The activities of the Department of Plant Protection

The activities of the Department  of Plant Protection  are defined by the act No 193/2005 of the legal Code on Plant Health Care   and set of Regulation of Government of the Slovak Republic.

The implementation of the stated legal norms into practice determines the most important task of the Department , namely the protection of the territory of the Slovak Republic against introduction  and spread of harmful organisms (pests) when plants and plant products are being imported into the country.

Within  the framework of the Slovak Republic,  today the Department provides for phytocontrol at 3 border crossings – Airport of  M.R. Štefánik in Bratislava and border with Ukraine – road border crossing in Vyšné Nemecké  and railway border crossing in Čierna nad Tisou.

Within the existing administrative division of the territory  of the Slovak Republic, the central organizational units of the Institute execute phytocontrol  activities  in the following counties:
- Head Office in Bratislava: Bratislava, Trnava, Trenčín and Nitra counties
- Branch Office in Zvolen: Žilina and Banská Bystrica counties
- Branch Office in Košice: Prešov and Košice counties

The major activities of the section of plant protection consist in the fulfilment of the following tasks, defined by law:

• Provision  of data and information for Commission  of EU and international organizations,
• Issuance of certificate or registration of importers and producers and keeping the list of them.
• Issuance of plant-health certificates for respective  goods, plant passports and substitute plant passports and delegating authority for issuance of plant passports.
• Issuance of decisions  in case of infringement of provisions of the Act No 193/2005 of the Legal Code on Plant Health Care by physical and legal entities,
• Executing of  goods phytocontrol  in import, export and re-export
• Submitting of decision in the case of infringement of enacting law. No. 285/1995 of the Legal Code on phytosanitary    supervision by physical and juridical persons.
• Detection  and keeping records of the occurrence of harmful organisms (pests),
• Signalization of plant treatment  against harmful organisms (pests),
• Ascertainment of the causes of damages to plants  and plant products,
• Proposals of collective measures against harmful organisms (pests) to be ordered by relevant bodies of public administration.

For illustration we introduce the overview about average year volume of performances of workers of department:

• number of supervisions of plant material on border crossing points
• import  23 000
• export  10 000
• supervisions of plant material in inland in the case of export – 25 000
• qualitative supervisions of consignment of plant material on border crossing points – 10 000
• inspection of measures in plant protection – number of inspections 3 500
• signalisation reviews about occurrence of harmful agents 190

In the field of international cooperation, the Department cooperates with the European Plant  Protection Organization (EPPO) and   with phyto service organizations of neighbouring countries.