581.101 Quarantines; declaration; confiscation of contraband; removal or tampering with tag or certificate.

(1) When the department under the provisions of this chapter declares a quarantine against any place, nursery, grove, orchard, or county of this state, another state, a territory, or a foreign country as to a plant pest or noxious weed or genetically engineered plant or plant pest organism, or an arthropod, it is unlawful, until the quarantine is removed, for any person to introduce into this state, or to move or dispose of within this state, any plant, plant product, or other thing included in the quarantine, except as allowed by rules of the department.

(2) Any plant, plant product, or other thing included under a quarantine which is moved or disposed of within the state in violation of this section, and any plant propagated from such plant, plant product, or other thing, is contraband and shall be confiscated and destroyed by the department without compensation.

(3) It is unlawful for any person to remove from any plant or plant product any official quarantine tag or certificate of the department, or to destroy or disguise any such tag or certificate, without prior authorization from an authorized representative of the department.

History: s. 9, ch. 12291, 1927; CGL 3838; s. 10, ch. 59-261; ss. 14, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 3, ch. 70-49; s. 1, ch. 70-439; s. 244, ch. 71-377; s. 1, ch. 77-98; s. 1, ch. 77-386; s. 5, ch. 79-158; s. 4, ch. 84-355; s. 4, ch. 88-31; s. 4, ch. 90-155; s. 47, ch. 93-169.