Seed harvester licence conditions for whole protected plants

A sample of the licence conditions for a seed harvester licence for whole protected plants. Conditions may be added or removed in specific circumstances.

Licence conditions

1. Unless stated otherwise, words and expressions used in this licence have the same meaning as those set out in the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016.
2. Under Section 2.14 of the Biodiversity Conservation Act, it is an offence to contravene or fail to comply with a condition of this licence.
3. Licences cannot be transferred to third parties.
4. In this licence:
   1. ‘licensee’ means the person named as the licensee and persons working on behalf of the licensee
   2. ‘the department’ means the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
   3. ‘NPWS’ means the National Parks and Wildlife Service
   4. ‘WPMP’ means Whole Plant Sustainable Management Plan 2023–2027: commercial harvest, salvage and propagation of protected whole plants
   5. ‘authorised officer’ means an officer of the Department.

General

5. The licensee may only harvest seeds from the species of plants specified on this licence.
6. The licensee may only harvest the quantities of seeds specified on this licence.
7. The licensee may only harvest seeds from the land specified on this licence.
8. It is the responsibility of the applicant to confirm the identification of the species that they intend to harvest seed from. PlantNet NSW Flora Online (the plant information network Royal Botanic Gardens) can assist; but where this is in doubt the species should be formally identified through a recognised authority such as the NSW Herbarium.
9. The licensee must comply with all licence requirements as documented in the Whole Plant Sustainable Management Plan 2023–2027, as amended or replaced from time to time.
10. When requested, the licensee shall produce the licence to an authorised officer or owner, occupier or lessee of the land specified on the licence.
11. Any place where seeds are to be picked, stored or processed are to be made available for inspection on request by an authorised officer.
12. The licensee shall produce the licence to all who buy or receive seeds from this license.
13. Where the licensee has a retail or wholesale outlet, a copy of the licence must be available on request by an authorised officer. It is recommended the licence be displayed at the point of sale.
14. Receipts for all sales will be made and those records will be kept for the term of the licence. The licensee will make these receipts available for inspection on request from an authorised officer.
15. This licence does not authorise the deal in of plant products cultivated from seed collected under this licence; a growers licence is required to deal in (possess, sell and trade) plants cultivated.

Sustainable management

16. Seed harvesting, collection, processing and use should be undertaken using best-practice standards outlined in the florabank guidelines.
17. Collecting seeds must not impact the viability of the individual plants or populations or adversely affect the long-term survival of the source individual plant or population, specifically:
    1. unless specific information about the safe collecting limits for a species are known, a collection limit of a maximum of 20% of the available seed should be used
    2. seeds must be collected from multiple plants over as wide an area as possible
    3. seed collection methods must be carried out in a manner that minimises damage to all target and non-target plant species.
18. Collecting any other regenerative plant material that can be used in cultivation is not permitted under a seed harvest licence.

Plant tags

19. NPWS tags are required for all wild harvest plant products. Licenses must apply to the NPWS local office for plant tags for the amount specified in this licence only.
20. Plant tags are not transferable and must be used in association with the licensee only.
21. Plant tags must be:
    1. permanently attached to the seed product/package
    2. state they ‘wild harvested/bush picked’ or ‘plantation grown’
    3. scientific name of species
    4. have description of plant origin or species
    5. have a unique tag number.

Monitoring

22. The licensee must establish a program/s to monitor harvest sustainability which may include:
    1. establishing fixed photographic monitoring points over representative sections of the harvest site/s
    2. an accurate map (+/- 10 m) with geographical coordinates of harvest sites and monitoring plots
    3. photographs taken immediately before and after picking at each site
    4. detailed description of species and numbers of plants before and the harvest operation.
23. Licensees must follow the hygiene, harvest, transport and holding protocols provided with their application and approved by NPWS.

Record Keeping

24. The monitoring program/plots/photographs must be provided to the NPWS local office no later than 28 days at the completion of the harvest operation and/or upon the expiration of the licence.
25. No licence renewal or new licence will be granted until monitoring conditions have been fulfilled and a report provided.
26. Harvest return records are to be submitted yearly. The licensee shall forward to the NPWS local office annual harvest records on the form provided no later than 28 days after the anniversary date of the licence.
27. No licence renewal or new licence will be granted until all the harvest returns have been submitted.
28. A seed harvester licence approves the picking, possessing and selling of seeds from protected native plants; a grower’s licence is required to grow and deal in plant material cultivated from the seeds acquired from the seed harvester licence.

Indemnity

27. The licensee agrees to indemnify, and keep indemnified, the Crown in right of NSW (the department), the NSW Minister administering the Biodiversity Conservation Act, the Environment Agency Head of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, and their employees, agents and contractors, in the absence of any wilful misconduct or negligence on their part, from and against all actions, demands, claims, proceedings, losses, damages, costs (including legal costs), charges or expenses suffered or incurred by them resulting from:
    1. any damage or destruction to any real or personal property
    2. injury suffered or sustained (including death) by any persons arising out of or in connection with the activities undertaken pursuant to this licence.