An order under this section may provide for excepting from a type or variety so specified any description of seeds defined in any manner and, in particular, any description of seeds defined by reference to the country or territory where they were grown or from which they have been consigned to the United Kingdom.

Without prejudice to the powers of exemption conferred by the last foregoing subsection, where it is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise that any seeds are being imported into the United Kingdom solely with a view to their re-exportation after transit through any part of the United Kingdom, or by way of trans-shipment, the Commissioners may, subject to such conditions as they think fit to impose for securing the re-exportation of the seeds, allow those seeds to be imported as if this section did not apply to them.

Subject to any exceptions prescribed under subsection (2) of this section and to the last foregoing subsection, all seeds to which this section applies are prohibited to be imported into the United Kingdom except under the authority, and in accordance with the terms, of a licence granted by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

A licence under this section may be, to any degree, general or specific and may be modified or revoked by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at any time.

An officer of Customs and Excise may require any person possessing or having control of any seeds to which this section applies which are being or have been imported to furnish proof that the importation of the seeds is or was not unlawful by virtue of this section; and if such proof is not furnished to the satisfaction of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise, then, unless the contrary is proved, the goods shall be deemed to be prohibited goods and shall be liable to forfeiture under the Customs and Excise Act 1952.

In this section "the Ministers " means the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Secretary of State concerned with agriculture in Northern Ireland, acting jointly.

This section shall extend to Northern Ireland and be construed as one with the Customs and Excise Act 1952.

This section shall have effect for the purpose of maintaining the purity of seed of any types and varieties of plants of any species of the genus Allium, Beta or Brassica.

The Minister may by order bring this section into force in an area in any part of Great Britain in which persons are engaged in growing crops of seeds of any type or variety of plant mentioned in subsection (1) of this section if he is satisfied that in that area satisfactory arrangements (whether legally enforceable or not) have been made for locating such crops so as to isolate them from crops or plants which might cause injurious cross-pollination.

If the person served with a notice under this section does not comply with any requirement in the notice, the Minister may enter and do what that person has failed to do or, if in the opinion of the Minister that would no longer serve the purpose for which the notice was served, may take such other action as appears to the Minister appropriate for that purpose; and where, when the default occurs, further obligations remain under the notice, the Minister may also take such action as appears to him appropriate to meet the purposes for which those further obligations were imposed.

The Minister may recover from the person on whom the notice was served a sum equal to the reasonable cost incurred by the Minister in taking any action under this subsection.

A person duly authorised by the Minister may, on production if so required of his authority, at all reasonable hours enter on any land (but not into any dwellinghouse) in an area where this section is in force for the purpose of ascertaining whether controlled crops or plants are growing on the land or of inspecting and taking samples of any controlled crops or plants growing on the land.

A notice under this section or Schedule 7 to this Act may be served by leaving it at, or sending it by post addressed to, the last known address of the person on whom it is to be served, and if it is not practicable after reasonable inquiry to ascertain his name and address, the notice may be served by addressing it to him as " the occupier " of the land and affixing it or a copy of it to some conspicuous object on the land.

A person who obstructs or impedes a person acting in the exercise of the powers conferred by subsection (6) or subsection (8) of this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.