At the moment you may determine the lay-out of the plant passport yourself. That will change once the new plant Health Directive comes into force. The new mandatory lay-out looks like this:
- In the upper left corner: the EU flag (in colour or black&white)
- In the upper right corner: the word 'Plant passport'
- 'A' + botanical name
- 'B' + ISO-code of member state, hyphen, registration number
- 'C' + traceability code
- 'D' + ISO-code for country of origin/production, even if it is the Netherlands
Traceability is important
The traceability of products is a major point in the new directive. The traceability code will be an important part of the plant passport. For certain end products in the final packaging, it is possible that a traceability code will not be necessary, for example, for houseplants. More information will become available in the course of 2018.
What does this mean for you?
All growers will have to deal with the new lay-out of the plant passport, even the trading companies (for trade within the EU). They will have to adjust existing documents and imprints, like plant passports and associated supplier's documents. Therefore:
- Your current plant passports remain valid until 14 December 2023. Products that enter the market from 14 December 2019 must carry the new plant passport. So make sure that you do not build up stocks.
- You must attach the plant passport to the smallest packaging unit (each pot, tray, box, etc.)
- You may no longer combine the plant passport with a supplier's document
- Products for which a passport is currently mandatory must meet the current criteria until 14 December 2019. The current plant passport must carry the name of the responsible inspection service and the quantity or weight. That information is not required on the new plant passport
- Products for which a passport is mandatory from 14 December 2019 can probably be given a plant passport before that deadline. More information about that measure will become available in the course of 2018