Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 3, March 22, 2024
A.
Definitions
The following definitions will apply to this Section and shall
be construed respectively to mean:
(1)
Commission: The State Crop Pest Commission;
(2) Department: The Department of Plant
Industry (DPI);
(3) Director: The
Director, Regulatory and Public Service Programs, Clemson University;
(4) Infestation or Infected Plant: The
presence of any plant pest which is regarded as injurious;
(5) Certifying Agency: An officially
recognized inspecting or certifying agency whose standards have been determined
by the Director to conform to the standards contained in this
Section;
(6) Certified Tobacco
Plants for Transplanting: Plants which have been tagged or labeled so as to
indicate that such plants have been grown under the certification procedures of
the certifying agency;
(7)
Certificate of Inspection: An official tag or label of the officially
recognized or certifying agency indicating that the plants have been inspected
by an authorized agent of such agency and found to conform to the appropriate
standards as established by law and these regulations;
(8) Standards: As applied to tobacco plants,
standards shall include freedom from injurious insects, diseases, nematodes,
and other pests or the damage caused by same;
(9) Scientific Permit: A document issued by
the Director, or his designee, to allow the movement of tobacco plants, not
otherwise eligible for entry, for experimental or scientific
purposes;
(10) Inspector: Any
authorized employee or agent of the State Crop Pest Commission or any other
person authorized by the Director to enforce the provisions of these
regulations.
B. Unlawful
Use or Distribution of Plants
(1) No person,
firm, company, partnership or corporation shall pack, transport, sell or offer
for sale, ship or bring into or plant in this state any tobacco plants produced
out of state unless such plants are certified tobacco plants;
(2) Only certified tobacco plants shall be
sold or offered for sale in South Carolina.
C. Infested Plants
Any tobacco plants in South Carolina, whether or not
accompanied by a certificate of inspection, found infested with or damaged by
injurious pests, are infested plants and are hereby declared a public nuisance
and may be returned to the shipper, treated, destroyed or otherwise disposed of
by the inspector.
Stop Sale or Use Notice
(1) Any inspector of the South Carolina
Department of Plant Industry shall have the authority to issue a "Stop Sale,
Seizure Order" when any tobacco plants are found to be or suspected to be
infested or not grown and inspected as required by any provision of law or
these regulations;
(2) It shall be
unlawful for any person, after receipt of such "Stop Sale, Seizure Order", to
remove such notice from plants or from any location to which attached; or to
sell, give away, move, plant or exchange such plants until so authorized by an
inspector.
D.
Disposition of Plants in Violation
Plants on which a "Stop Sale, Seizure Order" has been issued
shall be removed from any sales area as not to be exposed for sale. The
inspector may, when it is deemed advisable, require plants in violation to be
returned to shipper, treated, destroyed, or otherwise disposed of.
E. Standards
(1) All tobacco plants shall meet the
requirements of all applicable state and federal plant pest
quarantines;
(2) All certified
tobacco plants distributed, shipped, and offered for sale in South Carolina
shall meet the following requirements:
(a) the
soil in the beds in which the plants are to be grown shall be fumigated under
plastic cover with methyl bromide (minimum 60 percent in formulation at the
rate indicated on the label for tobacco transplant beds);
(b) all out-of-state plants shall be
field-inspected a maximum of five days prior to their being shipped to South
Carolina; all in-state tobacco plants shall be field inspected a maximum of
five days prior to being offered for sale;
(c) all plants shall be found apparently free
from all injurious plant pests including but not limited to insects, diseases,
and nematodes;
(d) special emphasis
shall be made to ensure that the plants are apparently free of black shank,
Granville wilt, Fusarium wilt, blue mold, virus diseases and root knot
nematodes;
(e) to aid in ensuring
apparent freedom from injurious plant pests, the grower shall make full use of
all compatible and approved pest control practices during the growing of the
transplants;
(f) plants must be
field inspected by regulatory officials in the state of origin and approved and
certified as being free from injurious pests;
(g) each container of plants must be marked
with a certificate of inspection bearing a declaration of certification,
variety, plants per bundle and plants per container;
(h) each load of certified plants shall be
accompanied by a master permit showing: Consignee, Consignor, Date of Issuance,
Place of Issuance, Number of Containers for which issued;
(i) all tobacco plants not bearing valid
certificates of the state of origin are subject to confiscation.
F. Penalties
Any person or firm who shall violate these regulations shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction will be punished in
accordance with Section
46-9-90,
S. C. Code of Laws (1976) as amended.
