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New plant passport regulations

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annew:
Another nurseryman alerted me to the new regulations that have just come into force regarding plant passports.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/issuing-plant-passports-to-trade-plants-in-the-eu#apply-to-be-authorised
If you haven't heard of this, it requires every plant/seed sold by a nursery to have a plant passport. The only ones exempted are plants sold direct to the consumer eg at shows. Any online or mail order selling is covered by this. Even plants moved from one site belonging to a nursery to another, if more than 10 miles away, will also require a passsport. All nurseries will need to be inspected, I can't find out how often, and the charges are as follows:

The fees are £61.58 for each 15 minutes (or part thereof) with a minimum fee of £123.16.
The fees are payable for each 15 minutes (or part thereof) spent in carrying out the inspection and any associated activities. These associated activities include the time it takes inspectors to travel to your site and any administration relevant to that inspection, subject to the minimum fees.
The fee for renewal inspections is the same as for first inspections.

Bearing in mind many, if not most, nurseries are situated in the countryside (some a LONG way from their nearest APHA office) this could mount up to a very worrying cost.
I've been trying to get clarification from my local APHA office, and their reply is that they don't know either.... ::)
As a small mail order nursery owner ( both the nursery and myself are petite) this could be a game changer. Along with the possible complication of CITES certificates being needed in the future for some exports to the EU,
the future of our business looks rather uncertain.

P. Kohn:
From the title this presumably only refers to trade outside the UK ?  Does it mean that obtaining seeds from other countries is going to get really difficult ?  We run a 'nursery' in Sheffield Botanic Gardens but it isn't commercial and we only sell in the garden and at local Plant Fairs. However, we sometimes supply plants to other botanic gardens. Are these subject to the paassport ?

Can see the relevance in terms of plant pathogens but not in terms of trade if this is simply a Brexit consequence.

SteveC2:
Given that the information quoted is from 2015 it clearly has nothing to do with Brexit. 
But I agree that it is worrying. I am not a “nurseryman”, but over 50% of my eBay sales of my surplus Pleione go to the continent.  I was expecting CITES to end these sales (exactly when is an interesting question and I started preChristmas this year in case anything happens at the end of January) but this also seems to apply to me and not just exports but uk sales as well.  But given the scale of plant sales on eBay and their disregard for rules and regulations, this is an enforcement impossibility.

annew:

--- Quote from: P. Kohn on December 18, 2019, 05:31:01 PM ---From the title this presumably only refers to trade outside the UK ?  Does it mean that obtaining seeds from other countries is going to get really difficult ?  We run a 'nursery' in Sheffield Botanic Gardens but it isn't commercial and we only sell in the garden and at local Plant Fairs. However, we sometimes supply plants to other botanic gardens. Are these subject to the paassport ?

Can see the relevance in terms of plant pathogens but not in terms of trade if this is simply a Brexit consequence.

--- End quote ---
No, it applies to trade within the UK as well.

Neil:
It more to do with plants that have an agriculture use  than anything else

List of plants

 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/852649/plant-passports-plant-products.pdf

further info

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/issuing-plant-passports-to-trade-plants-in-the-eu#when-you-need-a-plant-passport

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