In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,

(a) in Part One

“appropriate treatment” means the authorized procedure for the killing, removal and rendering infertile of pest;

“area of low pest prevalence” means an area within a country or parts of several countries to be areas identified by competent authorities in which specific pest occurs at low levels and which is subject to effective surveillance, control or eradication measure;

“beneficial organism” includes fungi, nematodes, bacteria, viruses, virus-like organisms, microplasma, microplasma-like organisms, and invertebrate or other organisms declared by the Minister in writing to be beneficial to the flora or agricultural production in the country;

“conduct” includes carrying out advocacy and regulation;

“Council” means the Plant Protection Advisory Council established under section 17 of this Act;

“container” means a box, bag or other receptacle in which plants, plant materials, plant pests, beneficial organisms or soil or other items are kept or carried;

"containment” means the application of phytosanitary measures in and around an infested area to prevent the spread of a pest;

"conveyance” means a vessel, aircraft, train, vehicle, cart, container, animal or other thing which can convey plant materials, plant pests, beneficial organisms or soil from one place to another;

“court” means a court of competent jurisdiction;

“designated officer” means a Director or qualified government official assigned a function under this Act;

“Director” means the Director of the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate;

“Directorate” means the Plant Protection Regulatory Service Directorate of the Ministry;

“Division” means the Plant Quarantine Services Division;

“eradication” means application of phytosanitary measures to eliminate a pest from an area;

 “exporter” includes a person who sends plant or plant material outside the country, the shipper of the goods and any person who performs similar functions in the case of an aircraft;

“exporting country” means the country from which plant or plant products are sent to another country;

“government agency” means a body set up in the public interest with or without an Act of Parliament;

“import permit” means the permit given to a person by the appropriate authority to bring a plant or plant material into the country;

“importer” means a person in possession of or in any way entitled to the custody of any plant, plant material, plant pest, beneficial organism, soil, or packing material landed or likely to be landed in the country from another country;

“import contracting party” means the person who brings plants or plant materials into the country;

“international traffic” means plants and plant products involved in international trade;

“maintainer” means a person or an institution that is responsible for keeping a released variety true to its original description for producing;

“packing material” means any material used to pack, contain or keep plants, plant material, beneficial organisms, soil or plant pests;

“pest free area” means an area in which a specific pest does not occur as demonstrated by scientific evidence and in which this condition is being officially controlled where appropriate;

“pest risk analysis” is the process of evaluating biological or other scientific and economic evidence to determine whether a pest should be regulated and the strength of any phytosanitary measures to be taken against it;

“phytosanitary action” means an official operation, such as inspection, testing, surveillance or treatment, undertaken to implement phytosanitary measures;

“phytosanitary certificate” means a certificate following the pattern of the model certificate of the International Plant Protection Convention and covers only one consignment;

“place” means a location where plant materials may be confined or cultivated for phytosanitary inspection, observation , testing or research;

“plant material” includes an unmanufactured material of plant origin grain and other manufactured product which by it nature or that of it processing ,may create a risk of spreading plant pests;

‘’plant pest’’  means any species, strain or biotype of plant, animal or pathogenic agent which is injurious or potentially injurious to plant or plant material;

‘’Plant quarantine station’’ means an official station designated by the minister as an area where plant propagating materials is grown or screened in solution and in a control environment if required;

‘’plants’’ means a living plant and the living part of a plant including seed and germ plasma, plant tissues culture, fruits, vegetables, bulb, roots and tubers;

‘’premises’’ includes house, building, structures, tent, land, ship, boat, aircraft or mechanically propelled vehicle;

‘’prohibited item’’ means any plants, plant material or regulated pest that the minister may not admit to be imported to the country;

‘’public servant’’ means a person paid from the consolidated funds or directly out of moneys provided by parliament;

‘’quarantine pest’’ means a pest of potential national economic importance and danger to the country, not yet present in the country or not present but not widely distributed and being officially controlled;

‘’ prescribed’’ means provided by regulation made under this act;

‘’ regulated article’’ means any plant, plant product, storage place, conveyance, container, soil and any other organism, object or material capable of habouring and spreading pest, considered to require phytosanitary measures, particularly where international transportation is involved;

‘’regulated non-quarantine pest’’ means a non-quarantine pest whose presence in plants for planting has an unacceptable economic impart and  which is maintained and regulated within the territory of the import contracting party;

‘’ regulated pest’’ means a quarantine pest or a regulated non-quarantine pest;

 “Service” means the Plant Protection and Regulation; Services Directorate;

“soil” means the loose surface material of the earth in which plants grow and in most cases consist of disintegrated rock with a mixture of material and soluble salts;

“surveillance” means an official process which collects and records data on pest occurrence or absence by survey, monitoring or other procedures;

“treatment” includes any officially authorized procedure and the use of chemicals, heat or low pressure, intended to ensure the killing, removal or rendering infertile any plant pest;

(b) in Part Two

“accreditation” means formal recognition of technical competence to carry out official specific tasks;

“accredited person or entity” means a public or private body empowered by the Minister to undertake quality control and certification activities;

“accredited research institution” means a public or private body authorized by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research to engage in agricultural research;

“advertisement” means a representation, commercial or otherwise, other than labelling, disseminated in any manner or by any means by the seller of seed in relation to the seed;

“analyst” means a person appointed or designated as an Analyst to determine the quality of a seed sample under this Part;

“basic seed” means seed from a pre-basic seed produced under the responsibility of the maintainer and approved for the production of certified seeds;

“certification” means the approval given in the seed quality control process in the field or in a laboratory, leading to the assurance that the seed conforms to the minimum standards of variety purity in accordance with the provisions of the Regulations;

“certified seed” means a seed obtained from a basic seed which conforms to the minimum standards for that seed class or if approved for that species, from a first generation certified seed;

“compound fertilizer” means a fertilizer having at least two primary plant nutrients;

 “class” means the categories of seeds of the same nature potentially of one or several generations;

“Commissioner-General” means the Commissioner-General for the Ghana Revenue Authority appointed under section 13 of the Ghana Revenue Authority Act, 2009 (Act 791) or the representative of the Commissioner-General;

“court” means a court of competent jurisdiction;

“dealer” means a person who imports, grows, breeds, cleans or sells seeds in commercial quantities;

“designated officer” means an officer appointed by the Minister to perform certain duties;

“emergency seed” means a class of non-certified seed to be used in a case of acute seed shortage during and after natural or human disaster;

“importer” includes the owner or the person for the time being possessed of or beneficially interested in any goods at and from the time of the importation of the goods until the goods are duly delivered out of the charge of the proper officer, and also a person who signs a document relating to imported goods required by this Act, to be signed by an importer;

“inspector” means any technician with responsibility to conduct field and seed inspections in conformity with the prescribed regulations;

“label” means any document visibly displaying prescribed information in a readable manner to facilitate seed identification or traceability;

“lot” means a definite quantity of seed identified by a lot number or other mark -with each portion or bag of the lot being uniform within recognized tolerance for the factor which appears in the labelling of the lot;

“maintainer” means a person or institution that is responsible for keeping a released variety true to its original description for production;

“mixed fertilizer” means a fertilizer derived from a mixture of various kinds or types of chemical and/or organic fertilizer;

“noxious weed seeds” means the seed produced from plants which are especially troublesome and. detrimental and which may cause damage or loss to a considerable portion of land or livestock of a community;

'package" means any container notably a sack, bag, barrel, or made of a variety of materials comprising among others cotton, paper, aluminum, and polyethylene in which seeds are packaged,

"'places" includes any vehicle, vessel, railway, aircraft, seed store, seed -processing plant or seed warehouse;

"’prescribed” means provided by Regulations;

'single fertilizer'' means a fertilizer having one primary plant nutrient;

‘’seeds’’ includes any planting material or organ, or part of a plan: organ, such as a grain, shoot, bulb, scion, rhizome, tuber or embryo, intended to reproduce itself;

"variety'"' includes the collection of plants of the lowest known Botanic taxon, defined by using the characteristics of some genotype or a combination of genotypes, distinguishable from other plant collections by at least one of these characteristics and. considered as an entity given its capacity for authentic reproduction and provenances of forest tree seeds;

‘'Weed seed"' means any plant or plant part injurious to agriculture, which is declared to be so by the Minister;

(c) in part three

‘analyst' means a person appointed or designated as an analyst pursuant to Regulations made under this Part;

'brand'' means a term, design, or trademark used in connection with one or several grades of fertilizer;

‘’ distribute'' means to import, consign, produce, mix, or blend, fertilizer, or to offer for sale, sell, barter, or otherwise supply

‘’dealers’’ means a person other than a producer or importer who supplies and sells fertilizers in Ghana;

‘’ chemical fertilizers’’ means fertilizer produced by chemical process or mined and derived from an inorganic substance or synthetic organic substance;

“Fertilizer regulatory administrator’’ means 'the individual appointed by the president to head the fertilizer regulatory division;

‘’fertilizer'' means a substance containing one or more recognized plant nutrients 'that is used for its plant nutrient content and is designed for use in promoting plant growth;

 ‘’grade'’ means the percentage of total nitrogen (N) available phosphate (P ₂O ₅); and soluble potassium (K ₂ O) stated in whole numbers in the same terms, order, and percentage as in the guaranteed analysis,

“Guaranteed analysis” means the minimum percentage of all plant nutrients claimed,

“heavy metals’' means element with very substantial atom weight including lead and mercury;

“importer” means a person who import, cosign, sells, barters, or otherwise supplies and sells fertilizer in Ghana;

“inspector” means a person appointed or designated as an Inspector pursuant to regulations made under this part;

“investigational allowance” means an allowance for variation Inherent in the taking, preparation, and analysis of an official sample of fertilizer;

“label” means. the display of written, printed, or graphic matter upon the immediate container; a statement accompanying a fertilizer; or advertisements, brochures, posters, television, radio or internet announcements used in promoting the sales of fertilizer;

“Lot or sampling-unit” means a defined quantity of fertilizer that can be sampled officially and has a boundary which may be physical.

“organic fertilizer” means fertilizer derived from non-synthetic organic material including sewage sludge, animal manure and plant residues, which is produced through the process of drying, cooking, composting, chopping, grinding, fermenting, or other methods and on which then; is declaration of nutrient value on the label;

“official sample” means any sample of fertilize taken by inspector or agent of the Ghana Fertilizer regulatory division and designated as official by the Ghana regulatory  Division;

“Pesticide and Fertilizer Regulatory Division” means Division in the Ministry of Food and agriculture designated  by the Minister to have charge and control the execution of this Part and any Regulations enacted under this part;

“prescribed” means provided by Regulation,

“plant nutrient” means a chemical element in fertilizer that is recognized as essential for plant growth;

(i) “primary nutrients” refers to the elements nitrogen phosphorus and potassium;

(ii) “secondary nutrients” refers to the elements calcium, magnesium and sulphur; and

(iii) “micronutrients” refers to the elements boron, Chlorine Cobalt, Copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, sodium and zinc; “post office” includes

(a) a house, building, room, vehicle, place or structure where postal articles are received, sorted, delivered, made up or despatched or which is used for any other postal purpose in connection with the rendering of any postal service, money transfer or other services by Ghana Post; and

(b) any pillar box or other receptacle provided by or under the authority of Ghana Post for the reception of postal articles;

“producer” means a person who produces, supplies and sells fertilizers in Ghana;

“reference solution” means a solution of known concentration used as a standard of comparison of analysis;

(c) in any part of this Act “Ministry” means the Ministry of Food and Agriculture;

“Minister” means the Minister responsible for Agriculture;

“person” means an individual, corporate, government or governmental subdivision or agency, society, association, enterprise, trustee, receiver, or any other institution; and

“sell” means to sell, offer for sale, expose for sale, or have in possession for sale and distribution.