Plant Passport Guidance

In order to understand Plant Passport regulations for plant sellers we have been in touch with Animal and Plant Health Agency. Please see below for the information we have been given by them.

Note, the below shows questions we asked APHA having read the Government regulations ourselves. For full information, please read the Government Regulations here.

Q: Do individuals or companies selling plants face-to-face need to issue plant passports?
A: APHA - “You are exempt from Plant Passporting only if you supply exclusively and directly to final users through means other than distance contracts. Final users are those buying plants and plant products exclusively for personal use and not for business purposes."

The exception to this is if you sell plants with a protected zone status – details on PZ plants passports can be found in DEFRA’s Plant Health Portal guide”: https://planthealthportal.defra.gov.uk/assets/uploads/Plant-Passport-Introductory-Guide-2021.pdf

Definition of a distance contract:
“A contract made between a trader and a consumer where they are not together, which is negotiated and agreed by one or more organised means of distance communication - for example, by phone, post or over the internet.” - Source: Business Companion

Q: If a seller only sells face-to-face then do they need to register with APHA even if they don’t have to issue plant passports?
A: APHA - “It is a requirement of the legislation that if you are involved professionally in producing, breeding, moving, storing, dispatching or processing of plants you need to be officially registered and keep records of any Plant Passports that accompany plants that you receive,”

For more information on applying to be registered with APHA: see the ‘Apply to be Authorised’ section of the Government regulations

For distance sales:

DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) have issued a Plant Passport guide which is a useful resource: https://planthealthportal.defra.gov.uk/assets/uploads/Plant-Passport-Introductory-Guide-2021.pdf

Other useful information:

There is a facebook group that you might like to join, set up specifically for people wanting more info about growing, donating, swapping and selling plants under the regulations. Note this is mainly used by hobbyits: https://www.facebook.com/groups/646317372774539/?fref=nf

You may also want to subscribe to Jane Perrone's On The Ledge Podcast as she has conducted an interview with Nicola Spence, a plant health expert on the regulation, at time of writing the podcast was yet to be published: https://www.janeperrone.com/on-the-ledge

Last updated 30.1.2020