"Essjay001" wrote in message
...
You may bring back no more than:
2 kg of fruit and
cut flowers and foliage together forming a single bouquet and
five retail packets of seeds (but not seeds of potatoes)

I do agree this could be interpreted both ways as naturally harvested seed
is not explicitly mentioned in the above, but the spirit of the document
seems to be that the above is *the only* plant produce you may bring from
outside the Europe. Therefore Acer seed taken from a tree is illegal. I
presume the 'retail packets' of seeds is intended to ensure that the seed
has been screened and certified healthy but it may be that there is a
loophole here if your friend in Japan put the seeds in an envelope and sold
them to you?

I don't think this is easily enforcable though and may be just so much hot
air as I doubt anyone would detect seed sent through the postal service. If
the seed can get in that way then what's the point of trying to stop it
anywhere else? The security is only as strong as its weakest link and at the
moment that's pretty damn weak.

The document also uses the phrase 'shows no sign of pest or disease'. If
something has a virus then it could well be hidden. Also the fact that you
can bring in cut flowers and foliage ( which could then be rooted as
cuttings) but not rooted plants makes me suspect that the rules are more to
protect against pests rather than diseases.

Martin