S.L. 433.15 ст. 7Conditions for listing of varieties.

(1) A catalogue of vine varieties and where applicable, clones, shall be established, maintained, updated and managed by the Seeds and other Propagation Material Unit.

(2) The catalogue shall be divided into three sections:

(a) one section dedicated to varieties for the production of table grapes;

(b) one section dedicated to varieties for the production of grapes for wine production;

(c) one section dedicated to rootstock varieties.

(3) The catalogue shall be open to public inspection.

(4) Each variety registered in the catalogue shall bear an indication as to its official acceptance for certification and for checking as standard propagation material in Malta by the National Certification Service. The varieties and, where applicable clones, accepted, shall be officially checked at regular intervals. If any of the conditions for acceptance for certification or checking is no longer satisfied, acceptance shall be revoked and the variety shall be deleted from the list. All applications or withdrawals of applications for acceptance of a variety, entries in a catalogue of varieties and amendments made to it, shall be immediately communicated to the other Member States and to the European Commission.

(5) The catalogue shall indicate the principal morphological and physiological characters by which the varieties can be distinguished from one another. For those varieties already accepted as at 31 December 1971, reference may be made to the description in the official ampelographic publications.

(6) No variety shall be accepted unless it is distinct, stable and sufficiently uniform.

(7) A variety shall be deemed to be distinct if it is clearly distinguishable, by reference to the expression of the characteristics resulting from a particular genotype or combination of genotypes, from any other variety whose existence is a matter of common knowledge in the European Union. A variety shall be deemed to be a matter of common knowledge in the European Union if, on the date on which application is duly made for its acceptance, it is either:

(a) entered in the Maltese catalogue or in the catalogue of another Member State, or

(b) the subject of an application for acceptance in Malta or in another Member State, unless the conditions referred to in this sub-regulation are no longer met in all the Member States concerned before a decision is made regarding the application for acceptance of the new variety being assessed.

(8) A variety shall be regarded as being stable if the expressions of the characters which are included in the examination for distinctness, as well as any others used for the variety description, remain unchanged after repeated propagation.

(9) A variety shall be deemed to be uniform if, subject to the variation that may be expected from the particular features of its propagation, it is sufficiently uniform in the expression of those characters which are included in the examination for distinctness, as well as any others used for describing the variety.

(10) Acceptance of varieties to the catalogue shall be requested through an official application addressed to the Seeds and other Propagation Material Unit. Acceptance to the catalogue shall be based on the results of official examinations, particularly growing trials, covering a sufficient number of characters for the variety to be described as indicated in Schedules V and VI. The methods used for determining characters must be exact and reliable and shall also comply with the regulations prescribed under the Wine Act.

(11) The following shall be determined by the Viticulture and Oenology Unit, with the advice of the Seeds and other Propagation Material Unit, in accordance with the procedures adopted by the European Union:

(a) the characters to be covered as a minimum by the examinations; and

(b) the minimum requirements for carrying out the examinations.

(12) Synonyms and, or, homonyms shall also be indicated in the catalogue.

(13) Varieties and clones accepted in the catalogues of the other Member States are also accepted for certification and for the checking of standard propagation material in Malta without prejudice to Council Regulation No 1493/1999 of the 17th May, 1999 on the common organisation of the market of wine.

(14) Varieties, and where applicable, clones coming from other Member States are subject to the same requirements as those which apply to domestic varieties or clones, in particular as regards the acceptance procedure.

(15) If and when genetically-modified varieties within the meaning of Article 2 of Directive 2001/18/EC of 12th March, 2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council are available, such varieties shall only be accepted if all appropriate measures have been taken to avoid adverse effects on human health and the environment. Those varieties accepted must be clearly indicated as such in the catalogue of varieties. The National Certification Service shall further ensure that any person marketing such a variety clearly indicates in the vine sales catalogue that the variety is genetically-modified and states the purpose of the modification.