New Zealand customs

[Philocacti]

If I send a small package with cacti cuttings to New Zealand and the customs won't let it through. Will they send it back or will they destroy it?

[hostilis]

Here in the US if you don't have a phytosanitary certificate and CITES certificate then they will destroy it. I had like 7 12-17cm lophophora destroyed by customs and they just sent me a letter. Pissed me off. But i'm not sure if they do it differently in New Zealand.

[bogfrog]

Generally they will send the importer a letter notifying them that the item is prohibited entry to nz and then they will offer the options of paying $40+ dollars to send it back to the return address or don't respond and they will destroy the item "on your behalf".

That's how it's been for seeds alteast, I'm pretty sure that's the general process for all prohibited entry but non explicitly-illegal items.

[Philocacti]

I just sent three cuttings and 2 seedlings to New Zealand and thought if they won't let the package through they'd send it back to me. Guess I'm screwed if they find out that the package has cacti in it

[Nailthesnail]

I imagine you'll be alright unless its lophophora

[bogfrog]

If its stopped they will contact the importer, not you and offer them the choice I mentioned above.

If they are rare and special then contact your recipient and ask if they'd pay for the return postage if they don't make it.

Also, it's considered the importers problem if there are prohibited items, so they will be the ones getting a slap on the wrist if they are stopped. Just a warning the first couple times, so I have heard, I have never imported live plants.

But then I have a mate who imported variegated lophophora from Thailand with papers and it came through fine, was checked and everything. Who knows how it all works.

[hostilis]

Yeah, That package that I had destroyed with the lophophora in it also had other plants in it that weren't prohibited
and they just destroyed everything. But i'm guessing since it had lophophora in it they just were thinking screw it and destroyed everything. Those ass holes. I guess the san fransisco customs considers every lophophora species to be prohibited which is bullshit. I'm not a big fan of customs if you can't tell.

[Nailthesnail]

Hard customs is so downer. They should focus on drugs, and prohibited goods instead of plants of peace and divinity

[dawnbeaver]

While although I would, naturally, never do anything illegal... I have heard that people importing seeds and live cacti into NZ have rarely had their parcels opened, even when marked "seeds" and "horticultural supplies". This may depend on where the package comes from and of course if you have some sort of "red flag" by your name.

I've not heard of anyone actually prosecuted for say, importing a few loph seeds... But I imagine if customs found something like cannabis (marijawana) seeds it would be a different story.

[hostilis]

Even here in the US they don't persecute for cannabis seeds. The seeds aren't illegal unless they actually have the illegal alkaloids present in them.

[solaritea]

Hostilis,

All Lophophora are prohibited in California. From erowid:

California law states that "every person who plants, cultivates, harvests, dries, or processes any plant of the genus Lophophora, also known as peyote, or any part thereof shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for a period of not more than one year or the state prison." (Health & Safety Code:Ch.6,Art.3,Sec.11363) This is notable because the wording includes the entire Lophophora genus, not just Lophophora williamsii.

[Philocacti]

Thanks for the input

The package doesn't contain any lophophora in it. Only 2 TBM cuttings ( 1 long type, 1 melted wax) and 1 cutting of Zeus (Micheal IDed Zeus as T. Pachanoi and bit ID it as T. Argentenises), 1 SS01XTPM seedling, 1 Psycho0 X T.cuz seedling. I labeled them all.

When I said I'm screwed, I didn't mean legally but I meant if they destroyed the specimen.

So hopefully it'll pass through.

I've sent several cuttings to the states with no papers and they all passed through without any problems. I'll update this thread when I find out if it got through or not.

[Nailthesnail]

I reckon you'll be fine bro, I doubt they will destroy them it seems silly. If they are to become seized he has 20 days to appeal before they will destroy them.

[solomon]

all of those apart from Zeus are already growing in NZ even if they don't make it..

Maybe not the long limb TBM, at least that I have seen

what Ceres said is true, if they snap seeds and also applies if they find live plants/cuttings..

Edited December 27, 2013 by solomon

[Dreamwalker.]

Hostilis,

All Lophophora are prohibited in California. From erowid:

California law states that "every person who plants, cultivates, harvests, dries, or processes any plant of the genus Lophophora, also known as peyote, or any part thereof shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for a period of not more than one year or the state prison." (Health & Safety Code:Ch.6,Art.3,Sec.11363) This is notable because the wording includes the entire Lophophora genus, not just Lophophora williamsii.

you guys have the highest incarceration rate in the world.................they'll put in in prison for anything there.............unless your a bankster skewing the peasants for billions..........

[Foo]

Dont have it sent back to you if its a prohibited import into your state. I can only imagine the troubles youd get into if there is an issue getting it back into the country. There are laws on export of many of these plants as well.

[hostilis]

Yeah dreamwalker. All these horrible billionaires profit off hurting billions of people and they are running the country (Like most countries, except maybe iceland) but people like me get thrown in jail over plants. Trust me, I know this. I've been fucked around over and over by the "justice system" here. It's very fucked and I wish to get away from here.

Edited December 29, 2013 by hostilis

[Philocacti]

Dont have it sent back to you if its a prohibited import into your state. I can only imagine the troubles youd get into if there is an issue getting it back into the country. There are laws on export of many of these plants as well.

All cacti are legal where live ;)

Still did hear a word from the guy in New Zealand

[hostilis]

Even if they're legal though it can still be a prohibited import/export without proper certifications. At least that's how it works here.

Edited December 29, 2013 by hostilis

[Dreamwalker.]

.

Edited October 10, 2014 by Dreamwalker.

[Philocacti]

I guess I'm ok. Even if we have laws about stuff like that, none really knows them. Even people working in the post office. I guess that's the beauty of living in a 3rd world country.

A friend ordered a gps and the customs didn't let it in as it's against the law, somehow. So from the customs office he to send it to a friend in Europe and wrote a return address. Funny thing the friend in Europe changed his address so they sent the gps to the return address and it passed through :D

[Philocacti]

.

Edited January 6, 2014 by Philocacti

[Dreamwalker.]

////////////////////// good point

 

Edited January 10, 2014 by Dreamwalker

[Philocacti]

Done but you quoting my post is still there ;)

Edited January 6, 2014 by Philocacti

[eiac]

Few things about NZ customs:

-When it comes to flora, fauna and animals travelling in OR out of the country, they are VERY strict. Importing seeds generally requires permits to do so for just about anything.

-All members of the loph genus are considered prohibited plants under the Misuse of Drugs Act, carrying the same charges as cannabis plants. Seeds, cuttings, pollen, flowers; any part of the plant falls into this category.

-Importer is held responsible, not the shipper.

-A few years ago (2008 and earlier), importing cannabis seeds wasn't too hard. Now the siezure rates are so high, many seed companies refuse to ship to NZ. I known of several people who have had cops come to their house with a warrant following parcel seizure of cannabis seeds.

-NZ has a somewhat delicate ecosystem - there's no snakes here, no native land mammals (all of them are introduced and considered pests) and many species of birds/plants only found in NZ.

Over 30% of our GDP comes from the dairy/lamb industry.

Some introduced mite or disease could seriously fuck up the country. It's already happening now, with the varroa mite destroying honey bee populations. (Honey was $5/kg in 2010. Now it's $18/kg)

Due to this, such laws are taken very seriously and are not at all punished with a slap on the wrist - if the intent of wrongdoing is there, expect persicutors to want to make an example of any offender.

To sum it up, dont fuck with NZ customs.