Georgia Water/Laws/Plant Protection Act

U.S. Plant Protection Act

General Description

The Plant Protection Act (PPA) consolidates all or part of 10 existing USDA plant health laws into one comprehensive law, including the authority to regulate plants, plant products, certain biological control organisms, noxious weeds, and plant pests. The Plant Quarantine Act, the Federal Pest Act, and the Federal Noxious Weed Act are among the 10 statutes the new Act replaces. The PPA is necessary because of the major impact plant pests currently have and could have on the agriculture, environment, economy, and commerce of the United States.

Purpose

Seeks to prevent the importation, exportation and spread of pests injurious to plants, as well as to provide for their control and eradication together with the certification of plants and other things

Administrative Authority

The PPA gives the Secretary of Agriculture, and through delegated authority, USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the ability to prohibit or restrict the importation, exportation, and the interstate movement of plants, plant products, certain biological control organisms, noxious weeds, and plant pests. Under the PPA, violators face harsher civil penalties than ever before for smuggling illegal plants or produce that could harbor plant pests or diseases. The PPA gives the Secretary of Agriculture the authority to subpoena documentary evidence and witnesses to prosecute violators. The Act also provides APHIS with a cost recovery mechanism for expenses related to the disposal of abandoned shipments at U.S. ports of entry.

Text of Act

Available at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/weeds/PPAText.PDF