For commercial tomato and pepper seed entering the United States, check the official phytosanitary documents before ordering. A third-party seed-health report cannot replace the phytosanitary certificate and required additional declaration described in the current APHIS ToBRFV FAQ. The permit question must be checked separately.
The FAQ states that commercial tomato and pepper seed consignments do not need a permit, while its separate obscured-seed branch uses the PPQ 587 Obscured Seed Permit route and still requires the phytosanitary certificate. Confirm which branch applies to the actual seed format and shipment rather than treating either statement as a rule for all seed imports.
Assign each document to the party that can provide it
The APHIS ToBRFV Federal Import Order FAQ, modified 20 March 2026, covers tomato, Solanum lycopersicum, and pepper, Capsicum species. For the commercial-seed question here, it requires an official phytosanitary certificate with the specified statement from the exporting country’s National Plant Protection Organization, or NPPO.
A laboratory supplies testing information within its role. The exporting NPPO determines its requirements for issuing the certificate and the required declaration. Ask the supplier which organization will issue the official document and how the order and lots will be linked to it.
| Record | What to establish before dispatch |
|---|---|
| Laboratory seed-health report | Its connection to the ordered lot and its role in the exporting authority’s process. It is not a replacement certificate. |
| Official phytosanitary certificate and additional declaration | The responsible exporting NPPO, applicable requirement and actual document covering the consignment. |
| Permit determination | The current requirement for the commodity, purpose, origin and seed format, including the obscured-seed branch where applicable. |
| Seed analysis certificate or export label | Whether separately required. Its presence does not replace the phytosanitary document. |
| Re-export documentation | Which authority and document apply when origin and exporting location differ. |
APHIS’s phytosanitary-certificate definition concerns specified phytosanitary import requirements. It should not be read as a universal guarantee that the seed is free from every possible pathogen or will produce an acceptable nursery crop.
A “tested” seed offer can still have a document gap
Consider a hypothetical commercial tomato-seed order. The supplier sends a third-party laboratory report and says the seed is ready to ship. The importer has not identified the issuing NPPO or received confirmation of the official phytosanitary certificate and additional declaration.
The missing step is not another claim that the seed was tested. Ask who will obtain the required official document, which lots it will cover and when it will be available. Do not treat the laboratory attachment as closing that row in the order file.
In a second hypothetical order, the material is supplied in a format whose status under the obscured-seed provisions is unclear. The buyer should resolve the classification and permit route with the appropriate official source before dispatch. The general commercial-consignment statement should not be used to bypass that separate question.
These are document-planning examples, not assessments of an actual seed lot or permissions to import.
Check the actual commodity, origin and route
APHIS’s current import guide, modified 29 July 2026, directs users to Agricultural Commodity Import Requirements, or ACIR, because requirements vary with commodity and origin. Record the actual botanical crop, commercial purpose, country of origin, exporting country and seed format before making that check.
The ToBRFV FAQ’s coverage of material from all countries does not establish that every proposed shipment meets every other applicable requirement. Retain the current commodity-and-origin result and any question requiring official clarification. No shipment-specific ACIR determination has been performed for the examples in this article.
If origin and exporting country differ, ask how the re-export requirements apply. The FAQ includes a specific re-export situation; do not assume the first country’s laboratory report or certificate automatically completes the later shipment’s documents.
Also keep the commodity straight. The 2024 change removing the order’s tomato and pepper fruit requirements did not remove its propagative-material requirements. News about fruit imports should not be used to clear a commercial seed order.
Put the document deadline before the dispatch deadline
Ask the supplier and importer to agree when each required document must be available for checking. Retain the order and lot identifiers, the authority responsible, and the person who will reconcile the document with the actual consignment. An informal promise to supply it later leaves the order unresolved.
Do not assume a missing declaration can be replaced by testing at the U.S. port. The APHIS FAQ requires the specified documentation on arrival. Keep any separate seed-analysis or export-label requirements in the file too; separate documents may serve separate purposes.
This article does not cover research or diagnostic exceptions, live-plant import pathways or other crops. If the intended purpose changes, return to the current official requirements for that purpose rather than adapting this commercial-seed record.
Use a responsibility map before committing the order
Start with the consignment context card, then complete the document responsibility map. Both are manual planning worksheets with no automatic admissibility result. Complete the shipment identity and current APHIS/ACIR check fields first. Then assign each official document, permit determination where applicable, and remaining record to its responsible party.
Write the required-before-dispatch date and retain the qualified confirmation for any unresolved issue. Connect the expected arrival only after that work to the nursery sowing and delivery calendar. A planned production date cannot substitute for import documentation.
Return the open rows to the supplier and responsible import specialist before ordering or dispatch. Recheck the official rules for the actual shipment. The completed map prepares a reviewable document package; APHIS and the relevant authorities retain the actual import decisions.
Official sources checked 2 October 2026. This is a bounded U.S. commercial tomato-and-pepper seed document guide, not a certificate, completed permit application or shipment clearance.
