(a) Interagency certification as allowed by the Federal Seed Act.
  (1) Interagency certification of a variety by Texas shall not be construed as meaning the variety is necessarily approved for certification under the Texas requirements.
  (2) A $200 fee will be assessed and must be paid for each lot of seed on which interagency certification is requested.
  (3) Seed to be recognized for interagency certification must be received in containers carrying official certification labels, or if shipped for conditioning, evidence of its eligibility from another official certifying agency, together with the following information (forms are available from the Seed Quality Program for this purpose):
    (A) variety;
    (B) quantity of seed;
    (C) class of certified seed; and
    (D) inspection or lot number traceable to the previous certifying agency's records.
  (4) Each label used in interagency certification shall be serially numbered, or carry the certification identity number, and clearly identify the certifying agencies involved, and the variety, kind and class of certified seed.
(b) The State Seed and Plant Board reserves full power and authority to determine the eligibility of a variety for certification.
(c) The following must be made available to the board by the originator, developer, owner, or agent when certification is requested:
  (1) name of kind and variety;
  (2) a statement concerning the variety's origin and the breeding procedure used in its development including:
    (A) genealogy, including public and private varieties, lines, or clones used, and the breeding method;
    (B) details of subsequent stages of selection and multiplication;
    (C) type and frequency of variants during reproduction and multiplication. State how these variants may be identified; and
    (D) evidence on stability;
  (3) a detailed description of the morphological, physiological, and other characteristics of the plant and seed that distinguish it from other varieties. This must include the following:
    (A) special characteristics of the seed and of the plant as it passes through the seedling stage, flowering stage and fruiting stage. Description of the mature plant and comparison with similar commercially available varieties grown under the same conditions; and
    (B) a completed objective form for the crop as provided by the Seed Quality Program, if such form is available. The completed objective description form as provided by the U.S. Plant Variety Protection Office, if such form is available for the crop, may be used in lieu of the Texas form;
  (4) evidence of performance of the variety (date, graphs, charts, pictures, etc.) supporting the identity of the variety. If statements or claims are made concerning performance characteristics, such as yield, tolerance to insects or diseases, or lodging, there must be evidence to support such statements. Statistical analysis of data is encouraged;
  (5) a statement delineating the geographic area or areas of adaptation of the variety;
  (6) a statement on the plans and procedures of the maintenance of stock seed classes including the number of generations through which the variety may be multiplied;
  (7) a description of the manner in which the variety is constituted when a particular cycle of reproduction or multiplication is specified;
  (8) any additional restrictions on the variety, specified by the breeder with respect to geographic area of seed production, age of stand, or other factors affecting genetic purity; and
  (9) a sample of seed representative of the variety as marketed. The size shall be at least the size required in the specific commodity standard for laboratory analysis. For industrial hemp and vegetative material, the sample size shall be set by the certifying agency at the time of certification request.
(d) An application for approval of variety must be accompanied by a fee of $100.

Source Note: The provisions of this §10.2 adopted to be effective September 2, 1996, 21 TexReg 7955; amended to be effective September 1, 2003, 28 TexReg 7346; amended to be effective September 1, 2011, 36 TexReg 5348; amended to be effective January 1, 2016, 40 TexReg 9619; amended to be effective June 4, 2020, 45 TexReg 3618