Plant Passporting - GUIDANCE

If you’re based in the UK and moving plants or plant products in the EU that can host quarantine pests and diseases, they may need plant passports.

The following section looks at guidance for plant passporting under the new Plant Health Regulation (PHR), which comes into force on 14 December 2019. As we will still be in the EU by 14 December 2019, the regulations will apply.

Becoming authorised to issue plant passports

Plant passports may only be issued by businesses who are registered and authorised for the purpose.

If you’re based in Scotland:

If you’re based in England and Wales, either:

Find more [information] on the procedure for England and Wales.

Plant passporting – a step-by-step guide

Defra in consultation with the Scottish Government and other devolved administrations have created the following guidance that introduces the new content and format of the plant passport as well as what the plant passport should be attached to.

Plant Passport Introductory Guide

Examples of a standard plant passport 

Note: The size of the plant passport, the use of a border line, the proportions of the size of their elements, and the fonts used in the models are only examples.

Standard Plant Passport Examples

Plant passport checklist:

  • A visible EU flag
  • Legible text (handwritten clearly allowed as long as in capitals)
  • The words ‘plant passport’1
  • The Botanical names2 (A)
  • Country code of issuer3 (B) e.g.  GB
  • Registration number4 (B) e.g. for Scotland, it will be ‘S’ followed by a 5 digit number
  • Traceability code5 (C)
  • Code of origin code (EU member state or 3rd country) 7 or 8 (D)
  • Barcode or similar (optional)

Please see the guidance for more information, which also includes FAQ.

Other resources

Another tool you may find useful is this video created by the HTA

HTA – Plant Passporting – Get Ready

Any questions

Please contact the Scottish Government’s Horticulture and Marketing Unit: hort.marketing@gov.scot