§ 106-277.9. Prohibitions.
§ 106‑277.9. Prohibitions.
It shall be unlawful for anyperson:
(1) To transport, tooffer for transportation, to sell, distribute, offer for sale or expose forsale within this State agricultural or vegetable seeds for seeding purposes:
a. Unless a seed licensehas been obtained in accordance with the provisions of this Article.
b. Unless the test todetermine the percentage of germination required by G.S. 106‑277.5through 106‑277.7 shall have been completed (i) on agricultural seedwithin a nine‑month period, exclusive of the calendar month in which thetest was completed, (ii) on cool season lawn seeds and mixtures of cool seasonlawn seeds, including, but not limited to, Kentucky bluegrass, red fescue,chewings fescue, hard fescue, tall fescue, perennial ryegrass, intermediateryegrass, annual ryegrass, colonial bent grass, and creeping bent grass, withina 15‑month period, exclusive of the calendar month in which the test wascompleted, and (iii) on vegetable seed within a 12‑month period,exclusive of the calendar month in which the test was completed, immediatelyprior to sale, exposure for sale, or offering for sale or transportation;provided, the North Carolina Board of Agriculture may adopt rules to designatea longer period for any kind of agricultural or vegetable seed which ispackaged in such container materials (hermetically sealed), and under suchother conditions prescribed, that will, during such longer period, maintain theviability of said seed under ordinary conditions of handling.
c. Not labeled inaccordance with the provisions of this Article or having a false or misleadinglabeling or claim.
d. Pertaining to whichthere has been a false or misleading advertisement.
e. Consisting of orcontaining prohibited noxious‑weed seeds.
f. Containingrestricted noxious‑weed seeds, except as prescribed by rules andregulations promulgated under this Article.
g. Containing weedseeds in excess of two percent (2%) by weight unless otherwise provided inrules and regulations promulgated under this Article.
h. That have beentreated and not labeled as required in this Article, or treated and notconspicuously colored.
i. Repealed by SessionLaws 2009‑455, s. 6, effective October 1, 2009.
j. To which there isaffixed names or terms that create a misleading impression as to the kind, kindand variety, history, productivity, quality or origin of the seeds.
k. Represented to becertified, registered or foundation seed unless it has been produced, processedand labeled in accordance with the procedures and in compliance with rules andregulations of an officially recognized certifying agency.
l. Represented to be ahybrid unless such seed conforms to the definition of a hybrid as defined inthis Article.
m. Unless it conforms tothe definition of a "lot."
n. Any variety, hybridor blend of seeds not recorded with the Commissioner as required under rulesand regulations promulgated pursuant to this Article.
o. Seed of any varietyor hybrid that has been found by official variety tests to be inferior,misrepresented or unsuited to conditions within the State. The Commissioner mayprohibit the sale or distribution of such seed by and with the advice of thedirector of research of the North Carolina agricultural experiment station.
p. Using a designationon seed tag in lieu of the full name and address of the person who labels ortags seed unless such designation qualifies as a code designation under thisArticle.
q. By variety name seednot certified by an official seed‑certifying agency when it is a varietyfor which a certificate of plant variety protection under the Plant VarietyProtection Act specifies sale only as a class of certified seed; provided, thatseed from a certified lot may be labeled as to variety name when used in amixture by, or with the approval of, the owner of the variety.
r. That employ a brandname on the label unless a variety or mixture of varieties is labeled asrequired in this Article. If a brand name other than a registered trademark isused, it must be a separate statement from the variety name or the statement ofa mixture, or blend, of genetic variations.
s. Labeled as a"blend" unless the lot complies with the definition of"blend" in G.S. 106‑277.2, and is registered with theCommissioner, as may be required in G.S. 106‑277.9(1)n. Other mechanicalcombinations of varieties shall be labeled as a mixture according to therequirements in G.S. 106‑277.5(1).
(2) To transport, offerfor transportation, sell, offer for sale, or expose for sale seeds, whole grainnot 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 andregulations promulgated hereunder, or to alter or substitute seed in any mannerthat defeats the purposes of this Article.
(4) To disseminate falseor misleading advertisement in any manner concerning agricultural seeds orvegetable seeds.
(5) To hinder orobstruct in any manner an authorized agent of the Commissioner in theperformance of his lawful duties.
(6) To fail to complywith 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 screeningsheld under a stop‑sale order unless authorized by the Commissioner.
(7) To use the name ofthe Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services or the results of tests andinspections made by the Department for advertising purposes.
(8) To use the words"type" or "trace" in lieu of information required by G.S.106‑277.4 through 106‑277.7.
(9) To label and offerfor sale seed under the scope of this Article without keeping complete recordsas specified in G.S. 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.)