The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs proposed to introduce a requirement for all imports of plants for planting (excluding bulbs, corms, rhizomes, seeds, tubers, and plants in tissue culture) moving into Great Britain to have been grown on a registered nursery and have been inspected prior to export. This was to provide greater biosecurity assurances for these plants, that otherwise carried greater biosecurity risks as a result of being grown in the wild or not being inspected prior to export.
The private trading group, Elsoms Seeds, the BSPB, OATA and the Cyclamen
Society all had concerns regarding this proposal. The Cyclamen Society suggested that
this proposal would prevent any scientific research which requires the collection of living
plants, given that a Phytosanitary Certificate could not be issued for plants grown in the
wild. Elsoms Seeds, OATA and members of the BSPB similarly had a concern that the
import of plants from non-registered nurseries or the wild would be prevented.
Source: Delfra.Gov.Uk (PDF)