million yen".
It is estimated that more than 80% of the world's food comes from plants, of which 20% to 40% are lost due to pest damage. Therefore, preventing the spread and infestation of pests is very important to ensure a stable food supply.
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