As I read the rules Russell, you would have to apply for a new permit for each consignment. This is not at all like my current plant import permit that is good for 5 years. Please tell me that I am wrong. Harold At 06:15 PM 5/3/2004 -0400, you wrote: >Except for the limits on the number of seeds per packet and the number of >packets per shipment, the proposed regulations sound very much like the >ones already in place for importation of seeds of woody plants. The rules >require such seed to be imported through one of the designated APHIS >stations. My Royal Horticultural Society shipment always includes some >seeds of woody plants and always enters through New York APHIS, and >although USDA is slower than I would like in inspecting the seeds and >relaying them to me I have otherwise had no problems. > >As Joe said, you only need to give general information on the import >permit -- such as some of the genera that you're likely to import and the >countries you're most likely to import them from. A few weeks later you >receive your permit (good for 5 years) and a supply of yellow and green >labels to be sent to suppliers, along with a copy of your permit. If you >run out of labels USDA will send more. > >It appears to me that these new rules would in many cases be a significant >improvement over the current ones. Some provision needs to be made for >importing genera such as Hypericum that tend to have very fine seeds, and >the labeling requirements (if taken literally) seem too fussy, but in >general these rules will make it much easier and less costly for entities >such as the Royal Horticultural Society to send seed to the U.S. > >In short, far better and less burdensome to be required to obtain a permit >-- good for 5 years -- to import small quantities of seeds than to be >required to obtain a phyto certificate for each importation. > >Russell > >At 10:36 PM 5/1/2004 -0700, you wrote: >>Dear All, >> >>After reading through all of this it sounds like a different permit would >>be required for each shipment of seed. So if say one of the members of >>this list in another country wanted to send seed to one of us in the >>United States we would have to ask for a permit for that seed by name and >>include where it was coming from. If the permit were granted it would be >>sent to the person along with labels for where to send the seed and then >>the seed would be sent there to be inspected and if o.k. it would then be >>sent on to the recipient. Is that the way everyone else interprets this? >>There would be extra cost for postage to ask for the permit, to send the >>permit on to the exporter if granted and then to pay for the seed to go >>for inspection and then back to you. It sounds like for a seed exchange >>the person receiving the seed would have to know ahead of time what it >>would be in order to request the permit for each donor and a bit of a >>nightmare to do all the paper work. Is this what Leo means by thinking >>the new system might be worse than the old one? >> >>Mary Sue > >Russell Stafford >Odyssey Bulbs >8984 Meadow Lane, Berrien Springs, Michigan 49103 >269-471-4642 >http://www.odysseybulbs.com/ > >_______________________________________________ >pbs mailing list >pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php