Info on relaxation of USDA import rules for seed
GEOPHYTE@sbcglobal.net (Tue, 04 May 2004 19:38:01 PDT)

--- Original Message ---
From: "Russell Stafford, Odyssey Bulbs"
<mail@odysseybulbs.com>

Soon thereafter, though, comes this sentence: "As

with permits for other

plant material that is imported into the United

States, the permit for the

small lots of seed would be sent to the importer

along with written

instructions, a copy of the import requirements, and

a standard green and

yellow shipping label." This hints that the permit

might not be the 597

permit and that it would be good for only one

shipment. On the other hand,

it could merely be fuzzy writing. It's happened

before.

To me, this implies that a photocopy of your "small
quantities of seed" permit (or perhaps a copy of a
standard import permit) should be sent to the shipper,
along with the proper shipping tags and a copy of the
import requirements. This sounds very similar to the
present plant material protocols, except that there is
no mention of a phytosanitary permit.

If that's the case, I'd say that it amounts to a
relaxation of the current regulations

Jamie