§1581 Prohibitions Relating to Importations

Summary

Bringing certain seeds into the United States is banned. Seeds that are banned include agricultural or vegetable seeds that contain noxious weed seeds or that have false or misleading labels. Seed screenings are banned too, except screenings of certain grains (wheat, oats, rye, barley, buckwheat, field corn, sorghum, broomcorn, flax, millet, proso, soybeans, cowpeas, field peas, or field beans) when they are not for planting and are declared as being for cleaning, processing, or manufacturing. Seed mixtures that have 10 percent or more agricultural or vegetable seed are banned unless the invoice and label show a lot ID and list every vegetable seed present (any amount) and every agricultural seed present over 5 percent; hybrid seed over 5 percent must be labeled as hybrid. Seed meant for planting that has been chemically treated is banned unless each container has labels, following rules set by the Secretary of Agriculture, saying the seed was treated, naming the chemical used, giving an approved warning if the chemical left on the seed is harmful to people or animals (for example, warning not to use for food, feed, or oil), showing a skull-and-crossbones and a clear poison warning in red for very toxic substances like mercurials, and describing the treatment process as approved by the Secretary.