(a) General.
  (1) Each regulated article sold, distributed or transported within this state or grown for the purpose of sale or distribution shall have attached to the article, or to the container in which the article is planted, a waterproof tag or label upon which is legibly printed in permanent lettering the words "Produced in Texas" or "Produced in TX" and the Texas Nursery/Floral certificate number of the business location where the regulated article was produced for sale or distribution.
  (2) Unless satisfactory records that readily identify the articles as having been produced in Texas are provided, the absence of a tag or label required by this subsection creates a non-rebuttable presumption that the regulated article is a quarantined article and shall be destroyed in accordance with the applicable provisions of §71.0091 of the Code.
  (3) A regulated article with a tag or label required by this subsection that is determined by the inspector or other agent of the Department to have not been produced at the Texas business location represented by the registration number on the tag or label shall be seized and may be destroyed pursuant to §21.10(g) of this chapter (relating to Record Keeping; Rebuttable Presumption and Seizure), in accordance with the applicable provisions of §71.0091 of the Code.
  (4) The presence of a tag or label attached to a citrus plant, or to a container in which the citrus plant is planted, that states that the citrus plant did not originate in Texas, including "product of," "produced in," "originated in," or "grown in" any geographic area outside of Texas, creates a non-rebuttable presumption that the citrus plant is in violation of this section and shall be destroyed in accordance with the applicable provisions of §71.0091 of the Code.
(b) Citrus plants intended for sale or distribution must have attached to each article or to the container in which the article is planted, a waterproof tag or label clearly identifying in permanent lettering the application date of the soil drench or in-ground granular systemic insecticide mandated in this section as "TREATMENT DATE: MM/DD/YYYY." The date format may be provided in another format such as 01AUG2017 or AUG012017 that identifies the date of the required pre-shipment soil drench or soil incorporated treatment.
(c) Each failure to comply with a requirement of this section constitutes a separate violation for which an administrative penalty may be assessed and each day a violation continues or occurs may be considered a separate violation.
(d) Exemptions.
  (1) Identification. In lieu of identification tags during production, a nursery may develop a regulated article identification plan, as approved by the Department that defines procedures and methods used to identify the regulated articles under production at the location. Identification tags, as provided in this section, will be required once the regulated articles are sold or distributed.
  (2) Citrus nursery stock grown in a certified citrus nursery in accordance with Subchapter D of this chapter, is exempt from the labeling requirements in subsection (b) of this section when the citrus nursery stock:
    (A) is sold, moved or distributed to another certified citrus nursery; or
    (B) is intended for planting for commercial fruit production.
  (3) Budwood.
    (A) The original propagation record identifying the source tree of budwood must be maintained as required in §21.10 of this chapter (relating to Record Keeping; Rebuttable Presumption; and Seizure) and made available to the Department upon request to verify the tree was produced in Texas.
    (B) The labeling of budwood for sale is specified in §21.33 of this chapter (relating to Labeling and Handling of Budwood Produced in Foundation Block).
  (4) Retail buyers and end users are exempt from the requirements of this section.

Source Note: The provisions of this §21.9 adopted to be effective March 22, 2018, 43 TexReg 1629