You must get a licence from the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) to import, move or keep prohibited:

• plants, including parts of plants and seeds
• invertebrate plant pests (arthropods, molluscs and nematodes)
• plant pathogens (fungi, bacteria, viruses, virus-like agents and phytoplasmas)
• soil and other organic material
• potatoes

Your licence will include the specific conditions under which you must import, move or keep the material.

You must follow these along with the conditions set out in this guidance.

If you’re in Scotland, contact Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture.

If you’re in Northern Ireland, contact the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Who can get a licence

You can only get a licence if you’re using the prohibited items for:

• scientific research or trials
• testing new varieties of plants (varietal selection)

Licences for invertebrate plant pests and plant pathogens

You must have a licence to import, move or keep invertebrate plant pests or plant pathogens which meet any one of the following conditions:

• they’re listed in the annexes of EC directive 2000/29/EC
• they’re under statutory control in England, Scotland and Wales or subject to an eradication campaign – contact APHA to check this
• Defra considers that they’re not present in England, Scotland and Wales and are likely to be harmful to plants
• Defra considers them to be non-indigenous races, strains, populations or clones of indigenous species which could exhibit an increased risk to plant health (eg increased pathogenicity or resistance to commonly used control strategies)

Contact APHA to check if an invertebrate plant pest or pathogen is prohibited.

Licences for prohibited plants, parts of plants and seeds

You must have a licence to import, move or keep any plants, parts of plants or seeds listed in Annex III of EU Directive 2000/29/EC.

Using a licence instead of a plant passport or phytosanitary certificate

You may be able to use a licence to bring in plants, parts of plants and seeds which would normally need a phytosanitary certificate or plant passport.

You can only do this if you can’t get the phytosanitary certificate or plant passport for scientifically justified reasons, eg the plants were collected from the wild – contact the APHA if you want to do this.

Licences for prohibited soil and other organic material

You must have a licence to import, move, or keep soil from some countries. This also applies to any organic material which is capable of sustaining plant life and which contains solid organic matter, eg humus, peat other than pure and unused peat, moss and bark.

These countries include:

• any country that’s not part of continental Europe, except Egypt, Libya, Israel, Morocco or Tunisia
• Belarus
• Moldova
• Russia
• Turkey
• Ukraine

You don’t need a licence for:

• marine sediments
• pure and unused peat
• pure sand, clay, talc, rocks, volcanic pumice and chalk
• water that isn’t contaminated by soil or organic matter

You must have a licence for artificial growing medium that contains any organic matter, unless it’s made up entirely of unused peat.

Apply for a licence

You should apply for a licence at least one month before you need it, using Defra’s eDomero online application system.

If you haven’t used eDomero before, you need to register as a new user

Application fees

New licences for prohibited plants, plant pests and pathogens cost £902. This fee covers a licence for 5 types of material – you must pay a further £52.45 for each extra type of material.

New licences for prohibited soil or other organic material cost £664.50. This fee covers a licence for 5 types of material – you must pay a further £52.45 for each extra type of material.

APHA will send you an invoice after you apply for a licence using the eDomero system.

What to include in your application

Your application must explain:

• site security
• record-keeping and labelling
• the lay-out of your facilities
• the procedures you’ll follow during experiments

Site security

You must confirm:

• all areas containing quarantine material are kept locked
• the names of anyone who has access to quarantine areas or a set of keys
• how you label quarantine areas
• that all authorised personnel will read and sign a standard operating procedure before starting work with licensed material

Record-keeping and labelling

You must describe:

• how you’ll keep dated records when new material arrives and how you’ll move or dispose of existing licensed material
• how you’ll label or distinguish licensed material at all stages of your experiments

Your facilities

You must:

• describe the type of containment facility you’ll use, eg glasshouses, polytunnels, laboratories
• describe the location of containment facilities on your premises – give room numbers or a geographic location relative to a named or numbered area and make a plan of your facility if possible
• give details of how often authorised staff enter the containment facilities
• describe how much material you’ll keep in containment facilities at a given time
• describe how you’ll keep licensed material within 3 layers of secure containment to stop plant pests escaping
• state the other material that will arrive with the licensed material (eg soil) and how you’ll handle it or dispose of it
• state whether you’ll keep licensed and non-licensed material in the same containment facilities
• describe the type of work you’ll carry out in each area of your site
• describe the containers you’ll grow plants in, if the licensed material includes plants for planting
• describe the traps you’ll use to detect the escape of licensed organisms
• provide a detailed contingency plan you’ll use if organisms escape or if you suspect they’ve escaped

Your experimental procedures

You must also state:

• how you’ll carry out your experiments – give a step by step description of every experiment you intend to do
• whether workers will wear dedicated protective clothing that’s only used when working on licensed material and how you’ll clean it after use
• the precautions you’ll take when transporting material between containment facilities during experiments
• the disinfectants you’ll use to clean containment facilities, their concentration and how you’ll use them
• how you’ll destroy the licensed material after you’ve finished working with it, and before you dispose of it
• a list of the scientific and technical qualifications of all personnel who’ll do work under the licence you’re applying for

Moving consignments within England and Wales

Sending material to other sites

You can send licensed prohibited material to other people or organisations in England and Wales, provided the destination site or person has a licence to receive them.

Complete form PHI10 and send it to the APHA – if they approve your plan, they’ll send you a written agreement.

This written agreement is valid for 12 months, provided the recipient’s licence isn’t amended or cancelled in this time.

If the recipient changes the terms of their licence you’ll have to contact APHA for a new approval.

Receiving material from other sites

You must have a licence to receive prohibited material from other people or organisations in England and Wales.

You must also make sure your supplier has a licence and a written agreement from the APHA.

Receiving material from outbreak sites

You can only receive material from an outbreak site that’s under an APHA notice if the notice allows this.

Contact the APHA if you’re unsure which are under notice.

You must have a licence to hold and work with any material you receive.

Bringing material in from other countries

Letter of authority

If you get a licence to bring prohibited material in from overseas, it’ll have a ‘letter of authority’ attached – you must keep this letter

From countries within the EU

Follow these steps to bring material into England and Wales from other EU countries, including Scotland and Northern Ireland:

1. Send your supplier a copy of your letter of authority.
2. Ask your supplier to get your letter of authority endorsed by the National Plant Protection Organisation (NPPO) in their member state.
3. Ask them to attach copies of the endorsed letter to the outside of the packages containing the licensed material and to include a copy inside each package.

Importing from non-EU countries

Follow these steps to import prohibited material into England and Wales from non-EU countries under a licence:

1. Send a copy of your letter of authority to the supplier.
2. Ask your supplier to attach the letter to the outside of the package and include a copy inside each package.

For imports from outside the EU, you don’t need to have your letter of authority endorsed by the NPPO in the supplier’s country.

If you’re importing material in luggage, you must present it at the red customs channel, along with the appropriate letter of authority, when you arrive in England or Wales.

Sending material to other countries

To EU countries

Follow these steps to send prohibited material to other EU countries, or Scotland and Northern Ireland:

1. Ask the recipient for a copy of their letter of authority.
2. Send the copy of their letter of authority to the APHA to be endorsed.
3. Attach the endorsed letter of authority to the outside of all packages before you send them. You should also include copies of the letter of authority inside the packaging.

If the recipient tells you that you don’t need a letter of authority, ask them to show you official confirmation of this from their NPPO.

You shouldn’t send your material until you’ve got this confirmation.

Exporting to non-EU countries

To export material to non-EU countries, you must comply with the import regulations in the destination country.

The APHA may be able to give you advice about import regulations in the destination country.

How to pack materials

You must make sure any prohibited material you’re moving under a licence is stored in 3 layers of packaging.

At least 1 of the layers must be escape and shatter-proof.

Transport, handling and storage

You must make sure you have licensed material transported to your authorised containment facility directly from the place of landing or the licensed establishment in England and Wales.

You must only open, handle and keep licensed material in the approved quarantine containment facility listed on your licence.

Inspections

You must make all licensed material available for inspection by your local APHA inspector.

You must allow the inspector to check how you’re keeping the material – they may take samples of material or any associated organisms, eg invertebrates.

You must contact APHA on the first working day after the consignment arrives to inform them of any plants you’ve received under licence.

Keep the plants in isolation until the APHA has inspected them.

Inspection fees

Your application fee covers the cost of your first inspection.

Some licences must then be inspected every year, especially new licences. In other cases inspectors will reinspect every 2 or 3 years.

The first inspector who visits your site will tell you how often you need to be reinspected.

If you fail an inspection you must pay for any further inspections, at a cost of £42.75 per hour or part of an hour.

Change an existing licence

You can apply to change your licence using eDomero – eg to add new facilities or material.

APHA may re-inspect your facilities as part of this application process.

Licence amendment fees

Licence amendments that require a Defra scientific or technical assessment cost £265.21.

Amendments that don’t need an assessment cost £31.86.

APHA will send you an invoice after you apply to change a licence through the eDomero system.

Destroying plants, parts of plants and seeds

You must usually destroy plant material after you’ve completed the research your facility was licensed to do.

In some circumstances, you may be allowed to test the plant material and get it released from the terms of its licence.

Contact the APHA if you want to get plant material released from its licence instead of destroying it.

You’ll have to get the plant material tested and pay any costs associated with this.

Categories of material

Plants, fruit, vegetables and plant material (like soil) from outside the EU fall into 3 categories:

• ‘unrestricted’ material you can bring to the UK without any conditions
• ‘controlled’ material that you can only bring into the UK with a ‘phytosanitary certificate’ to show it meets the requirements for entry to the EU
• ‘prohibited’ material you can’t bring into the UK unless you get a scientific research licence or an exception (‘derogation’) to the rules – contact the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) if you want to apply for a derogation

The rest of this guide explains how to import controlled material that requires a phytosanitary certificate.

Find out how to send or receive plants within the EU and how to export plants to non-EU countries.

Material that’s controlled

Controlled plants, fruit, vegetables and plant material include:

• all plants for planting
• common fruits (except for bananas and grapes) other than fruit preserved by deep freezing
• cut flowers
• some seeds and leafy vegetables other than vegetables preserved by deep freezing
• potatoes from some countries

If you’re not sure whether the item you want to bring to the UK is controlled, check the list of plant species by import category or contact APHA.

Personal allowance

You can import a total of 5 controlled plants without a phytosanitary certificate, if you’re returning from an EU country or Switzerland, Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey and the plants are:

• in your personal baggage
• for your personal use
• not diseased or infected with pests

Otherwise you must follow the procedures in this guide.

Register as an importer

You must follow the Procedure for Electronic Application for Certificates from the Horticultural marketing inspectorate (PEACH).

Register for PEACH before you start importing plants.

Once you’re registered you can follow the progress of your consignments through inspections and other checks on the PEACH website.

Phytosanitary certificates

You must get a phytosanitary certificate for each consignment of controlled plants, fruit, vegetables or plant material that you import, from the plant health authority in the country where your supplier is.

The certificate is a statement from the plant health authority that the consignment:

• has been officially inspected
• complies with legal requirements for entry into the EU
• is free from serious pests and diseases

The inspection referred to in the certificate must take place no more than 14 days before the consignment is dispatched from the inspecting country. The certificate must be signed by someone in the inspecting plant health authority within the same 14 day period.

If your consignment includes plants from more than one country, you’ll need to get a separate phytosanitary certificate from the plant health authority in each country.

Quantity

Phytosanitary certificates include a ‘quantity declared’ section. Tell the plant health authority that’s completing the form to fill in quantities as follows.

For cut flowers quantity must be stated as the number of stems.

Quantities must be stated in kilograms (kg) for fruit, vegetables, soil and branches with foliage, potatoes, grain and the following plants for planting:

• bulbs
• corms and rhizomes
• plants in tissue culture
• seeds

For any other plants for planting, the quantity must be recorded as the number of items in the consignment.

It’s up to you to make sure quantities are stated in this way. The plant health authority may use quantity measures for consignments bound for other countries, so you will need to tell them about the measures required for UK-bound consignments.

Pre-arrival notification

You must use the PEACH website to give advance notice each time you bring a consignment to the UK.

You must give:

• in the case of any relevant material brought by air, at least 4 working hours before the relevant material is landed
• in any other case, at least 3 working days before the relevant material is landed

You must also scan the following documents and upload them to the PEACH website before your consignment arrives:

• the phytosanitary certificate for the consignment
• the travel ticket if you’re travelling with the plants yourself
• bill of lading, cargo movement request or delivery company invoice if you’re not travelling with the plants
• the form you must complete to record details of your imported plant material – this applies to plant material for planting

Inspections

When it arrives in the UK, your consignment must be presented for inspection to check it:

• includes all required documents
• contains the plants you have said it does
• is free from pests and diseases

If your consignment doesn’t pass an inspection it may be destroyed, treated, or sent back to where you sent it from at your expense.

Inspection fees

For each consignment imported you have to pay the following fees:

• A fee of £9.71 for each consignment to cover the cost of checking the consignment’s paperwork and identity.
• A physical inspection fee – the amount you will have to pay will depend on the type of plant material you’re importing.

See Schedule 1 of the Plant Health etc. (Fees) (England) Regulations 2018.

Reduced inspection fees

Some plant material, imported from particular countries, is eligible for a reduced level of physical inspection. This many mean a lower inspection fee.

Check schedule 2 of the Plant Health etc. (Fees) (England) Regulations 2018 to find out if your consignment qualifies for a lower inspection fee.

Points of entry

You can use these designated points of entry to bring your consignment into the UK.

You’ll be able to select the point of entry you want to use from a drop down list on the PEACH website.

Heathrow

Consignments can be inspected at Heathrow from 6am until midnight everyday.

APHA will inspect your consignment within 4 hours of it arriving as long as:

• you’ve given the required 4 working hours notice
• it arrives and is presented for inspection at the time you indicated on your PEACH application

Manchester, Gatwick or Stansted

Consignments can be inspected at Manchester, Gatwick or Stansted airports between 8:30am and 5pm from Monday to Friday (except UK bank holidays).

APHA will inspect your consignment within 4 hours of it becoming available for inspection (ie after you bring it to the office), as long as:

• you’ve given the required 4 working hours notice
• it arrives and is presented for inspection at the time you indicated on your PEACH application

Other airports

Consignments can be inspected at other airports between 8:30am and 5pm from Monday to Friday (except UK bank holidays).

APHA will inspect your consignment within one working day of it becoming available for inspection (ie after you bring it to the office), as long as:

• you’ve given the required 4 working hours notice
• it arrives and is presented for inspection at the time you indicated on your PEACH application

Seaports and approved inland inspection points

Consignments can be inspected at seaports and approved inland inspection points between 8:30am and 5pm from Monday to Friday (except UK bank holidays).

APHA will inspect your consignment within 1 working day of it becoming available (ie once the port has moved it to the approved inspection facility), as long as you’ve given the required 3 working days notice.

Alternative inspection posts

Inspections can also be carried out at:

• an External Temporary Storage Facility (ETSF) – read the list of ETSFs approved for plant imports
• premises designated under the Customs Freight Simplified Procedure (CFSP)

Apply to:

• have your premises authorised as an ETSF
• have your existing ETSF authorisation upgraded to allow plant health inspection to be carried out there
• have your premises designated under CFSP

How to present certificates

If you’re travelling with your consignment, you can provide phytosanitary and reforwarding certificates for inspection yourself when you arrive in the UK.

If you’re shipping the consignment by post, put the certificates in an envelope marked ‘For the attention of Border Force’ and attach it to the outside of your package.

If you have more than one package, attach certified copies of the certificates to each package. A certified copy is a copy signed by the plant health authority that drew up the certificate.

Submit documents after your consignment arrives

Within 3 days of your consignment reaching the UK, you must post the original phytosanitary certificate to APHA.

For consignments landing at Heathrow or Gatwick send the certificate to:

For consignments landing anywhere else send the certificate to:

Consignments travelling through another EU state

If your consignment travelled through another EU member state, the plant health authority in the other member state will have taken the phytosanitary certificate and replaced it with a ‘plant health movement document’.

In this case, send the plant health movement document to APHA instead.

Complaints and appeals

You can complain or appeal if you’re unsatisfied with the service you receive from APHA.

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