Forum home› The potting shed
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

UK seeds to Europe and Northern ireland - reminder

ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
edited December 2020 in The potting shed
Just in case any posters living in Northern Ireland or mainland Europe are not aware of changes due to Brexit, here's some info I received from Premier Seeds today about rules after December 31st:

As the regulations stand today it will not be possible for seeds to legally enter the EU or Northern Ireland from the UK after 31 Dec 2020 without an attached Phytosanitary Certificate, which takes at least 2 weeks to obtain and will cost a minimum of £125 per shipment.  

They will therefore not accept any personal orders that cannot be shipped by December 23rd and thereafter will only accept high value commercial orders that can offset the costs.

These rules will apply to all seed companies so if you still need some purple sprouting broccoli or other seeds they don't sell in NI/France/Belgium/Spain etc, get your orders in fast.

Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Plato
«1345678

Posts

  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    Thanks for that, @Obelixx.  I'll get my Chilterns order in today...
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • floraliesfloralies Posts: 2,718
    Thanks @Obelixx I have just received my Just Seed order.
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    Does this apply only to commercial seeds, or will it stop us swapping seeds amongst ourselves?
  • Ante1Ante1 Posts: 3,085
    Thank you @Obelixx. I usually buy from Premier seeds. I must place an order asap because they have a lot of varieties which I can't find here.
    Croatia
  • Big Blue SkyBig Blue Sky Posts: 716
    So what about orders from the EU to the UK? Would we still be able to order seeds from them? And what about purchases from something like ebay? 
    Surrey
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    @josusa47 - if the PO doesn't know what's in the envelope I expect it will get thru.

    @Big Blue Sky - Anyone with any sense in any country take steps to protect native flora and fauna from imported pathogens so I expect the UK will impose quarantines and checks or demand phytosanitary certificates for any plant material being imported.  That being said, the UK has been remarkably lax about protecting itself up to now despite promptings and pressure for the RHS and other bodies.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Big Blue Sky said:
    So what about orders from the EU to the UK? Would we still be able to order seeds from them? And what about purchases from something like ebay? 

    Getting seeds overseas from Amazon or Ebay etc is always going to be a bad idea re pathogens.

    And we should be swapping seeds personally from abroad either, either in person or by post.
  • Papi JoPapi Jo Posts: 4,254
    edited December 2020
    Fire said:
    Getting seeds overseas from Amazon or Ebay etc is always going to be a bad idea re pathogens.

    And we should be swapping seeds personally from abroad either, either in person or by post.
    @fire I expect you meant to write that we shouldn't do that?
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Yes @Papi Jo - sorry - typo
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    I am hoping a better system will be devised over time, maybe on a ‘trusted supplier’ basis where a reputable supplier can get overarching phytosanitary certification for import/export.

    At present, many shrubs and perennials I buy locally come from large commercial nurseries in the Netherlands and those, along with personal online purchases from major suppliers within Europe, already come with a plant passport/phyto cert. Some of the big rose growers in the UK and Europe are now doing so as well. I would think having to provide a cert for each order would be an administrative and financial nightmare too far for many smaller and specialist nurseries though.

    I’ve just placed my UK seed order for next year and crossing my fingers it will make it here before the new regime kicks in.
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Sign In or Register to comment.