Importing seeds from the EU to the UK

[BarbusBarbus]

Hi all,

I'm aware this topic has been discussed on other threads previously, but it has now become of more importance to me & I am really struggling to be sure of the rules, so I would very much appreciate guidance from anyone here who is sure of the rules.

I have made a number of orders of seed from the EU over the past 12 months, all have arrived with no problems and without a phytosanitary certificate - however these have all been relatively small orders of seed (under 200 seeds), and not a big loss to me personally should they have not made it through customs. I sell cacti online, and am now contemplating a much larger order of seed both to grow new plants to sell, and to sell the seeds themselves. (before anyone asks I'm registered for plant passports/distance selling, etc!) These would be general cacti species, echinopsis, lophophora, etc so nothing prohibited to import. I would look to be ordering in a volume of 20'000 - 30'000 seeds in an order, so would be spending £500+, an amount that I wouldnt feel comfortable leaving to chance whether the order would make it through customs. I have researched both the guidance on gov.co.uk and via Defra, but appear to have reached conflicting conclusions. I emailed Defra directly, & whilst they got back to me quickly they only redirected me to the same information I already knew, & didnt seem able to give me a straight answer about what steps I should take to ensure the seeds were sent in keeping with UK import laws and hence definitely would arrive safely!

My current understanding is that I would have to obtain a phytosanitary certificate from the EU seller (this is no problem after contacting them), & this is all that would be needed. My reading of the guidance is that I would not need to pre-notify any authorities of the import/complete any further registrations.

I would be grateful if anyone could confirm my understanding of the guidance is correct, & if not, to explain what additional steps I would need to take to import the above seeds safely.

Many thanks!
Alex

[Stuart]

If there's any cactus seed included with the phyto, I'd assume this brings in CITES problems. I'd hope the price per genus applied to CITES plants can't apply to seeds or it just wouldn't be worth doing.

Stuart

[Tony R]

HM Gov still have not implemented what they might have intended post-Brexit and
since seeds of cacti/succulents are not currently on either the High Priority plants list or the Regulated Plants list
https://planthealthportal.defra.gov.uk/ ... om-the-eu/
do you even need a P Cert? never mind any import notification?
Their rules and guidance are still a mess in my opinion.

[Stuart]

I know all plants are classed as 'High Priority' and I do all the online phyto and VAT declarations whilst I'm abroad but if seeds aren't in the ''High Priority' category then maybe it's much easier for seeds than plants.

Stuart

[SimonT]

I was just looking at the rules- to me the online sites are still not giving very clear instructions.
But has anything changed since last year in terms of the rules for seed import from the EU?

[Chris L]

That's a lot of seeds to risk in one package PC/PP/customs not withstanding.

I'd be tempted (if it didn't make too much difference to the cost) to spread the risk over a few packages.

I used to order seeds from various places and all these new "rules" made me give up.

[Mike P]

The ‘rules’ are a mess and very poorly worded probably reflecting the fact that Defra themselves are not clear about what was intended. For now I’ve continued to order seeds from ADBLPS with no problems but not to anything like the value of the order you are proposing. Have you contacted other plant societies to see how they interpret the rules?

[RayW]

I ordered seeds from 2 German suppliers earlier this year, both listed which seeds could not be sent to the UK. 1 sent them out straight away no problem no extra costs the other sent an email to tell me the phyto. cert. would be 20 euro.
Yet both orders were very similar.

[iann]

I ordered seeds from 2 German suppliers earlier this year, both listed which seeds could not be sent to the UK. 1 sent them out straight away no problem no extra costs the other sent an email to tell me the phyto. cert. would be 20 euro.
Yet both orders were very similar.

Not much chance of foreign suppliers knowing the correct paperwork when our own government departments don't seem to.

[edds]

I ordered seeds from 2 German suppliers earlier this year, both listed which seeds could not be sent to the UK. 1 sent them out straight away no problem no extra costs the other sent an email to tell me the phyto. cert. would be 20 euro.
Yet both orders were very similar.

Not much chance of foreign suppliers knowing the correct paperwork when our own government departments don't seem to.

The different sellers I have dealt with can't get clear answers to anything except paying the VAT - the government seem to be clear on everyone paying that...