9.—(1) An application to lodge a copy of a document to which paragraph (2) applies may be made to the Department by a registered person.
(2) This paragraph applies—
(a)in relation to a crop produced in Northern Ireland, to a field inspection report issued under regulation 8(9), (10), (11) or (12);
(b)in relation to a crop produced in the United Kingdom elsewhere than in Northern Ireland, to a report relating to the crop equivalent to that specified in sub-paragraph (a) issued—
(i)by or on behalf of the Secretary of State, the Scottish Ministers or the National Assembly for Wales, or
(ii)by a licensed crop inspector;
(c)in relation to a crop produced in another member State, to an Annex V(C) document relating to the crop issued by or on behalf of the competent seed certification authority in the member State.
(3) An application made under this regulation—
(a)shall be made in such form and manner as the Department may require;
(b)shall be made within such time as the Department may require but, unless otherwise permitted by the Department, shall be made not later than the time when any seed test report relating to the seed harvested from the crop is lodged with the Department under regulation 12;
(c)shall subject to paragraph (4) be accompanied—
(i)in relation to a crop produced in Northern Ireland, by a copy of the document referred to in paragraph (2)(a);
(ii)in relation to a crop produced in the United Kingdom elsewhere than in Northern Ireland, by a copy of the document referred to in paragraph (2)(b) except that this need not be provided in a case where confirmation that the crop meets the conditions for the production of the appropriate category of seed has already been provided to the Department by or on behalf of the Secretary of State, the Scottish Ministers or the National Assembly for Wales (as the case may be);
(iii)in relation to a crop produced in another member State, by a copy of the document referred to in paragraph (2)(c); and
(iv)by such other information and documents as the Department may require.
(4) The Department may permit, subject to any conditions that the Department may impose, an application made under this regulation relating to a crop for which the applicant previously made an application under regulation 8(3) to be accompanied by the following document instead of the field inspection report issued under regulation 8(10) or 8(12), namely a document relating to the crop (whether relating to that crop alone or relating to other crops (including that crop) in respect of which an application has been made by the applicant under regulation 8(3))—
(a)that states, by reference to the relevant category, the conditions met by that crop;
(b)that identifies the licensed crop inspector or inspectors who inspected the crop;
(c)that states that during a period of three years from the date of issue of the field inspection report, the original report will be produced to the Department on demand and that a copy of the report will be made available to the Department on request during that period; and
(d)that contains such other information as the Department may require.
(5) Where a document of the type specified in paragraph (4) accompanies an application made under this regulation instead of a field inspection report, the applicant shall produce the field inspection report referred to in paragraph (3) to the Department on demand during the period of three years from the date of the issue of the field inspection report and shall make a copy of the report available to the Department on request during that period.