Scottish Ministers have signed off fresh seed certification and testing charges that take effect on 1 July 2026. It’s a Scottish statutory change, but the ripple will be felt from the Borders into Northumberland and the North East, where many growers source Scottish-certified seed or work with Scottish labs.

The Seed (Fees) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2026 amend the 2018 framework and refresh both the crop inspection schedule and the seed testing and training schedule. The instrument was made on 15 January 2026, laid before the Scottish Parliament on 19 January, and keeps the cheaper online route for applications while uprating paper submissions.

Headline changes include small uplifts to the per‑hectare application fees. For crops intended to produce Pre‑basic or Basic Seed, the initial fee moves to £34.71 per hectare for online applications (£40.32 for paper), up from £33.47 and £38.88 set last year. For Certified Seed categories, the initial fee rises to £5.00 per hectare online (£5.80 paper), up from £4.82 and £5.59. Those 2025 baselines are taken from last year’s regulations. (legislation.gov.uk)

Seed lot certification also nudges up. A certificate for a multiplication category now costs £104.83 online (£121.62 paper), compared with £101.09 and £117.28 in 2025. A final generation certificate is £40.74 online (£47.21 paper), previously £39.29 and £45.53. Again, those 2025 figures come from the schedule made last May. (legislation.gov.uk)

The familiar structure for crop inspections remains: a standard fee for official examinations per hectare, separate treatment for hybrids of swede rape, and additional charges for further examinations when issues such as wild oats, isolation distances or lodging are flagged. That format mirrors the schedule used in 2025. (legislation.gov.uk)

Training, licensing and lab supervision sit in the second schedule. As a guide to the scale of these costs, last year’s fees included £2,030.74 as the annual charge for licensed seed testing stations and £847.89 for the cereal crop inspection course, with re‑tests and analyst modules priced separately. The 2026 instrument refreshes these headings again, so labs and trainees should check their demand notices once issued. (legislation.gov.uk)

What does this mean on farm? On a 50‑hectare pre‑basic seed crop submitted online, the initial application uplift adds roughly £62 year‑on‑year; a 50‑hectare certified seed area adds around £9. For seed houses, the more noticeable line will be the per‑lot certificate, where the multiplication certificate increases by about £3.74 per lot submitted online.

For Northern readers near the line, the practical advice is straightforward: plan early, apply online to avoid higher paper charges, and book inspections in good time to steer clear of late fees. Many cross‑border contracts still rely on Scotland’s Seed Certifying Authority and official testing routes in Edinburgh, so these increments are likely to feed into seed bag prices later in the season. (consult.gov.scot)

Officials have been clear for years that the aim is full cost recovery for certification, testing and the training of licensed inspectors and samplers. The Scottish Government and SASA review these charges annually, and even had to correct published annex tables in 2024 to keep the figures straight - a reminder that the detail matters for business planning. (consult.gov.scot)

The legal plumbing is familiar too: the changes update fees linked to the Seed Marketing Regulations and the 2016 licensing and enforcement rules. For growers, processors and labs from the Lothians to the Tyne, the date to circle is 1 July 2026. Cost it in now, and keep the paperwork digital to keep bills down.