The Marketing of Fruit Plant and Propagating Material Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017

Labels, sealing and packaging certified plant material

10.—(1) Certified plant material must be labelled, sealed and packaged in accordance with this regulation and Part 1 of Schedule 2.

(2) Subject to paragraph (9), the Department must issue or approve a label (an “official label”) if that label meets the requirements in Part 1 of Schedule 2.

(3) But this regulation does not apply to the retail supply of certified plant material to a non-professional final consumer if that material is accompanied by appropriate product information.

(4) Subject to paragraphs (5) and (9), an official label must be affixed by the Department to—

(a) the certified plant material to which it relates; or

(b) where the certified material is marketed in a package, bundle or container, that package, bundle or container.

(5) Where certified plant material forms part of the same lot and is being marketed in the same package, bundle or container, a single official label may be affixed to that package, bundle or container.

(6) Where certified plant material is accompanied by a plant passport issued in accordance with Directive 2000/29/EC, that plant passport may constitute the official label if it contains the information in paragraph 4 of Schedule 2.

(7) A supplier must not market certified plant material in lots of two or more plants or parts of plants unless those lots are sufficiently homogeneous and are properly packaged.

(8) For the purposes of paragraph (7), “properly packaged” means—

(a) the plants or parts of plants are in a package or container, or form part of a bundle;

(b) in the case of a package or container, it is sealed in a way that prevents the package or container from being opened without damaging the closure;

(c) in the case of a bundle, it is tied in such a way that the plants or parts of plants forming part of the bundle cannot be separated without damaging the tie or ties; and

(d) the package, container or bundle is labelled in such a way that a removal of the official label renders the label invalid.

(9) An official label may be issued and affixed by the supplier under the supervision of the Department.