North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.9. Prohibitions
It shall be unlawful for any person:
(1) To transport, to offer for transportation, to sell, distribute, offer for sale or expose for sale within this State agricultural or vegetable seeds for seeding purposes:
a. Unless a seed license has been obtained in accordance with the provisions of this Article.
b. Unless the test to determine the percentage of germination required by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 106-277.5 through 106-277.7 shall have been completed (i) on agricultural seed within a nine-month period, exclusive of the calendar month in which the test was completed, (ii) on cool season lawn seeds and mixtures of cool season lawn seeds, including, but not limited to, Kentucky bluegrass, red fescue, chewings fescue, hard fescue, tall fescue, perennial ryegrass, intermediate ryegrass, annual ryegrass, colonial bent grass, and creeping bent grass, within a 15-month period, exclusive of the calendar month in which the test was completed, and (iii) on vegetable seed within a 12-month period, exclusive of the calendar month in which the test was completed, immediately prior to sale, exposure for sale, or offering for sale or transportation; provided, the North Carolina Board of Agriculture may adopt rules to designate a longer period for any kind of agricultural or vegetable seed which is packaged in such container materials (hermetically sealed), and under such other conditions prescribed, that will, during such longer period, maintain the viability of said seed under ordinary conditions of handling.
c. Not labeled in accordance with the provisions of this Article or having a false or misleading labeling or claim.
d. Pertaining to which there has been a false or misleading advertisement.
e. Consisting of or containing prohibited noxious-weed seeds.
f. Containing restricted noxious-weed seeds, except as prescribed by rules and regulations promulgated under this Article.
g. Containing weed seeds in excess of two percent (2%) by weight unless otherwise provided in rules and regulations promulgated under this Article.
h. That have been treated and not labeled as required in this Article, or treated and not conspicuously colored.
i. Repealed by Session Laws 2009-455, s. 6, effective October 1, 2009.
j. To which there is affixed names or terms that create a misleading impression as to the kind, kind and variety, history, productivity, quality or origin of the seeds.
k. Represented to be certified, registered or foundation seed unless it has been produced, processed and labeled in accordance with the procedures and in compliance with rules and regulations of an officially recognized certifying agency.
l. Represented to be a hybrid unless such seed conforms to the definition of a hybrid as defined in this Article.
m. Unless it conforms to the definition of a “lot.”
n. Any variety, hybrid or blend of seeds not recorded with the Commissioner as required under rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to this Article.
o. Seed of any variety or hybrid that has been found by official variety tests to be inferior, misrepresented or unsuited to conditions within the State. The Commissioner may prohibit the sale or distribution of such seed by and with the advice of the director of research of the North Carolina agricultural experiment station.
p. Using a designation on seed tag in lieu of the full name and address of the person who labels or tags seed unless such designation qualifies as a code designation under this Article.
q. By variety name seed not certified by an official seed-certifying agency when it is a variety for which a certificate of plant variety protection under the Plant Variety Protection Act specifies sale only as a class of certified seed; provided, that seed from a certified lot may be labeled as to variety name when used in a mixture by, or with the approval of, the owner of the variety.
r. That employ a brand name on the label unless a variety or mixture of varieties is labeled as required in this Article. If a brand name other than a registered trademark is used, it must be a separate statement from the variety name or the statement of a mixture, or blend, of genetic variations.
s. Labeled as a “blend” unless the lot complies with the definition of “blend” in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 106-277.2, and is registered with the Commissioner, as may be required in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 106-277.9(1)n. Other mechanical combinations of varieties shall be labeled as a mixture according to the requirements in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 106-277.5(1).
Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.9
- advertisement: means all representations, other than those required on the label, disseminated in any manner or by any means, relating to seed within the scope of this Article. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- agricultural seeds: shall include the seed of grass, forage, cereal, fiber crops and any other kinds of seeds commonly recognized within this State as agricultural or field seeds, lawn seeds and mixtures of such seeds, and may include noxious-weed seeds when the Commissioner determines that such seed is being used as agricultural seed. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- blend: means a mechanical combination of varieties identified by a blend designation in which each component variety is equal to or above the minimum standard germination for its class; which is always present in the same percentage in each lot identified by the same "blend" designation; and for which research data supports an advantage of the "blend" over the singular use of either component variety. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- Board: means the North Carolina Board of Agriculture as established under N. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- brand: means an identifying numeral, letter, word, or any combination of these, used with the word "brand" to designate source of seeds. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- code designation: means a series of numbers or letters approved by the United States Department of Agriculture and used in lieu of the full name and address of the person who labels seeds, as required in this Article in N. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Agriculture of North Carolina or his designated agent or agents. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- Department: means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services as established in N. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- distribute: means to provide seed for seeding purposes to more than five persons, but shall not include seed provided for educational purposes. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- germination: means the percentages by count of seeds under consideration, determined to be capable of producing normal seedlings in a given period of time and under normal conditions. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- hybrid: means the first generation seed of a cross produced by controlling cross-fertilization within prescribed limits and combining (i) two or more inbred lines or clones, or (ii) one or more inbred lines or clones with an open-pollinated variety, or (iii) two or more varieties or species, clonal or otherwise, except open-pollinated varieties of normally cross-fertilized species. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- kind: means one or more related species or subspecies which singly or collectively is known by one common name, for example, corn, wheat, striate lespedeza, alfalfa, tall fescue. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- labeling: includes all labels and other written, printed or graphic representations in any manner whatsoever accompanying and pertaining to any seed whether in bulk or in containers and includes representations on invoices. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- lot: means a definite quantity of seed, identified by a lot number or other identification, which shall be uniform throughout for the factors which appear on the label. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- mixture: means seeds consisting of more than one kind or kind and variety, each present in excess of five per centum (5%) of the whole. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- month: shall be construed to mean a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed; and the word "year" a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed; and the word "year" alone shall be equivalent to the expression "year of our Lord. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- origin: means the state, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, possession of the United States or the foreign country where the seed was grown. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- person: shall include any individual, partnership, corporation, company, society or association. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories, so called; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the said district and territories and all dependencies. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- stop-sale: means an administrative order provided by law restraining the sale, use, disposition and movement of a definite amount of seed. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- treated: means given an application of a substance or subjected to a process designed to reduce, control or repel disease organisms, insects or other pests which attack seeds or seedlings growing therefrom, or to improve the planting value of the seed. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- variety: means a subdivision of a kind characterized by growth, plant, fruit, seed or other constant characteristics by which it can be differentiated in successive generations from other sorts of the same kind; for example, Knox Wheat, Kobe Striate Lespedeza, Ranger Alfalfa, Kentucky 31 Tall Fescue. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- vegetable seeds: shall include the seeds of those crops which are grown in gardens or on truck farms and are generally known and sold under the name of vegetable seed in this State. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
- weed seeds: means the seeds, bulblets or tubers of all plants generally recognized as weeds within this State or which may be classified as weed seed by regulations promulgated under this Article. See North Carolina General Statutes 106-277.2
(2) To transport, offer for transportation, sell, offer for sale, or expose for sale seeds, whole grain not for seeding purposes unless labeled “not for seeding purposes.”
(3) To detach, alter, deface, or destroy any label provided for in this Article or the rules and regulations promulgated hereunder, or to alter or substitute seed in any manner that defeats the purposes of this Article.
(4) To disseminate false or misleading advertisement in any manner concerning agricultural seeds or vegetable seeds.
(5) To hinder or obstruct in any manner an authorized agent of the Commissioner in the performance of his lawful duties.
(6) To fail to comply with or to supply inaccurate information in reply to a stop-sale order; or to remove tags attached to or to remove or dispose of seed or screenings held under a stop-sale order unless authorized by the Commissioner.
(7) To use the name of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services or the results of tests and inspections made by the Department for advertising purposes.
(8) To use the words “type” or “trace” in lieu of information required by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 106-277.4 through 106-277.7.
(9) To label and offer for sale seed under the scope of this Article without keeping complete records as specified in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 106-277.12 (1941, c. 114, s. 5; 1943, c. 203, s. 3; 1945, c. 828; 1949, c. 725; 1953, c. 856, s. 4; 1957, c. 263, s. 2; 1959, c. 585, s. 2; 1963, c. 1182; 1971, c. 637, s. 6; 1987 (Reg. Sess., 1988), c. 1034, ss. 7-9; 1997-261, s. 47; 2009-455, s. 6.)