GovWire

If you want to market the seeds of the main varieties of agricultural crops or vegetables in England and Wales, you must:

• have a licence for your business to market seed
• have successfully applied to have your seeds certified - this shows that they meet UK quality standards

You can also market seeds which another licensed person has had certified.

Youre considered to be marketing seeds if youre doing any of the following:

• holding or keeping them before sale
• offering them for sale, for example by advertising
• giving them to someone else

NIAB runs the seed certification scheme on behalf of the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).

Seeds which must be certified before marketing

Check a list of the agricultural and vegetable seeds you must have certified before you can market them - theyre all in the following categories:

• beet
• cereals
• fodder plants
• oil and fibre plants
• fruits and vegetables

Apply for a licence

You must have a licence from APHA if your business:

• markets seeds covered by this guidance
• packs or re-packs seeds covered by this guidance
• processes seeds covered by this guidance, for example cleaning or treating them for someone else to sell

To apply for a licence, complete an application form and send it to APHA.

You wont be able to get seeds certified or market seeds if your business doesnt have a licence.

See a list of licensed seed companies in England and Wales.

Inspections after youre licensed

After youve got a licence to market seeds, APHA officials will visit you to check your records, inspect your premises and crops, and sample your seeds.

APHA will usually contact you to arrange an inspection.

If youre licensed solely to market seed, you must inform APHA of any changes to your business details. APHA will contact you every 5 years to confirm you have done this.

Check if your varieties of seed are listed

A variety is a sub-category of any species of seed.

You cant get seeds certified unless theyre a variety which is on the Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) or Northern Ireland (NI) Variety List.

You can apply to have a new variety added to the national list.

The variety must be on the UK national list (or Northern Ireland national list) to be marketable in Great Britain.

Marketing seed of unlisted varieties

There are exceptions to the Seed Marketing Regulations for England, Wales and Scotland.

If these conditions are met, youll be granted an authorisation to market:

• appropriate uncertified seed quantities of unlisted agricultural varieties for tests or trials
• uncertified seed of unlisted vegetable varieties for the purpose of gaining knowledge from practical experience during cultivation
• small quantities of uncertified seed of unlisted or listed agricultural or vegetable varieties, for scientific purposes or selection work

Applicants who would like to use these arrangements must get authorisation from APHA before marketing any seed.

APHA will handle applications on behalf of England, Scotland and Wales.

To apply please email seed.cert@apha.gov.uk to request the application form, complete the form and email it back.

For further information and technical details, please read Schedule 4 Part 2 Paragraphs 9 and 10 England Seeds Marketing legislation and check Annex 6 of the Technical Standards.

Certification categories

You may be able to apply to enter your seed in the following categories, depending on the stage your seed is at in the multiplication process:

• pre-basic (PB)
• basic (B)
• certified seed (CS)
• certified seed of the first generation (C1)
• certified seed of the second generation (C2)
• certified seed of the third generation (C3) (only flax or linseed can be certified in this category)
• commercial seed (only annual meadowgrass, Hungarian vetch, sainfoin and black mustard can be certified in this category)
• standard seed (you can only market vegetable seeds in this category)

Standard vegetable seeds must meet analytical and varietal purity and germination standards before you can market them.

Enter your crops

You must tell NIAB that youre growing crops to produce seeds, this is known as entering your crops.

Online

If youre already registered on the Government Gateway, you can enter your crops online.

See the user guide (PDF, 2.69 MB, 73 pages) on how to use the online system.

By post

To register by post, complete the CERT 2 application form and the CERT 2A payment form and return them to NIAB.

Use a separate application form sheet for each crop you enter and number each of your sheets.

Crop entry fees

Check the fee youll need to pay in the seed certification fees guidance.

You can use the payment application form to pay for both your crop entry and your inspection fees.

Create a crop identity number

You must make a seed crop identity number and enter it on your application form.

To do this, combine the following details:

• the last 2 digits of the harvest year (for example, 14 if the year was 2014)
• your licence number
• the sheet number of the form (for example, if youre sending 3 forms, the first sheet number would be 1, the second would be 2)

For example, if the harvest year was 2014, your licence number was 123 and the sheet number was 05, you should use the crop identity number 14/123/05.

Deadlines for crop entry

Cereal seeds

You must enter crops of cereal seeds by the following dates:

• winter sown cereals - 31 January
• spring sown cereals - 15 April

Fodder plant seeds

You must enter fodder plant seeds by the following dates:

• winter sown field peas and field beans - 31 January
• spring sown field peas and field beans - 15 April
• biennial seed crops (swede and fodder kale) - 15 October

Grasses and herbage legumes

You must enter grasses and herbage legumes by the following dates:

• lots for sowing in spring of that year, including clover and minor grass species sown for harvesting the next year - 31 January
• lots of ryegrass species for sowing in autumn of the same year - 31 January
• spring lupins and spring sown vetches - 15 April
• seeds of all traditionally managed clover crops and local varieties - 30 May
• seeds of all traditionally managed grass crops and local varieties - 30 May
• annual seed crops (fodder radish) - 15 April