If U.S. Customs and Border Protection seizes cannabis seeds sent to you by mail, you receive a written notice instead of the packet. Under 19 CFR 162.31 that notice must state the law allegedly violated and your right to petition for relief, and under 19 CFR 171.2 a petition is due within 30 days of the notice’s mailing date.
That is what happens if customs seizes cannabis seeds addressed to a home grower. There is no news event behind this post; the hook is the letter itself and the clock that starts the day it is mailed. Everything below comes from two regulations and two seed-bank shipping pages this desk read on 11 September 2026.
What happens if customs seizes cannabis seeds: the notice, not the packet
The regulation that governs the letter is 19 CFR 162.31. It says written notice of any liability to forfeiture shall be given to each party the facts of record indicate has an interest in the seized property. For a mailed packet, that will ordinarily include the addressee; the section does not name the addressee itself. The same section says the notice shall inform each interested party of the right to apply for relief under section 618 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which is 19 U.S.C. 1618, in accordance with part 171 of the customs regulations.
Section 162.31(b) lists what the notice must contain. The first two items matter most to a home reader: the provisions of law alleged to have been violated, and a description of the specific acts or omissions forming the basis of the allegation. The letter has to name a statute. Read that line first.
The notice also has to carry a warning. Unless the petitioner gives an express agreement to defer judicial or administrative forfeiture proceedings until the administrative process is complete, the case is referred promptly to the U.S. attorney or the Department of Justice if the penalty was assessed under 19 U.S.C. 1592, or summary forfeiture proceedings are begun. Ignore the letter and, in the regulation’s words, summary forfeiture proceedings will be begun.
One sentence in 162.31(a) deserves flagging without interpretation: for violations involving the possession of personal use quantities of a controlled substance, see also section 171.55. This desk did not read 171.55 and cannot tell you what it provides.
The 30-day clock in 19 CFR 171.2
19 CFR 171.2 sets the mechanics of the petition.
- Where. A petition for relief must be filed with the Fines, Penalties, and Forfeitures office whose address is given in the notice.
- When, seizures. Petitions for relief from seizures must be filed within 30 days from the date of mailing of the notice of seizure. The clock runs from mailing, not from the day you open the envelope.
- When, penalties. Petitions for relief from penalties must be filed within 60 days of the mailing of the notice of penalty incurred. A seized packet is a seizure case; plan around 30.
- Extensions. The FP&F Officer is empowered to grant extensions of time to file petitions when the circumstances so warrant.
- Copies. The petition must be filed in duplicate unless filed electronically.
- The short-fuse exception. If less than 180 days remain before the statute of limitations may be asserted as a defence, the FP&F Officer may specify in the notice a reasonable period, but not less than 7 working days, for filing. If no petition is filed in that time, the matter is transmitted to the Office of the Chief Counsel for referral to the Department of Justice.
Do you get in trouble if seeds are seized by customs?
The honest answer is bounded by what we read. Neither 162.31 nor 171.2 describes a criminal step aimed at the person a parcel was addressed to; both are about the property, the notice and the petition. That is a statement about two sections of the customs regulations, not the whole of federal law, and the 171.55 cross-reference is the reason we stop there. Whether cannabis seeds fall under the Controlled Substances Act on a given day is a question for the statute the notice cites, and we did not fetch a CBP page that answers it. The souvenir framing seed banks use, which we covered in our fine-print explainer, protects the vendor, not the recipient, and does not change what the notice says.
Will the seed bank resend seeds seized by customs?
The legal clock is half the picture. The other half is what the vendor’s own terms promise if the packet never arrives. Two of the terms pages we tried returned 404, so this table has two rows, both read on 11 September 2026, and is scoped to exactly that.
| Seed bank | What the read page says about a customs seizure | Where it says it |
|---|---|---|
| Herbies Seeds | For Australia and New Zealand, mandatory insurance applies to all shipments; if a parcel is seized by customs it covers up to two free reshipments, a new delivery address is recommended, insurance fees are non-refundable and refunds are not available for undelivered orders. The USA section of the same page mentions only express shipping and stealth packaging. | Herbies shipping page |
| Crop King Seeds | Shipping seeds internationally “can present challenges,” and the company cannot be held responsible for any issues related to packaging seizure, weather, distance, carrier or tracking updates. Its guarantee is 80 percent germination, with a possible one-time reshipment of failed seeds if all were attempted; it is “not accountable for issues beyond germination.” | Homepage FAQ (the /shipping-policy/ address redirected there) |
Two cautions. Herbies’ two-reshipment promise is written for insured Australia and New Zealand orders; the page’s USA section, as read, states no seizure or reshipment term, and a FAQ entry about intercepted parcels was cut off in our fetch and went unread. Do not assume the Australian term extends to a US address. Crop King’s language is a disclaimer, not a guarantee. We could not read Seedsman’s or ILGM’s pages, so no sentence here describes them. Any other bank’s shipping page is the document to read, before checkout.
Can you petition customs to get seized seeds back?
Yes, in the sense that the regulations give every interested party the right to file one. Whether a petition for cannabis seeds succeeds is a different matter, decided by the FP&F office, and nothing we read forecasts it. What the regulation does settle is the procedure: the office named in the notice, 30 days from mailing, in duplicate unless electronic, with a discretionary extension available. Count the days from the mailing date on the letter; under 162.31, without an express agreement to defer, summary forfeiture proceedings begin.
We do not offer advice on getting a parcel past customs. This post is about what the paperwork says once a parcel has been stopped.
Questions readers ask
What happens if customs seizes my seeds?
You receive a written notice rather than the packet. Under 19 CFR 162.31 the notice must name the law allegedly violated, describe the acts behind the allegation, and tell you of your right to apply for relief under 19 U.S.C. 1618. Under 19 CFR 171.2 a petition for relief from a seizure is due within 30 days of the notice’s mailing date.
Do you get in trouble if seeds are seized by customs?
We can only answer from what we read. Neither 19 CFR 162.31 nor 19 CFR 171.2 sets out a criminal step aimed at a mail recipient; both describe an administrative process built around the notice and the petition. Section 162.31 does cross-reference 171.55 for personal-use quantities of a controlled substance, a section this desk did not read, so we make no claim about it.
Will the seed bank resend seeds seized by customs?
It depends entirely on the bank’s written terms. Of the two policies this desk read on 11 September 2026, Herbies promises up to two free reshipments after a customs seizure only on insured Australia and New Zealand orders, and Crop King Seeds says it cannot be held responsible for packaging seizure on international orders. Read the shipping page before you pay, not after.
Can you petition customs to get seized seeds back?
The regulations give you the right to petition. 19 CFR 171.2 says the petition goes to the Fines, Penalties, and Forfeitures office named in the notice, in duplicate unless filed electronically, within 30 days of mailing. Whether relief is granted for cannabis seeds is a decision the regulation leaves to that office, and nothing we read predicts the outcome.
What this desk read
Two regulations and two vendor pages, all on 11 September 2026: 19 CFR 171.2 and 19 CFR 162.31 at the Cornell Legal Information Institute, the Herbies Seeds shipping page, and the Crop King Seeds homepage FAQ. Section 171.55 was not read. Seedsman and ILGM pages returned 404 at the addresses tried.
The standing hedge
Where you live decides whether a seed packet is lawful to order, receive or germinate, and a customs notice is one of the ways that geography makes itself felt. Our home-grow map covers the state-by-state picture and our note on the pending hemp-seed bills covers what has not changed at the federal level. Check your local laws before purchasing or germinating cannabis seeds. Content here is intended for lawful use by adults.