Phytosanitary Cert. for export -- where do I get one?

[kolohe]

I am looking for the phone number and physical address for the place I need to go to get a phytosanitary certificate for exporting plants. Anyone have that info?

Thanks,

-k

[cooked]

In my limited experience, it is the admitting country that issues a certificate. The inspector may be responsible for several points of entry so warning him in advance of your arrival will cut down your waiting time.

Maybe you are thinking about a CITES certificate stating the origin of the plant, that it isn't a protected species etc. I have no idea how you get one of those., https://www.cites.org/

[kolohe]

Thanks for your reply.

It would be a lot easier if that was the case. While the admitting country does inspect the plant on arrival, you must get a phytosanitary certificate from the exporting country. Here is the text from the USDA website:

All articles covered under the plants for planting regulations must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate of inspection issued by the national plant protection service of the exporting country with the exception of certain greenhouse-grown plants from Canada or articles accompanied by a PPQ-issued permit that specifically provides an exemption from such documentation.

On top of all that it appears that some importing countries may have different rules before it can leave the exporting country with the phytosanitary certificate as well. It looks like for importing into the EU a plant has to come from a registered nursery, be controlled for 9 weeks with periodic inspections and documentation of pesticide usage. I dont know if this registered nursery and 9-week deal applies to importing to the US as I have only seen it in reference to the EU during my searches.

I also just found out that Thailand will not let you export durian trees. I have no idea why. If anyone knows, please enlighten me.

[cooked]

I don't know anything about USA regulations apart from the fact that they have always been very strict.Importing into the EU and Abu Dhabi is much simpler.

[kolohe]

I don't know anything about USA regulations apart from the fact that they have always been very strict.Importing into the EU and Abu Dhabi is much simpler.

USA regulations may be strict but its pretty straightforward and it's not complicated. Its a matter of filling out a simple permit application for free. If your plant is allowed, its approved, if its not allowed then its not approved. They even have a list online that you can use to figure out if your plant is allowed to import or not.

The USA part of it is not the problem, it was easily sorted out. The difficultly is the Thailand end. Even basic information online about exporting (to any country) is pretty sparse.

The time I spent figuring out and setting up everything for the US end was a fraction of the time I've spent trying to find just the address and/or phone number of the location that issues the phytosanitary certificate in Thailand.

[Michael Hare]

Getting a phytosanitary certificate within Thailand is very straight forward. I do it all the time as my company exports forage seeds to many countries around the world including the USA. This week I have seeds going to Kenya, Ethiopia and Kuwait.

Sending to the USA is fairly easy. The USA does not require an Import Permit but you have to find out if the plants you are exporting into the USA are allowed entry and not prohibited. With my forage seeds some species are allowed entry, while others are prohibited because of the risk of becoming weeds. (Though they allow the same seeds in from Mexico!).

Once I have obtained the Import Permit from the importing country, I read if viruses or diseases etc have to be declared. If they have to, I have to fly an inspector up from Bangkok to sample the seeds in my seed store in Ubon Ratchathani. Takes about 2 weeks for the test results to come out.

Clearance from theser diseases are written as an additional declaration on the front page.

If no particular diseases or pests have to be declared, then the inspector does not have to sample. In the box for additional declaration the inspector writes nothing to declare.

A general phytosanitary certificate is issued with only the fumigation procedures written on the front page. My seeds have to fumigated with phosphine for 7 days. I am not sure about plants. Perhaps not as phosphine may kill them.

The Phytosanitary certificate is issued by the Department of Agriculture, Plant Protection Division, Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives.

Here are two phone numbers to contact and you will probably be put through to the right person.

02579-8516; 02579-8577.

The offices and labs are on the Kasetsart University Campus in Bangkok, just inside the third gate.

They will tell you if fumigation is required.

An easier way for you may be to let a shipping company do everything for you as they may be doing the delivery to the airport.

If you also require a Certificate of Origin you will have to register with the Ministry of Commence.

And finally, many countries these days require a certificate stating that the product is Non-GMO. You can probably write this yourself.

I hope this information is of some help.

[kolohe]

Michael,

Thanks for the great and informative reply! That is just the information I was looking for. Do you happen to know if there are other locations that issue a phytosanitary certificate?

The shipping company is a great idea but I am not bringing back very much and will likely just bring it back with me as luggage or mail it. For the US you need an import permit for all plants but there is an exemption if you have less than 13 in your personal luggage. You dont need a permit for seeds if it is considered "small lot". If I remember correctly a small lot was less than 50 seeds per bag and less than 50 bags of seeds.

Unfortunately, I just found out that Thailand does not allow the export of durian trees. That was one of the plants I was hoping to bring back. I guess I will have to find a nursery in Malaysia or somewhere else that will export the tree for me. I'm sure finding a nursery with the varieties I want will be another challenge.

[Michael Hare]

I think that there may be agricultural officers at the main Bangkok airport who can issue phyto certificates. I recommend that you ring those numbers I gave you and find out.

If you are able to get a durian plant into the USA, you should find out whether or not in your area there are bats to pollinate the flowers to enable fruits to develop. Large bumble bees may also pollinate.

According to research conducted in Malaysia in the 1970s, durians were pollinated almost exclusively by cave fruit bats (Eonycteris spelaea);^[6] however, a 1996 study indicated two species, D. grandiflorus and D. oblongus, were pollinated by spiderhunters (Nectariniidae) and another species, D. kutejensis, was pollinated by giant honey bees and birds as well as bats

[kolohe]

Thanks for that additional info.

There is already quite a bit of durian growing in my area. I know of someone who has had his own trees for over 20 years. I originally looked at getting a tree locally but the problem is the only trees available here are of unknown variety or a variety I dont want, and they are usually seedlings.