§361.6. Noxious weed seeds. — Inbound Citations

(d) In most cases, samples will be drawn and examined by an APHIS inspector at the port of first arrival. The APHIS inspector may release a shipment if no contaminants are found and the labeling is sufficient. If contaminants are found or the labeling of the seed is insufficient, the APHIS inspector may forward the sample to the USDA Seed Examination Facility (SEF), Beltsville, MD, for analysis, testing, or examination. APHIS will notify the owner or consignee of the seed that samples have been drawn and forwarded to the SEF and that the shipment must be held intact pending a decision by APHIS as to whether the seed is within the noxious weed seed tolerances of § 361.6 and is accurately labeled. If the decision pending is with regard to the noxious weed seed content of the seed and the seed has been determined to be accurately labeled, the seed may be released for delivery to the owner or consignee under the following conditions:

(1) The owner or consignee executes with Customs either a Customs single-entry bond or a Customs term bond, as appropriate, in such amount as is prescribed by applicable Customs regulations;

(2) The bond must contain a condition for the redelivery of the seed or any part thereof upon demand of the Port Director of Customs at any time;

(3) Until the seed is approved for entry upon completion of APHIS' examination, the seed must be kept intact and not tampered with in any way, or removed from the containers except under the monitoring of an APHIS inspector; and

(4) The owner or consignee must keep APHIS informed as to the location of the seed until it is finally entered into the commerce of the United States.

(1) If the seed is being imported for seeding (planting) purposes, the certificate of analysis must verify that the seed meets the noxious weed seed tolerances of § 361.6. Such seed will not be subject to the sampling requirements of § 361.3(b).

(1) Samples of seed will be taken from each lot of seed in accordance with § 361.5 to determine whether any seeds of noxious weeds listed in § 361.6(a) are present. If seeds of noxious weeds are present at a level higher than the tolerances set forth in § 361.6(b), the lot of seed will be deemed to be adulterated and will be rejected for entry into the United States for seeding (planting) purposes. Once deemed adulterated, the lot of seed must be:

(i) Exported from the United States;

(ii) Destroyed under the monitoring of an APHIS inspector;

(iii) Cleaned under APHIS monitoring at a seed-cleaning facility that is operated in accordance with § 361.8(a); or

(iv) If the lot of seed is adulterated with the seeds of a noxious weed listed in § 361.6(a)(2), the seed may be allowed entry into the United States for feeding or manufacturing purposes, provided the importer withdraws the original declaration and files a new declaration stating that the seed is being imported for feeding or manufacturing purposes and that no part of the seed will be used for seeding (planting) purposes.

(a) As provided in § 361.4(b), samples of seed will be taken from each lot of seed being imported for seeding (planting) purposes to determine whether any seeds of noxious weeds listed in § 361.6(a) are present. The samples shall be drawn in the manner described in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section. Unused portions of samples of rare or expensive seeds will be returned by APHIS upon request of the importer.

(1) A minimum sample of not less than 1 quart shall be drawn from each lot of agricultural seed; a minimum sample of not less than 1 pint shall be drawn from each lot of vegetable seed, except that a sample of 1/4 pint will be sufficient for a vegetable seed importation of 5 pounds or less. The minimum sample shall be divided repeatedly until a working sample of proper weight has been obtained. If a mechanical divider cannot be used or is not available, the sample shall be thoroughly mixed, then placed in a pile; the pile shall be divided repeatedly into halves until a working sample of the proper weight remains. The weights of the working samples for noxious weed examination for each lot of seed are shown in column 1 of table 1 of this section. If the lot of seed is a mixture, the following methods shall be used to determine the weight of the working sample:

(i) If the lot of seed is a mixture consisting of one predominant kind of seed or a group of kinds of similar size, the weight of the working sample shall be the weight shown in column 1 of table 1 of this section for the kind or group of kinds that comprises more than 50 percent of the sample.

(ii) If the lot of seed is a mixture consisting of two or more kinds or groups of kinds of different sizes, none of which comprises over 50 percent of the sample, the weight of the working sample shall be the weighted average (to the nearest half gram) of the weight shown in column 1 of table 1 of this section for each of the kinds that comprise the sample, as determined by the following method:

(A) Multiply the percentage of each component of the mixture (rounded off to the nearest whole number) by the sample sizes shown in column 1 of table 1 of this section;

(B) Add all these products;

(C) Total the percentages of all components of the mixtures; and

(D) Divide the sum in paragraph (a)(1)(ii)(B) of this section by the total in paragraph (a)(1)(ii)(C) of this section.

(2) The maximum sizes of lots of each kind of seed not ordinarily sampled are shown in column 2 of table 1 of this section.

(3) The maximum sizes of lots of each kind of seed allowed entry without sampling for sowing for experimental or breeding purposes as provided in § 361.4(a)(4) are shown in column 3 of table 1 of this section.

(iv) If the lot of seed is adulterated with the seeds of a noxious weed listed in § 361.6(a)(2), the seed may be allowed entry into the United States for feeding or manufacturing purposes, provided the importer withdraws the original declaration and files a new declaration stating that the seed is being imported for feeding or manufacturing purposes and that no part of the seed will be used for seeding (planting) purposes.

(1) Samples of seed will be taken from each lot of seed in accordance with § 361.5 to determine whether any seeds of noxious weeds listed in § 361.6(a) are present. If seeds of noxious weeds are present at a level higher than the tolerances set forth in § 361.6(b), the lot of seed will be deemed to be adulterated and will be rejected for entry into the United States for seeding (planting) purposes. Once deemed adulterated, the lot of seed must be:

(i) Exported from the United States;

(ii) Destroyed under the monitoring of an APHIS inspector;

(iii) Cleaned under APHIS monitoring at a seed-cleaning facility that is operated in accordance with § 361.8(a); or

(iv) If the lot of seed is adulterated with the seeds of a noxious weed listed in § 361.6(a)(2), the seed may be allowed entry into the United States for feeding or manufacturing purposes, provided the importer withdraws the original declaration and files a new declaration stating that the seed is being imported for feeding or manufacturing purposes and that no part of the seed will be used for seeding (planting) purposes.

(a) Imported seed that is found to contain noxious weed seeds at a level higher than the tolerances set forth in § 361.6(b) may be cleaned under the monitoring of an APHIS inspector. The cleaning will be at the expense of the owner or consignee.

(1) At the location where the seed is being cleaned, the identity of the seed must be maintained at all times to the satisfaction of the Administrator. The refuse from the cleaning must be placed in containers and securely sealed and identified. Upon completion of the cleaning, a representative sample of the seed will be analyzed by a registered seed technologist, an official seed laboratory, or by APHIS; if the seed is found to be within the noxious weed tolerances set forth in § 361.6(b), the seed may be allowed entry into the United States;

(2) The refuse from the cleaning must be destroyed under the monitoring of an APHIS inspector at the expense of the owner or consignee of the seed.

(3) Any person engaged in the business of cleaning imported seed may enter into a compliance agreement under paragraph (c) of this section to facilitate the cleaning of seed imported into the United States under this part.