· I have and am currently going through the process of various levels of importing seeds and plants as well as CITIES Listed Varieties from reliable sources. To To import plants or seed into the US you need to acquire an import permit There are different permits for seed and for plants The hardest step is getting registered. The USDA has two Access Levels – Level 1 & Level 2 You will require a Level 2 access to get permits over the internet To acquire a level 2 access directly you have to go to a USDA office and be able to prove you are the person requesting the level 2 permit. There is a process of going from level 1 to level 2 but it probably still requires the visit to an agricultural office. Once you have been granted an id and password you can apply for all permits required over the internet. To import small lots of seed you require a PPQ form 587. With this permit you can import 50 packets of seed at a time with no one packet having a limit of weighing no more than 10gm. *or* fewer than 50 seeds, whichever is less. ie you could import 49 coconut seeds or 1,000,000 orchid seeds as each would be less than one of the criteria. With the small seed lot permit a phytosanitary certificate is not required. Once you have been granted the permit you can then log online and apply for the mailing labels which are sent to you as a pdf file. You need to designate an inspection station for these labels to be printed. These must be printed by you or the shipper in color and the shipper must place one on the outside of the shipment with the final destination inside the package. The inspectors once they receive the shipment inspects the contents, removes the mailing label and places the final destination label on the package and forwards it on. To import plants is a similar process but you require a permit to import plants and plant products (different than the small seed lot permit) The shipper will have to acquire a phytosanitary certificate for a shipment of plants (bulbs, tubers rooted plants, cutting etc). Permits, mailing label etc. apply similar as for small seed lots. IF you are interested in acquiring CITIES plants you will require a second permit which is a “Protected Plant Permit”. This permit has a fee associated with it of $70. Also for Cities material the shipper must acquire documentation as to legality of his material which amounts to a fee for processing and a fee for each page of documentation with only about 4 items (species, hybrids, cultivars listed per page). This fee will vary for each participating country of the CITIES convention. All the best, Michael A _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/