Some people haven't been able to get to the links. Start at the APHIS Regulatory Analysis and Development home page http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/ In the left menu column, in tiny print, look for RAD Links. Under this see Recent Publications. Click there to go to this page: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/webrepor.html Right in front of you in the white section is Plant Protection and Quarantine. Click there to go to this page: http://aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/… The first item as of now is Importation of Small Lots of Seed Without Phytosanitary Certificates Below it are links for getting the information as text or as a PDF. > I would like to know more about what the potential problems are for the new > regulations. As near as I can tell, USDA will require an import permit, rather > than a phytosanitary permit. But, I could be getting the information > scrambled. > I would like to know what Leo Martin found objectionable. Shipments with phytosanitary certificates would still be permitted entry. The current method would still be legal and available if a phytosanitary certificate can be issued by the shipper's agricultural department. This proposed system would be another method for importing seed. It would permit importing seed in small quantities without a phytosanitary certificate, but still maintaining compliance with import quarantine goals. A separate permit for each proposed shipment would have to be obtained in advance from APHIS. The permit would specify exactly which seeds would be in the shipment. The proposed system would allow each shipment to contain up to 50 packets of different species, of up to 50 seeds in each packet. Each packet would have to be labeled. The shipment would have to go to one of a few specific ports of entry for APHIS inspection. The seeds would be inspected. If the seeds passed inspection they would be sent along. This system will be more expensive and cumbersome and slower than the current system. I think what we hobbyists had desired all along was an exemption from the phytosanitary certification process so we wouldn't have to pay $50 per shipment. It seems APHIS is not interested in fulfilling this desire. > 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? Yes. Just think about what would happen with exchange of seed that must be planted immediately, such as some amaryllids, or seed of aquatic plants. The regulations specify seeds must be in a gas-permeable container, which means a container that could dry out. And - have any of you seen how big orchid seeds are? Think you would be able to see 50? Or how about Lithops seed? Seed exchanges will be facing an interesting situation. Should they have somebody in Europe receive all the seed, and send to the US in one larger packet, the way Rachel now does from Silverhill? Leo -- Leo A. Martin Phoenix, Arizona, USA Like cactus and succulents? Central Arizona Cactus and Succulent Society http://www.centralarizonacactus.org/