2007 Minnesota Statutes

18G.02 DEFINITIONS.
    Subdivision 1. Scope. The definitions in this section apply to this chapter.
    Subd. 2. Biological control agent. "Biological control agent" means a parasite, predator,
pathogen, or competitive organism intentionally released by humans for the purpose of biological
control with the intent of causing a reduction of a host or prey population.
    Subd. 3. Certificate. "Certificate" means a document authorized or prepared by a federal or
state regulatory official that affirms, declares, or verifies that an article, plant, product, shipment,
or other officially regulated item meets phytosanitary, nursery inspection, pest freedom, plant
registration or certification, or other legal requirements.
    Subd. 4. Certification. "Certification" means a regulatory official's act of affirming,
declaring, or verifying compliance with phytosanitary, nursery inspection, pest freedom, plant
registration or certification, or other legal requirements.
    Subd. 5. Commissioner. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of agriculture or the
commissioner's designated employee, representative, or agent.
    Subd. 6. Compliance agreement. "Compliance agreement" means a written agreement
between a person and a regulatory agency to achieve compliance with regulatory requirements.
    Subd. 7. Conveyance. "Conveyance" is a means of transportation.
    Subd. 8. Department. "Department" means the Department of Agriculture.
    Subd. 9. Emergency regulation. "Emergency regulation" means a regulation placed in
effect by the commissioner without prior public notice in order to take necessary and immediate
regulatory action.
    Subd. 10. Eradication. "Eradication" means elimination of a pest from a defined geographic
area.
    Subd. 11. Exotic species. "Exotic species" means a species that is not native to the area.
Exotic species also means a species occurring outside its natural range.
    Subd. 12. Harmful plant pest. "Harmful plant pest" means a plant pest that constitutes a
significant threat to the agricultural, forest, or horticultural interests of Minnesota or the general
environmental quality of the state.
    Subd. 13. Infected. "Infected" means a plant that is:
(1) contaminated with pathogenic microorganisms;
(2) being parasitized;
(3) a host or carrier of an infectious, transmissible, or contagious pest; or
(4) so exposed to a plant listed in clause (1), (2), or (3) that one of those conditions can
reasonably be expected to exist and the plant may also pose a risk of contamination to other
plants or the environment.
    Subd. 14. Infested. "Infested" means a plant has been overrun by plant pests, including
weeds.
    Subd. 15. Invasive species. "Invasive species" means an exotic or nonnative species whose
introduction and establishment causes, or may cause, economic or environmental harm or harm to
human health.
    Subd. 16. Mark. "Mark" means an official indicator affixed by the commissioner for
purposes of identification or separation, to, on, around, or near, plants or plant material known or
suspected to be infected with a plant pest. This includes, but is not limited to, paint, markers, tags,
seals, stickers, tape, ribbons, signs, or placards.
    Subd. 17. Nursery stock. "Nursery stock" means a plant intended for planting or
propagation, including, but not limited to, trees, shrubs, vines, perennials, biennials, grafts,
cuttings, and buds that may be sold for propagation, whether cultivated or wild, and all viable
parts of these plants. Nursery stock does not include:
(1) field and forage crops;
(2) the seeds of grasses, cereal grains, vegetable crops, and flowers;
(3) vegetable plants, bulbs, or tubers;
(4) cut flowers, unless stems or other portions are intended for propagation;
(5) annuals; or
(6) Christmas trees.
    Subd. 18. Owner. "Owner" includes, but is not limited to, the person with the legal right of
possession, proprietorship of, or responsibility for the property or place where any of the articles
regulated in this chapter are found, or the person who is in possession of, proprietorship of, or
has responsibility for the regulated articles.
    Subd. 19. Permit. "Permit" means a document issued by a regulatory official that allows
the movement of any regulated item from one location to another in accordance with specified
conditions or requirements and for a specified purpose.
    Subd. 20. Person. "Person" means an individual, firm, corporation, partnership, association,
trust, joint stock company, or unincorporated organization; the state; a state agency; or a political
subdivision.
    Subd. 21. Pest. "Pest" means any living agent capable of reproducing itself that causes or
may potentially cause harm to plants or other biotic organisms.
    Subd. 22. Phytosanitary certificate or export certificate. "Phytosanitary certificate" or
"export certificate" means a document authorized or prepared by a duly authorized federal or
state official that affirms, declares, or verifies that an article, nursery stock, plant, plant product,
shipment, or any other officially regulated article meets applicable, legally established, plant pest
regulations, including this chapter.
    Subd. 23. Plant. "Plant" means a plant, plant product, plant part, or reproductive or
propagative part of a plant, plant product, or plant part, including all growing media, packing
material, or containers associated with the plant, plant part, or plant product.
    Subd. 24. Plant pest. "Plant pest" includes, but is not limited to, an invasive species or any
pest of plants, agricultural commodities, horticultural products, nursery stock, or noncultivated
plants by organisms such as insects, snails, nematodes, fungi, viruses, bacterium, microorganisms,
mycoplasma-like organisms, weeds, plants, and parasitic plants.
    Subd. 25. Preclearance. "Preclearance" means an agreement between quarantine officials of
exporting and importing states to pass plants, plant material, or other items through quarantine
by allowing the exporting state to inspect the plants preshipment, rather than the importing state
inspecting the shipment upon arrival.
    Subd. 26. Public nuisance. "Public nuisance" means:
(1) a plant, appliance, conveyance, or article that is infested with plant pests that may cause
significant damage or harm; or
(2) premises where a plant pest is found.
    Subd. 27. Quarantine. "Quarantine" means an enforced isolation or restriction of free
movement of plants, plant material, animals, animal products, or any article or material in order to
treat, control, or eradicate a plant pest.
    Subd. 28. Regulated article. "Regulated article" means any item, the movement of which is
governed by quarantine or this chapter.
    Subd. 29. Regulated nonquarantine pest. "Regulated nonquarantine pest" means a plant
pest that has not been quarantined by state or federal agencies and whose presence in plants or
articles may pose an unacceptable risk to nursery stock, other plants, the environment, or human
activities.
    Subd. 30. Significant damage or harm. "Significant damage" or "harm" means a level of
adverse impact that results in economic damage, injury, or loss that exceeds the cost of control
for a particular crop.
History: 2003 c 128 art 4 s 2