| (a) The department may perform a quarantine inspection for quarantined articles, including any plants, vegetables, other agricultural products, or equipment that is a host or carrier of a pest or disease. (b) An inspection certificate may be issued if the quarantined articles: (1) have been treated to eliminate infestations; and (2) have been inspected and are free of insect pests and diseases; and (3) will not result in the spread of the quarantined pest. (c) The inspection certificate is valid for a period of 14 days from the date it was issued. (d) Subject to the provisions of this chapter, all nursery or floral shipments of plant material originating outside of the state must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate of inspection from the origin state's department of agriculture stating that the plants are free of insect pests and plant diseases, or any other phytosanitary document applicable to the commodity. Certification requirements for agricultural commodities and other quarantined articles are provided in specific Texas quarantines. (e) The department hereby adopts the standards included in the U.S. Domestic Japanese Beetle Harmonization Plan approved by the National Plant Board at its Grand Rapids, Michigan meeting held on August 19, 1998. Nursery products and/or floral items shipped from other states into Texas must adhere to the requirements listed in the U.S. Domestic Japanese Beetle Harmonization Plan. The plan provides specific additional declaration to be entered on phytosanitary certificates accompanying the shipments. The declaration mentions the procedure used in reducing the risk of Japanese beetle introduction. A shipment without appropriate additional declaration on the accompanying phytosanitary certificate shall be subject to seizure or stop-sale order and may require treatment, destruction, or, if feasible, returning to point of origin. A copy of the harmonization plan may be obtained at the Texas Department of Agriculture, P.O. Box 12847, Austin, Texas 78711. (f) A phytosanitary certificate or a permit may be issued by an inspector for intrastate and interstate shipments of conifer and hardwood seedlings to verify that they are free of pests and diseases, including cogongrass, Imperata cylindrica; tropical soda apple, Solanum viarum; and sudden oak death, Phytopthora ramorum. To ensure pest and disease-free plant material, the preferred method of treatment is fumigation using methyl bromide in seedling plant beds prior to seeding. |
| Source Note: The provisions of this §19.2 adopted to be effective September 2, 1996, 21 TexReg 7802; amended to be effective February 25, 1999, 24 TexReg 1154; amended to be effective September 25, 2006, 31 TexReg 8090; amended to be effective June 22, 2008, 33 TexReg 4667 |
