The Act provides for the protection of plants and establishment of the Plant Protection Unit. Firstly the Act establishes the principles of plant protection, these are: coordination, equivalence, transparency, risk assessment, principle for the purpose in relation to the level of phytosanitary protection, and adaptation to regional conditions. The Act clarifies the duties and powers and of the plant health inspectors and the responsibilities of persons owning land, premises, a building, company or a growing medium or plant. Part IV concern import and export; for the purposes of preventing the entry of pests from foreign countries and their spread in Malawi, plant protection control points shall be set up. A person shall not import into Malawi any plant or plant material or other regulated article unless it is (a) brought into the country via a designated point of entry; (b) declared and offered for inspection on arrival; and (c) accompanied by an import permit granted by the Unit and an original phytosanitary certificate issued by a similar organization in the exporting country. Part V regulates pest control; quarantine objects under phytosanitary control in Malawi include the following (a) all types of plants, plant products, the list of which may be set out by the Unit as provided under this Act; (b) collections of live fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes, ticks, insects and plant pathogens, samples of plants damaged by them, as well as plant herbaria and collections; (c) agricultural machines and tools, transportation means, containers, all types of tares and packaging materials, industrial consumer goods and products made from plant and plant materials, peat, compost, other organic fertilizers, soil and soil monoliths and samples, that may be carriers of pests; and (d) places of production, processing, procurement, storage, and sale of plant and plant growing products, agricultural lands and woodlands, courtyards and gardens and non-agricultural lands.