Forest nursery activities

Applicants who wish to pursue this activity must register the business activity, and have the appropriate legal status.

Legal entities and natural persons involved in the production, marketing or import of forest reproductive material in the Republic of Slovenia and who have at their disposal the land, facilities, machinery or equipment necessary to trade as a supplier, and that provide a professional qualified to trade as a supplier, may be entered in the register of suppliers.

Suppliers who are natural persons may simultaneously be the responsible qualified professional if they meet the conditions of professional competence. Suppliers that are entered in the register of suppliers may obtain seed material, parts of plants and plants from natural regeneration only from seed establishments that are approved by the Slovenian Forestry Institute and entered in the register of seed establishments.

Details

Reproductive material may be marketed if it is of fair quality, in particular as regards its size, health and other general characteristics.

Parts of plants and planting stock are considered healthy if they meet the following conditions:

• they have been subject to a professional health inspection at least twice a year, the first time between 1 June and 31 July and the second time between 1 September and 31 October, including an inspection of the surroundings within 100 metres of the establishment where they are produced,
• they are produced in conditions without the presence of Phytophthora (Phytophthora spp.) on the list published and updated by the Slovenian Forestry Institute on its website,
• on the basis of a visual inspection, they are free from harmful organisms or free from any signs or symptoms of the presence of harmful organisms that affect their quality or usefulness,
• they are undamaged and free from other defects that may affect their quality or usefulness.

In the event of the presence of listed phytophthora (Phytophthora spp.) or of visible signs or symptoms of harmful organisms or damage affecting the quality or usefulness of parts of plants or planting stock, the supplier must inform the Slovenian Forestry Institute and the forestry inspector, who, working with the institute and in accordance with the regulations governing forest reproductive material, sets out measures for appropriate treatment, or for disposal of the stock if treatment is not possible.

Evidence

• Competent inspector’s records of compliance with the prescribed conditions for the land, facilities, machinery and equipment.
• Evidence of the absence of phytophthora (Phytophthora) in soil, substrate and water. The list of phytophthora species whose presence is prohibited at establishments is published and updated by the Slovenian Forestry Institute on its website. Only species with a known negative impact on forest stands are included in the list of phytophthora.

Legal basis

• Forest Reproductive Material Act (ZGRM)
• Act Amending the Forest Reproductive Material Act (ZGRM-A)
• "Rules on conditions for entry in the register of suppliers and other obligations of suppliers and requirements for the marketing of forest reproductive material"

In order to ensure the traceability of the reproductive material, a master certificate of identity is issued to the supplier for each lot in the seed establishment obtained from seed materials, parts of plants or plants from natural regeneration. In order to ensure its identity at all stages of production and marketing, for each quantity of reproductive material marketed or transported between individual units of production, the supplier issues a document consisting of:

1. the supplier’s document number,
2. the certificate of identity and quality of the forest reproductive material,
3. the plant passport, when plant health regulations so provide, and
4. the form for recording consumption and stocks.

Master certificates of identity of reproductive material are issued by the Slovenian Forestry Institute.

Seed units must be packed in packaging that allows for the maintenance of fair marketable quality, and prevents dispersion or scattering during storage, transportation and handling. The supplier must package seed materials that are being marketed by using a sealing device that becomes unserviceable when the package is opened.

Many types of seed materials must be physically separated from one another during storage, during all stages of processing and during marketing. Each unit must be marked with a label containing the following information, at a minimum:

1. the name or business name of the supplier who packed or processed it,
2. the botanical name,
3. the quantity,
4. the lot number or, in the case of marketing, the number of the supplier’s document,
5. the date of packaging or start of processing.

In the storage and marketing of seed materials, the label referred to in the previous paragraph is fixed on the interior and exterior of each packaging unit. Any period of more than 3 months in which the materials are held is considered to be storage of seed materials.

Planting stock and plant parts being marketed must be bundled. The bundle is the smallest unit of packaging intended for marketing, and contains only planting stock or parts of plants of the same lot. When a quality class is prescribed, each bundle contains only planting stock or parts of plants of the same quality class. The method of bundling must be such as to prevent dispersion and to allow the affixing of the prescribed labelling. Each bundle must be clearly labelled with the number of the supplier’s document.

When the same supplier’s document is issued for several bundles, a sequential number is also cited on the label of each bundle. When planting stock or parts of plants of several lots are produced in the same nursery area or are transported, imported, supplied, divided, delivered, etc., together, the supplier must ensure their physical separation as lots.

Suppliers growing planting stock must maintain and regularly update (at least twice a year) a production plan for each production site, consisting of a map plotting the nursery areas (fields, beds) and records of the cultivation of the planting stock.

Evidence

• the certificate of identity and quality of the forest reproductive material,
• the plant passport, when plant health regulations so provide,
• the form for recording consumption and stocks,
• the number of the supplier’s document,
• the name or business name of the supplier who packed or processed it,
• the botanical name,
• the quantity of seed materials,
• the lot number or, in the case of marketing, the number of the supplier’s document.

Legal basis

• Forest Reproductive Material Act (ZGRM)
• Act Amending the Forest Reproductive Material Act (ZGRM-A)
• "Rules on conditions for entry in the register of suppliers and other obligations of suppliers and requirements for the marketing of forest reproductive material"
• Rules on certificates and master certificates for forest reproductive material

The supplier must keep regular records of the production, storage, stocks, sale and purchase of reproductive material, of the measures taken to control harmful organisms and of the measures for eliminating or reducing the presence of listed phytophthora (Phytophthora spp.).

By 31 January of each year, suppliers must submit to the ministry an annual report on their marketing of reproductive material supplied to end users in the territory of the Republic of Slovenia in the previous calendar year, containing the following information:

• the number and date of issue of the supplier’s document,
• the recipient,
• the botanical name,
• how it was grown,
• the quantity,
• the number of the master certificate of identity.

When the reproductive material being marketed is intended for a recipient outside the territory of the Republic of Slovenia, the supplier must provide the ministry with a copy of the certificate within 1 month of delivery.

Evidence

Annual report on the marketing of reproductive material in the previous calendar year, containing the following information:

• the number and date of issue of the supplier’s document,
• the recipient,
• the botanical name,
• how it was grown,
• the quantity,
• the number of the master certificate of identity.

The supplier must add the following supporting documents:

• on the production, storage, stocks, sale and purchase of reproductive material,
• on measures taken to control harmful organisms and measures taken to remove or reduce the presence of listed phytophthora (Phytophthora spp.).

Legal basis

• Forest Reproductive Material Act (ZGRM)
• Act Amending the Forest Reproductive Material Act (ZGRM-A)
• "Rules on conditions for entry in the register of suppliers and other obligations of suppliers and requirements for the marketing of forest reproductive material"