| (a) General.
(1) Each regulated article sold, distributed or transported
within this state or grown for the purpose of sale or distribution
shall have attached to the article, or to the container in which the
article is planted, a waterproof tag or label upon which is legibly
printed in permanent lettering the words "Produced in Texas" or "Produced
in TX" and the Texas Nursery/Floral certificate number of the business
location where the regulated article was produced for sale or distribution.
(2) Unless satisfactory records that readily identify
the articles as having been produced in Texas are provided, the absence
of a tag or label required by this subsection creates a non-rebuttable
presumption that the regulated article is a quarantined article and
shall be destroyed in accordance with the applicable provisions of
§71.0091 of the Code.
(3) A regulated article with a tag or label required
by this subsection that is determined by the inspector or other agent
of the Department to have not been produced at the Texas business
location represented by the registration number on the tag or label
shall be seized and may be destroyed pursuant to §21.10(g) of
this chapter (relating to Record Keeping; Rebuttable Presumption and
Seizure), in accordance with the applicable provisions of §71.0091
of the Code.
(4) The presence of a tag or label attached to a citrus
plant, or to a container in which the citrus plant is planted, that
states that the citrus plant did not originate in Texas, including
"product of," "produced in," "originated in," or "grown in" any geographic
area outside of Texas, creates a non-rebuttable presumption that the
citrus plant is in violation of this section and shall be destroyed
in accordance with the applicable provisions of §71.0091 of the
Code.
(b) Citrus plants intended for sale or distribution
must have attached to each article or to the container in which the
article is planted, a waterproof tag or label clearly identifying
in permanent lettering the application date of the soil drench or
in-ground granular systemic insecticide mandated in this section as
"TREATMENT DATE: MM/DD/YYYY." The date format may be provided in another
format such as 01AUG2017 or AUG012017 that identifies the date of
the required pre-shipment soil drench or soil incorporated treatment.
(c) Each failure to comply with a requirement of this
section constitutes a separate violation for which an administrative
penalty may be assessed and each day a violation continues or occurs
may be considered a separate violation.
(d) Exemptions.
(1) Identification. In lieu of identification tags
during production, a nursery may develop a regulated article identification
plan, as approved by the Department that defines procedures and methods
used to identify the regulated articles under production at the location.
Identification tags, as provided in this section, will be required
once the regulated articles are sold or distributed.
(2) Citrus nursery stock grown in a certified citrus
nursery in accordance with Subchapter D of this chapter, is exempt
from the labeling requirements in subsection (b) of this section when
the citrus nursery stock:
(A) is sold, moved or distributed to another certified
citrus nursery; or
(B) is intended for planting for commercial fruit production.
(3) Budwood.
(A) The original propagation record identifying the
source tree of budwood must be maintained as required in §21.10
of this chapter (relating to Record Keeping; Rebuttable Presumption;
and Seizure) and made available to the Department upon request to
verify the tree was produced in Texas.
(B) The labeling of budwood for sale is specified in
§21.33 of this chapter (relating to Labeling and Handling of
Budwood Produced in Foundation Block).
(4) Retail buyers and end users are exempt from the
requirements of this section.
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