Plant passports
Plant passports on every delivery note, without the paperwork
Record a batch's passport details once, when it comes in, and HortiOwl carries them onto the paperwork for every customer you sell it to.
What a UK plant passport needs
Regulated plants moving between businesses in Great Britain travel with a UK plant passport. It carries four pieces of information, and every one of them has to be right on every delivery.
- A — the botanical name of the plant
- B — the registration number of the business issuing the passport
- C — a traceability code, such as your batch number
- D — the country of origin
Recorded once, at goods-in
Supplier and passport details are captured when stock is ordered and received, and they stay with the batch. Nobody has to look them up again or type them out at the dispatch desk.
On the paperwork automatically
Delivery notes and invoices carry the passport for each line, taken from the batch that was actually picked.
Who you bought from, and who you sold to
Every batch can be traced back to the supplier it came from and forward to the customers who received it. Records are kept for seven years, live in the system rather than archived away.
Ready when the inspector calls
Supplier, passport details and customers sit together against the batch, rather than spread across invoices, delivery notes and spreadsheets — so answering an inspector's question takes minutes, not an afternoon.
Rules that are changing
Government guidance expects the UK–EU plant health agreement to change how plant passports work, with changes expected from 2027. The details aren't settled yet. HortiOwl keeps the information both formats rely on, and we'll keep up with the rules as they're confirmed.
Questions
No. Passports are needed for regulated plants and plant products moved between businesses in Great Britain, and in some cases when selling to the public at a distance. Check the current rules for the plants you trade on GOV.UK and the Plant Health Portal.
Yes. Government guidance allows a batch or lot number to be used as the traceability code (part C), which is how most nurseries do it — and what HortiOwl uses.
Businesses that issue passports must keep records of who supplied them and who they supplied for at least three years. HortiOwl keeps them for seven, alongside your invoices.
No. Your business remains responsible for its own registration and authorisation with the plant health authorities, and for the visual checks before a passport is issued. HortiOwl holds the information and prints it on your paperwork.
See it with your own stock
A 30–45 minute demo, built around your product list. No commitment.