Subdivision 1. Scope. The definitions in this section apply to this chapter.

Subd. 2. Biological control agent. "Biological control agent" means a parasite, predator, pathogen, or competitive organism intentionally released by humans for the purpose of biological control with the intent of causing a reduction of a host or prey population.

Subd. 3. Certificate. "Certificate" means a document authorized or prepared by a federal or state regulatory official that affirms, declares, or verifies that an article, plant, product, shipment, or other officially regulated item meets phytosanitary, nursery inspection, pest freedom, plant registration or certification, or other legal requirements.

Subd. 4. Certification. "Certification" means a regulatory official's act of affirming, declaring, or verifying compliance with phytosanitary, nursery inspection, pest freedom, plant registration or certification, or other legal requirements.

Subd. 5. Commissioner. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of agriculture or the commissioner's designated employee, representative, or agent.

Subd. 6. Compliance agreement. "Compliance agreement" means a written agreement between a person and a regulatory agency to achieve compliance with regulatory requirements.

Subd. 7. Conveyance. "Conveyance" is a means of transportation.

Subd. 8. Department. "Department" means the Department of Agriculture.

Subd. 9. Emergency regulation. "Emergency regulation" means a regulation placed in effect by the commissioner without prior public notice in order to take necessary and immediate regulatory action.

Subd. 10. Eradication. "Eradication" means elimination of a pest from a defined geographic area.

Subd. 11. Exotic species. "Exotic species" means a species that is not native to the area. Exotic species also means a species occurring outside its natural range.

Subd. 12. Harmful plant pest. "Harmful plant pest" means a plant pest that constitutes a significant threat to the agricultural, forest, or horticultural interests of Minnesota or the general environmental quality of the state.

Subd. 13. Infected. "Infected" means a plant that is:

(1) contaminated with pathogenic microorganisms;

(2) being parasitized;

(3) a host or carrier of an infectious, transmissible, or contagious pest; or

(4) so exposed to a plant listed in clause (1), (2), or (3) that one of those conditions can reasonably be expected to exist and the plant may also pose a risk of contamination to other plants or the environment.

Subd. 14. Infested. "Infested" means a plant has been overrun by plant pests, including weeds, or contains or harbors plant pests in a quantity that may threaten other plants.

Subd. 15. Invasive species. "Invasive species" means an exotic or nonnative species whose introduction and establishment causes, or may cause, economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.

Subd. 16. Mark. "Mark" means an official indicator affixed by the commissioner for purposes of identification or separation, to, on, around, or near, plants or plant material known or suspected to be infected with a plant pest. This includes, but is not limited to, paint, markers, tags, seals, stickers, tape, ribbons, signs, or placards.

Subd. 17. Nursery stock. "Nursery stock" means a plant intended for planting or propagation, including, but not limited to, trees, shrubs, vines, perennials, biennials, grafts, cuttings, and buds that may be sold for propagation, whether cultivated or wild, and all viable parts of these plants. Nursery stock does not include:

(1) field and forage crops;

(2) the seeds of grasses, cereal grains, vegetable crops, and flowers;

(3) vegetable plants, bulbs, or tubers;

(4) cut flowers, unless stems or other portions are intended for propagation;

(5) annuals; or

(6) Christmas trees.

Subd. 18. Owner. "Owner" includes, but is not limited to, the person with the legal right of possession, proprietorship of, or responsibility for the property or place where any of the articles regulated in this chapter are found, or the person who is in possession of, proprietorship of, or has responsibility for the regulated articles.

Subd. 19. Permit. "Permit" means a document issued by a regulatory official that allows the movement of any regulated item from one location to another in accordance with specified conditions or requirements and for a specified purpose.

Subd. 20. Person. "Person" means an individual, firm, corporation, partnership, association, trust, joint stock company, or unincorporated organization; the state; a state agency; or a political subdivision.

Subd. 21. Pest. "Pest" means any living agent capable of reproducing itself that causes or may potentially cause harm to plants or other biotic organisms.

Subd. 22. Phytosanitary certificate or export certificate. "Phytosanitary certificate" or "export certificate" means a document authorized or prepared by a duly authorized federal or state official that affirms, declares, or verifies that an article, nursery stock, plant, plant product, shipment, or any other officially regulated article meets applicable, legally established, plant pest regulations, including this chapter.

Subd. 23. Plant. "Plant" means a plant, plant product, plant part, or reproductive or propagative part of a plant, plant product, or plant part, including all growing media, packing material, or containers associated with the plant, plant part, or plant product.

Subd. 24. Plant pest. "Plant pest" includes, but is not limited to, an invasive species or any pest of plants, agricultural commodities, horticultural products, nursery stock, or noncultivated plants by organisms such as insects, snails, nematodes, fungi, viruses, bacterium, microorganisms, mycoplasma-like organisms, weeds, plants, and parasitic plants.

Subd. 25. Preclearance. "Preclearance" means an agreement between quarantine officials of exporting and importing states to pass plants, plant material, or other items through quarantine by allowing the exporting state to inspect the plants preshipment, rather than the importing state inspecting the shipment upon arrival.

Subd. 26. Public nuisance. "Public nuisance" means:

(1) a plant, appliance, conveyance, or article that is infested with plant pests that may cause significant damage or harm; or

(2) premises where a plant pest is found.

Subd. 27. Quarantine. "Quarantine" means an enforced isolation or restriction of free movement of plants, plant material, animals, animal products, or any article or material in order to treat, control, or eradicate a plant pest.

Subd. 28. Regulated article. "Regulated article" means any item, the movement of which is governed by quarantine or this chapter.

Subd. 29. Regulated nonquarantine pest. "Regulated nonquarantine pest" means a plant pest that has not been quarantined by state or federal agencies and whose presence in plants or articles may pose an unacceptable risk to nursery stock, other plants, the environment, or human activities.

Subd. 30. Significant damage or harm. "Significant damage" or "harm" means a level of adverse impact that results in economic damage, injury, or loss that exceeds the cost of control for a particular crop.

History: 2003 c 128 art 4 s 2; 2012 c 244 art 1 s 7