Registration and Plant Passports
If you deal with plants professionally you need to be registered with the UK plant health service. Some operators may also need to be authorised to issue plant passports. This page will link you to guidance on the UK plant passport system and whether you need to be registered as a professional operator, or both registered as a professional operator and authorised to issue plant passports.
Great Britain operates a UK Plant Passport system for internal movements of plants both within and between GB and the Crown Dependencies. Northern Ireland continues to use the EU Plant Passport system (in line with the Northern Ireland Protocol), and EU Plant Passports apply for movements of Qualifying Northern Ireland Goods (QNIGs) from NI to GB. Phytosanitary certificates are required when moving goods from GB to NI.
Further information on Plant Passports can also be found on GOV.uk.
A free Plant Passport E-learning module is also available here on the Portal.
Post-transition Period guidance (including changes to the plant passport system that occurred on 1st January 2021 and guidance on registration as an importer) can be found on the Portal.
It should be noted that the plant passport system has 2 pillars:
- Traceability
- Assurance
Therefore, a UK plant passport is not just a traceability document but attests that the plants the passport is attached to meet GB Plant Health Standards.
Contacts
- APHA: PlantHealth.Info@apha.gov.uk
- Forestry Commission: see guidance on GOV.uk or contact plant.health@forestrycommission.gov.uk
- Scotland: Contact SASA
- Northern Ireland: Contact DAERA
Guidance on Registration
- Registration and Authorisation Flowchart
- When is someone acting professionally? Guidance for amateurs and hobbyists
Guidance for Plant Passports
- Plant Passport E-learning Module
- Plant Passport FAQ
- Plant Passport Scenarios
- Plant Passports and the Seed Marketing Sector
- Plant Passports and Potatoes
Pest & Disease Index (PDI)
On 14 December 2020 EU Regulation 2019/827 came into force, this EU regulation has been carried over into domestic British legislation (Article 46 of Plant Health Regulation 2020/1482).
This Regulation stipulates further requirements for operators authorised to issue plant passports including knowledge of pests which are relevant to the plants you trade in.
Therefore we have developed this PDI to help operators better comply. The PDI is ‘host-driven’ rather than ‘pest-driven’ so you can easily look at the commodities you trade in and the pests applicable to them, along with whether that pest is present in the UK, the most likely pathways of entry if it is not present, what special requirements in legislation are relevant to that pest, and what the mitigated and unmitigated risk rating of the pest is.
More information is available in the User Guide below, please read the User Guide before using the Index.