GRU Cost Recovery Policy

The BBSRC National Capability seedbank for UK strategic crops based at the John Innes Centre, Norwich is proud of its history of assembling genetic resources, safeguarding them for future generations and distributing them worldwide for contemporary needs. With the continuing growth in demand for our services and a sharp increase in costs (governmental fees, energy, labour) we must recover a portion of the costs from our users.

MLS registered germplasm

1. In accordance with the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) and the mandatory Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA), we introduced a handling fee starting January 2019. This fee is required to ensure high quality of service and to cover additional costs of the handling of large requests. It will contribute to the sustainability of the GRU, supporting the conservation and utilisation of cereal and legume biodiversity for food and agriculture.
2. For under funded projects supporting food security internationally or education within the UK and for users from low-income countries: when fees are a barrier for germplasm utilization, we would consider a subsidy on a case-by-case manner Please contact the GRU team.



1 - 8 accessions	Flat fee of £15
Above 8 accessions	+ £2.00 per extra accession

Derived, Induced and Wild novel germplasm

1. The GRU has set objectives to increase the quantities and quality of germplasm and the related information resulting from UK plant science and pre-breeding activities and needs. Therefore, we assemble novel collections which can only be regenerated, distributed and handled by cost recovery of end-users

Per Order	£15
Per Accession	Per Accession fee dependent on Collection (Specific fee listed under Collection Information)

Phytosanitary Fees

1. Phytosanitary Fees from the UK government will be charged onto the customer where an Import Permit is needed.
2. Current phytosanitary costs breakdown (UK Government Link; Updated 1, January 2022):
1. Signed certificate £26
2. Up to 30 minutes inspector visit £128
3. Lab testing (in addition to inspection, when needed) £34
4. Collection bulk testing; when available, replaces the need for inspection and lab testing £50

Other Costs

1. Where available, there will be additional cost for Bulk Seed Requests. The usual sample size is 5-20 seeds dependent on species / collection. For some accessions the GRU holds Bulk stocks that allow us to provide larger samples for an extra fee on a case-by-case manner.