1. (a) General.

   1. (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. (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 subsection (a) of this section 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. (3) A regulated article with a tag or label required by subsection (a) of this section 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 §21.9(g) of this title (relating to Record Keeping; Rebuttable Presumption and Seizure), in accordance with the applicable provisions of §71.0091 of the Code.
   4. (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.
   5. (5) 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.

2. (b) Exemptions.

   1. (1) Commercial citrus. Within the Texas citrus zone, commercial citrus production areas where trees are immediately field planted in groves and cultivated for commercial fruit production are exempt from the requirements of this subchapter.
   2. (2) 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.

   3. (3) Budwood.

      1. (A) The original propagation record identifying the source tree of budwood must be maintained as required in §21.9 of this title (relating to Record keeping; Rebuttable Presumption; and Seizure) and made available to the department upon request to verify the tree was produced in Texas.
      2. (B) The labeling of budwood for sale is specified in §21.33 of this title (relating to Labeling and Handling of Budwood Produced in Foundation Block).
   4. (4) Retail buyers and end users are exempt from the requirements of this section.

Source Note:The provisions of this §21.8 adopted to be effective January 1, 2004, 28 TexReg 5656; amended to be effective May 31, 2007, 32 TexReg 2835; amended to be effective December 31, 2015, 40 TexReg 9626.